Per4mance Running LLC

All cleaned up after a solid 10k. Now to enjoy the remainder of the long weekend

Walking and trying to stay warm before tomorrow’s 10k.

18 miles this cold Florida morning

Jennifer came to Per4mance Running LLC to improve her half marathon time; and she did it!!!

After years of struggling with her training and slowing times. Jennifer came to Per4mance Running LLC to turn things around. She beat her 2022 half marathon time by 25 minutes.

It was a wet one out th this morning

Had a great run this morning. 6 miles of solid work at roughly goal pace. Sometimes life interrupts the process and that happened today. Took a timeout to say good morning to these two on their way to school.

Took my 15-mile long run into 3 segments (6 miles, 6 miles, and 3 miles) with goal of pushing each segment a little faster than the previous. Great way to train to negative split a race. What were the results? Second segment 12 seconds per mile faster than the first and the last segment 29 seconds per mile faster than the second.

6.5 easy miles. Tokyo Marathon is 4 months away to the day.

Fundraising for Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Boston Bound for the MMRF.

Racing Mindset

(Part two of a three part series: Training, Racing, and Coaching)

In part one of the series (training) I discussed the importance of having the right mindset during your training cycle. Being positive about your runs and goals while developing a plan to deal with the inevitable bad runs or weeks is essential to having a good training cycle. In this part (racing) the topic is shifting from the training mindset to the racing mindset, your mental game leading up to and during the important day: race day.

Runners need to spend time developing their mental plan for race day. This isn't your race plan; I'm not talking about figuring out your paces and what splits you will run. Those are important. Equally important is knowing what you're going to do when something doesn't go as planned.

I had an athlete who did great during the training cycle. We spent time discussing the runs, nutrition, how to approach the race, and what was going to eventually happen during it. The athlete knew I would be at the race and we discussed early on about hitting the dreaded wall in the marathon. The race day conditions were horrible; there was rain and gusting wind. At the 10-mile mark, the runner looked strong and was a little ahead of pace. At around mile 20 the runner sent a text that said they were fading. We had prepared for this moment and I found the athlete at mile 22 and joined for the last 4.2 miles. Talking the person through the wall to finish 15 minutes ahead of goal time. The plan was in place and the runner knew when the wall hit I would be there to help through it.

We won't always have a coach or someone willing to run us in when we struggle on a course so it's important to develop your plan to deal with it. Not doing so and you run the risk of a meltdown on the course; been there, done that. I ran a marathon and had a pretty good training cycle. I knew there was a bridge on the course, asked around about it and was told it wasn't bad. This not bad bridge turned out to be the bridge from hell and the race went over it four times. The third time over it, I was truly over it and the race. The mindset wasn't right for climbing it four times and the words coming from my mouth were not appropriate for print.

Prepare your mind for the race. Know what you're going to do when those last few miles were slow, your shoe came untied, there was a potty stop, or you're out too fast. Be prepared mentally for the things you might go through on the course. Doing so will result in a better performance.

Training Mindset
(Part 1 of a three part series: Training, Racing, and Coaching)

You'll achieve your best results by training both your body and mind. To do this you need to create a positive mindset to all aspects of your training, racing, and your coaching support. Without the three, it's like removing a leg of a three-legged stool. The next few blogs will be a series talking about the mindset of each. Time to get started and talk about the training mindset.

During the training cycle you're going to have bad runs, days when you don't feel like running, and just ups and downs. This is normal. The keys are to acknowledge that things will happen and to have a plan for getting through it. The right mindset is setting a positive tone for your training and helps you come away with the feeling that you can accomplish anything.

When runners have a bad run or a string of them, they tend to dwell on it. Runners will focus on all the things that went wrong during the run or runs. Instead, shift the focus and frame of mind. Know going into training that when you hit a rough patch you're going to look for the positive things that came out of the run and focus on them. What went right? What did you learn from it? Answer those two questions, keep those answers in the forefront of your mind and forget about the rest.

Set a goal and commit to it. We all have goals in life. Generally, the difference between reaching them or not is in our commitment to doing what needs to be done. Running is no different. You have to put in the work. That means on days that you may not be feeling like running, you still have to have the mindset to go out and get the work done. Make it the priority; schedule it in your day. Stay positive about the goal and your progress. I've seen runners do exceptional things because they consistently do the training and have the right mindset.

I have a runner who has a goal and she works hard each week to make progress towards it. The goal is definitely something she can do. It is a long-range goal, 12 -24 months in the making. It's a big goal so it's critical that she has the right mindset to stay the course. To stay focused on it we measure progress in smaller increments. She has seen her times get increasingly better for each race she runs. Recently she ran a race and had a BHAG for it. She fell short of her BHAG but crushed her previous time. When I saw her, she was all smiles and running strong. She told me she loved the race and was super excited about her results and progress. MINDSET!!!

Training for a big race or just trying to improve your performance the important thing is to keep the positive mindset. Understanding that there will be ups and downs during the training cycle and you have to focus on the ups. You will have many more of the positive experiences and use those to build your positive mindset. These will create self-confidence and that will carryover into your racing performance.



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