In running, as in life, Discomfort is not your Enemy

Discomfort is not your enemy. Its part of the process of growing into the runner you want to be.

There’s a moment in every hard session or race where your breathing starts to labour, your mind starts to entertain the thought of stopping, and you know it’s going to get uncomfortable from here. A point where, if you let it, your mind will quietly start building a case for backing off or quitting.

That’s discomfort doing what it does best: asking you to choose.

Choose to back off or choose to say 'this is where I get to show how tough I am'.

If you think running at your limit will one day feel easy, it won’t. Even as you improve, the feeling of being on the edge stays. We're not trying to make that feeling disappear, but to train your mind to meet it with skill. Every session is a chance to practise that. 

Practising endurance and mental toughness.

How do you practise it? Expect it. Plan for it. Have go-to strategies ready for when it shows up: a phrase, a focus point, a way of breaking the effort into smaller chunks.

The marathon recovery danger zone

Santhi - celebrating Sydney marathon finisher

You’ve finished your marathon! Maybe it was everything you hoped for. You nailed your pacing, felt strong, achieved a PB, crossed the finish line buzzing and are already scrolling through race calendars.

Or maybe it didn’t go to plan. You blew up, struggled through the final kilometres, missed a goal time or finished feeling disappointed. And now you’re desperate to get straight back into training and prove you can do better.

Either way, you may be in what I call the marathon recovery danger zone: the two to three weeks after race day.

Your body does not care about the result. Whether your race was amazing or had a blow-up, you still ran a marathon. It still covered 42.2 kilometres. Your muscles, tendons, joints, nervous system and mind have all been through a huge effort.

That is why the worst thing you can do in the weeks after a marathon is force things. Forcing your return to running because you feel excited, impatient, disappointed or worried about losing fitness is a recipe for injury, burnout and another disrupted training block. The marathon is over. Your recovery is now the training.

Take things gradually

This is not the time to force mileage, test your fitness or jump straight back into intervals, hills, long runs or a new training block. Instead, take things gradually. If your body is saying no to running right now, it is okay. You are allowing your body time to repair from the work you have already done.

A gradual return might include walking, easy cycling, gentle swimming, yoga or mobility work. And then short, easy runs (or run/walk) only when your body feels ready.

Do not look sideways

Everyone’s recovery looks different. Your age, training history, marathon effort, race conditions, fueling, sleep, stress, work demands, niggles and general life load all affect how quickly you recover.

Do not build things back up too quickly because you see other people doing it. Your job is to listen to your own body.

Physical recovery and mental recovery

After a marathon, there is also a mental comedown. You have spent months working towards one day. Then suddenly it is done. Whether things went well or not, give yourself time to process it. Celebrate what you achieved. Debrief what went well and what you might do differently next time. Let things settle.

You just ran a marathon, take a breath before you rush back and risk injury or burnout.

How do I pace my first marathon? It's simpler than you think.

Do you know someone running their first marathon soon? Maybe this could help them settle their nerves around pacing.

Your DEBUT marathon is like nothing else. It's a celebration of months and months of training and dedication. For first marathons the ‘A Goal’ is to cross that finish line in one piece.

The training has been to build your physical and mental endurance and strength to hold it together that last 12 or so kilometers. It is your longest long run. And it will be an experience like no other.

So pacing looks like heading out on your long run - not faster or slower, and then continuing on as you would - in that same rhythm - to the finish.

Because you're heading into unknown territory, you cannot have a pacing plan that is faster than your usual long run, that is a recipe for disaster! No matter how good you feel - just keep running along at your long run pace/effort for this one, trust me.

Based on your half marathon time, you may have the potential to run a certain time that is faster. Once you've experienced that backend of the marathon, then we start setting goal times and doing marathon pacing. But that is for the future.

This one is for the experience.

“ARGH, it’s going to be 37°C on Saturday…”

“Argh, it’s going to be 37°C on Saturday…” (long run day!)

If you’ve said that this week, you’re definitely not alone.

Yep, it’s Summer in Australia. Some runners thrive, some runners suffer ~ but you can adjust so you stay safe and still get the training benefit.

Here are three things to do when you know a HOT day is coming:

1️⃣ Adjust your mindset & expectations

Heat is stress ~ so slow it down. Treat it as safe heat adaptation and mental toughness training. The goal is to get it done, not hit perfect paces.

2️⃣ Adjust your routine

Go earlier, find shade, pick cooler routes, run by the coast…

or take it to the treadmill and keep it controlled if the temps are extreme.

3️⃣ Adjust your week (smartly)

If you have flexibility, shift the session ~ but check in so your training structure can also be adapted if necessary. The spacing between sessions still matters.

Summer running is tough ~ but you can still get good training in with the right adjustments ~ and come out into Autumn stronger than ever because of it. Let's go!!

What do the athletes I coach have in common?

I have a pretty broad demographic of athletes, but when it comes down to it, they have some specific things in common as far as what they want for their running, in their training and from me as a running coach;

• They are driven to become runners or have a goal in mind that they want to achieve with their running.

• They don’t want a cookie cutter program, an app that uses AI, or a set and forget plan ie. they don’t want to second guess their training.

• They want their running to fit to their own individual lives and to have someone help them do that strategically.

• They want someone to see both the broad picture and the day to day when changes are required (my favourite saying at the moment is “let’s zoom out here”) for example if they get sick and need to skip a run or two.

• They want someone to share their journey, to really be invested in their running and how it is going for them - the lows and the highs - to advise, to celebrate with.

• They want someone to give them down to earth, good advice from years and years of experience and (a little) obsession with running.

Maybe that sounds like you? Maybe it sounds like one of your running buddies and you could share this with them!

Breaking the Injury Cycle - I'm doing it!

Maybe you need to hear this too?

I really like the idea of making cumulative decisions that will make future You proud. It can be about anything, but with my running, I’m really focusing on this right now.

I didn’t really realise that I was in an injury cycle until early this year when my physio pointed it out. They said I need to think about where I want to be with my running one year from now , rebuild my base and consistency again, before trying to ramp things up and attempting to train how I used to 5 years ago!

For me this looks like;

- miniscule weekly volume increases

- keeping all my runs low-key not listening to the competitive runner in me that always wants to do more and run fast as soon as I am feeling good

- taking rest days when I know I need them rather than forcing the runs

- having my watch face on distance only

- being grateful that I can actually do running, and be content with that

- not doing silly things (although there was that Backyard Ultra in June…)

Anyway, I’m on track and six months injury free, yippee! So 2025 is my base year, and 2026 me is already smiling, I can see her now.