What are your rituals? You know – those things you do over and over again with unwavering consistency. Same time, same place, same circumstance. When X happens, I do Y. Maybe it’s something you do before every race. Retired American marathoner Ryan Hall was known to shave his head and legs before a big race. “It makes me feel lighter and faster. It gets me excited to race,” he said. Having the right rituals in place can have a powerful impact on our lives, running included!
The Opposite of Boring
Some people see rituals or routines as boring. They might think of the morning routine of eating breakfast, taking a shower, brushing your teeth, etc. But think of the result? With that one routine, you are readying yourself and nourishing yourself for the day with very minimal effort. You are free to put your mind elsewhere at those times!
Take it a step further now. Assume you were to write down your biggest dream and read it to yourself every morning as part of your routine. Now you’ve done all of the above, but you’ve ALSO set a positive and focused tone to the day as well. Bear in mind that once established, this routine will still involve very minimal effort.
The Beginning and the End
Research shows that in the middle of many of our routines, brain activity slows tremendously. We are on auto-pilot. It’s almost as if we are sleeping! Outside of this, however, brain activity spikes. The mistake many people make when trying a new ritual is thinking too much of the action itself. Running a good race, writing a short story, eating in moderation, etc. This is a mistake.
When establishing a new routine, the key is the beginning (the “trigger”) and the end (the “reward”). Someone who is trying to lose weight may frequently fall apart at the sign of an office birthday party – the “trigger”. But if they can condition themselves to have that party trigger an action other than overindulging, they can follow that with a “reward” – a later smaller indulgence.
Research says that if we can firmly entrench the trigger and the reward, we are better off establishing a lasting routine. This is even more evidence to support a well-crafted warm-up ritual before your races since that is essentially the trigger for the subsequent race. Practice it, rehearse it, be comfortable with it. Doing so will firmly establish this trigger and set you up for a successful race.
A Battle of the Will
We all struggle with will power from time to time. We wake up with the strongest of intentions for our day, but by the evening, our intention isn’t so strong. How can we take our decision-making ability in the morning and preserve it through the entire day?
Earlier this year I resolved to start a writing habit. At times, the desire was tremendous, but as described above, it would fade here and there. The result? No habit formed. I had to change the act of writing into something that was automatic, almost predetermined.
William Faulkner once said, “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.” I was waiting to feel like I wanted to write. This is like the dieter who feels motivated in the morning but not so much in the evening – and thus, in unsuccessful.
So I set out to take the feeling out of it completely. I set my schedule. Every week, I would do my writing on Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday. I put down exactly when I would do it and even where I would do it. Next, I looked at other obstacles that would stop me, like something to write about! Naturally, I designated other days of the week to generate ideas and brainstorm. You get where I’m going with this.
What did I actually do? I set a trigger simply based on the day of the week, time of day, and where I was. As long as I found myself in that place at that time on that day, the decision was already made! Ever since then, the routine has been set and my habit no longer relies on how I feel.
Running Rituals
Let’s get right to it. Here are some practical ideas of rituals you could start that will enhance your running potential. Each is very small and takes, you guessed it, very minimal effort. Over time, however, they can yield tremendous results. As with any habits, some are mental, some are physical, and some are more direct than others.
- A Training Log – Runners of all levels swear by these. Jot down how every workout goes. How did you feel it went? It can be very simple, but it can be invaluable when looking back at where your training went right (or wrong!). A coach can also use this to pick up on qualities you have as a runner.
- A Warm-Up Routine – I mentioned it earlier. Fine-tune your warm-up before your races and use your hard workouts to practice it. When you’ll stretch, how you’ll stretch, what dynamic movements are you doing, what mental cues will you use, and how long to do all those things. The less decisions you have to make on race day, the better!
- Recovery Ritual – We can put recovery on auto-pilot so easily. Foam roll while you watch TV, set a reminder to make sure you get to bed on time, always eating something after your runs. All these things likely require very little change to our already existing routines.
- Keep the Vision – How often do you think about your goals? The effort to do this may be just what we need to motivate us to nail a workout. Put your goal on a sticky note in your bathroom and read it every day.
- Strength Training – You’ve heard of 30-day plank or push-up challenges. This is the same idea. What little action can you do with unwavering consistency that you’ll be happy about 1 month from now or 6 months from now? Maybe it’s doing pushups every day before you brush your teeth or something similar. Just set the trigger and GO!
- Heart Rate – Getting in the habit of taking your pulse every morning before getting out of bed may seem cumbersome at first. But over time, it can signify improved fitness or be a sign of overtraining.
What goal or dream is most important to you and what rituals or routines can you set up today to help get you there?
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