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Welcome!
Running Capacity is a podcast for exhausted runners working 50+ hour weeks, aiming to give you the no BS tools to keep you running, when work and life have other plans.
Hosted by me, Chevy Rough, a Running & Strength Coach since 2015.
Learn more at www.chevyrough.com
Chevy Rough: Welcome to episode
number two of your best run, and
if you are here after listening
to episode one, I just want to
say thank you so much for the
time.
Ask me questions, find me on
social media.
Excuse me, I'm just burping.
I promise to do this in one
take and not edit.
So, yeah, warts and all kind of
stuff, but welcome to episode
number two of your best run, and
in this episode, me, chevy Ruff
, your running and strength
coach.
I'm going to be talking through
goal setting, right, and I'm
going to be talking about how to
set goals that are actually
achievable for people who are in
one of a few different
positions One either returning
from running after an extended
break, and that extended break
is basically being dealing with
life right Looking after kids or
building a career, looking
after loved ones who might be
sick, like there's so many
things here that draw us away
from looking after ourselves and
doing the things that we know
make us a better human being.
It's funny, isn't it?
I always say this.
Like whenever life gets
stressful and we need to show up
for ourselves and other people,
what's the first thing that
goes, the things that we need to
be doing to look after
ourselves, to make sure that we
have the energy and resources
and capabilities to keep showing
up.
So you know, if you are someone
who has had to show up in other
ways in life and maybe hasn't
been able to look after yourself
as well as you have done
historically, then this one is
for you.
If you're someone who's been
injured and trying to return to
running and you're trying to
think about setting yourself
achievable goals, or you're just
struggling to get going, you
know you're struggling to find
anything that is achievable and
sustainable this one's for you.
Or if you are someone who does
set goals for yourself and you
find those goals are just a bit
too lofty and you start out with
good intentions but you just
never really deliver on the end
product, then this might help
you as well.
Or if you're just someone who's
interested in how I set goals
and set milestones for my
athletes, then listen along.
So let's just say you are
someone who has run right.
Let's just say you're a runner
who used to run marathons, used
to be able to run five, 10 Ks on
the weekend, no problem at all,
but now you're struggling to
run for a bus.
First of all, like well done
for the fact that you once
achieved those lofty heights of
being able to run marathons, or
just better, get out the door
and run 5k.
If you've done it before, you
could do it again.
But I get that it sucks that
you can't do it anymore.
But remember what we said in
episode one comparison is the
thief of joy.
So let's look forward.
But here's what this episode is
about.
This is what the conversation I
want to have with you.
Let's not set our gaze on the
horizon too far out.
Let's just start to break it
down brick by brick.
Let's stop making it an
impossible mission of how will I
ever run a marathon again, and
let's just start to think about
how, over the next 14, 30, 60
days, we can start to build the
habits, the systems, the
routines and behaviors that can
get us back to a place where we
potentially can start to train
for the type of races that
motivate us, that we love to do,
that we enjoy, or just to a
place where we can stay
consistent with training.
Because I'm guessing where you
are in life right now.
Yes, it's important to maybe
get back to races, but it's not
so much about PBs.
You're probably here listening
to this right now, this episode,
or you're probably someone who
follows along to kind of how I
work, because you've kind of
realized that actually running
is more than the medals.
Actually, you just want to be
moving in a healthy way.
You want to have the energy,
you want to have the sharpness
about you.
You want to have this thing
that helps you unwind from the
day, process your day, organize
your to-do list, that helps you
show up for loved ones, show up
for the challenges of work, and
you want to be able to do this
thing that makes you a healthier
, better version of yourself
into your 40s, 50s and 60s.
You want to pass over a body
now, into the next decade, that
you know will keep you doing the
things that you love, right?
Basically, what I'm trying to
say is you're just realizing
there's more to running, there's
more to movement.
It's more important, maybe,
than the bit of bling.
We love a bit of bling, we love
the pbs, but actually you are
just in a position where you
just want to feel healthy again.
You want to feel better, you
want to feel good yourself and
you believe that running is a
mechanism to be able to do that.
It's a vehicle to be able to do
that.
So I mean, if that is you as
well.
Again, like I hear you, I
understand that and I'm sorry
you're feeling this way and I'm
sorry you're stuck in a rut.
But, as we said in episode one,
comparison is the thief of joy.
So let's look forward and let's
look at not looking at the
marathon that you want to
complete again or getting back
to running four or five times a
week let's think about just what
you can do in the next couple
of weeks.
And what I talk about here is my
relationship with my athletes.
I never program further out
than really a couple of weeks,
and when I start programming out
a couple of weeks, it's usually
after I've spent quite a bit of
time with athletes and I
understand them.
My data is quite good on them,
right, the algorithm on my, my
algorithm is quite good.
I understand the flows of their
life and the flows of their
energy, so I start to feel
confident that I can program a
couple of weeks out.
You know, this is why I have a
problem with people downloading
16 week training plans, because
how does that 16 week plan know
how I'm going to fill in week 13
when I've got to do a fast run,
long run, whatever it may be,
that's going to require a lot of
energy and is high stress.
How is it going to know what my
stress levels are like that
week?
How is it going to know how
I've slept the last couple of
days, right?
How's it going to know my
workload that I've got going on
and suddenly these projects that
I've got to deliver on that
have been thrown my way by?
You know, a boss that I don't
really like and have fallen out
with over the last couple of
months, and life is getting
really hot, right, it doesn't,
and so you know.
This is why I talk about your
best run comma, right.
That's why, when you look at
the logo, the commas there,
because it's your best run in
the context of your life.
And if I'm working with an
athlete, how do we know what the
context of your life is going
to be like in 12, 13 weeks?
We don't.
How do we?
How confident are we that we
know what it's going to be like
in four weeks?
Well, kind of.
How confident are we going to
be in three?
Yeah, it's getting better.
Two, okay, yeah, kind of
confident.
I will know how I feel.
What about a week?
What about the next week?
What about if we program on
Sunday for the next seven days.
How confident are you to be
able to say, well, this is where
my stress is probably going to
be high, my energy is going to
be low, this is when I have time
to train, this is when I have
time to do easier things, this
is when I can probably do harder
things, like your algorithm is
much more trustworthy.
We stop being so optimistic and
we start being realistic, right
?
So, as you're starting to find
your way back to running again,
stop focusing on the impossible
problem, stop focusing on the
big, big goals and just start
planning for the next seven days
.
You know, one of the things
that you can do that I do
personally is you can do an end
of every review on a Sunday.
Be like what happened in the
last week, what worked, what
didn't work so well, what can we
learn from?
But then we can go back to the
thing.
But what did work?
Why did that work?
How can I make sure that works
this week?
How will that thing work in the
context of this week?
How can I double down on this
thing that's working so well?
Right, it's important that you
do a little bit of fact finding
and then, once you've got that
data on a Sunday, you can start
to plot out the week ahead and
then, as you start to shorten
the horizon, we're working on
that brick by brick principle
right?
You never ran marathons by
running 26.2 miles on day one,
you learn to run to the end of
the street, then you learn to
run around the end of the street
, then you learn to run around
the park and then you learn to
run around your neighborhood,
then you maybe learn to run
around the city.
Like you know, you took it day
by day, you took it moment by
moment.
So it really is important that
you shorten the horizon, you put
in an end of week review, you
reflect on the week that you've
just been through, you take the
lessons, you take the positives,
you build them into the next
week and you just keep working
on that cycle.
And the most important thing is
, you don't be overly optimistic
.
If you know that the most
important thing for you is to do
your rehab exercises, then then
that's just the thing that you
need to program in.
That needs to be your priority.
You need to spend all your time
and energy on that one thing
and then once those exercises,
or once time aside for exercises
has become a habit that you can
trust is going to happen, even
when you're a little bit tired.
You can then move on to the
next thing.
Move on to the next thing, like
build one, run in for the next
three, four weeks and then build
two, and then build two, and
then do that for another three,
four weeks and then build three.
Right, this is a long-term game
that compounds over a lifetime.
This is about what type of
runner do you want to be in the
next decade of your life and
beyond.
So when you start to zoom out
and look at your life and you
look at that long horizon, you
know you can start to think well
, actually I've got a lot of
time to figure these things out,
so let me just spend the energy
wisely of embedding one habit
at a time and let me focus on
things week by week.
So shorten your horizon.
As always, if you've got any
questions that you have, or if
you have any topics or questions
that you would like me to talk
about on future episodes, let me
know.
Um, please do write me your
reviews, because I need to know
if this is hitting the mark or
not.
I need to know how I can
improve.
So please do leave me a review
or send me your thoughts, um
super appreciated and, more
importantly, just good luck on
your journey, moving forward.
You're not alone.
You know you really are not
alone.
If you are trying to find that
momentum again, speak to me.
I will happily help where I can
and offer any guidance or
advice, but I'm thinking of you.
Keep running.
Keep trying to achieve your
best run based on the context of
your day in life here and now,
not who.
Keep trying to achieve your
best run based on the context of
your day in life here and now,
not who you used to be or not
who you hope to be down the line
.
Think about where you are today
and keep moving, chasing 19
over and out.