I love reading the internet’s most popular running websites because they’re hilariously terrible.
You’ll read things like:
“10 weeks to your fastest marathon!”
“Discover everyday nutrition secrets for high energy levels!”
“With speed work, you will run faster. That is guaranteed.”
It’s appalling.
Let’s disspell this conventional (or is it?) advice:
- 10 weeks is not nearly enough time to adequately train for a marathon for the majority of runners. Marathon prep in just 10 weeks would require you to already be in great shape before you started training.
- There are no nutrition “secrets,” just a few diet best practices and a recommendation to eat real food. I highly suggest any book by Michael Pollan if you’re interested in diet and nutrition.
- How do you define speed work? Is it right for every runner? How do you know?
The sad truth about these claims is that they’re generic, bloated in their truthfulness, and just untrue in most cases. One of my personal pet peeves is that I hate when coaches, websites, or anybody “guarantees” something with distance running.
Let me quote one of my favorite movies, Tommy Boy, on guarantees:
A guy puts a fancy guarantee on a box ’cause he wants you to feel all warm and toasty inside. Ya figure you put that little box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter. How do you know the fairy isn’t a crazy glue sniffer? “Building model airplanes” says the little fairy; well, we’re not buying it. He sneaks into your house once, that’s all it takes. The next thing you know, there’s money missing off the dresser, and your daughter’s knocked up. I seen it a hundred times.
Guarantees that you’ll run faster, lose weight, or qualify for Boston are worthless. Many non-running factors influence your training like sleep, stress, work obligations, family life, and personal events. It’s impossible to know if you’ll actually reach your goals – instead, you just need to set yourself up with the best possible system for success.
If anybody ever guarantees anything about health or fitness for you, run for the hills because it’s not true.
It Takes Systems to Be a Good Runner
The systems that you put in place are what help you accomplish your goals – not fancy guarantees. Good runners always have certain “hacks” or shortcuts that allow them to get in their workouts and hold them accountable.
Here are a few that I use:
- My motivation is highest in the morning, so I almost always run in the morning. I make excuses in the afternoon.
- To save time and ensure I do my most important tasks (like running, writing, and strength work), I cancelled my cable. I didn’t just “try harder” to not watch TV.
- I post monthly training journals because I know that holds me accountable for getting in my workouts.
- To make sure I’m always challenging myself with running, I talk with friends and previous coaches about my training.
Too many athletes leave their training to chance. Small systems ensure that you run your workouts, are held accountable, and continue challenging yourself.
Recently Vic Magary posted a great article on how to reach your fitness goals and he outlined three seemingly simple steps:
- Set a deadline (like register for a race)
- Put your money where your mouth is (like buy a marathon program)
- Use social pressure (like join a community of like-minded runners who encourage you)
It’s simple, but how many of us spend hundreds – or even thousands – of dollars on Garmin watches, new shoes, and fancy running gear when those things don’t actually make you a better runner.
Create More Systems in Your Training
Run Your BQ is so successful because it uses multiple systems tied into one marathon training and coaching program.
— Our live coaching chats answer your personal questions and keep you motivated.
— The members-only forum holds you accountable and lets you use social pressure to continue training.
— Our knowledge base of videos, text lessons, and audio clips make sure you’re always challenging yourself.
— Multiple marathon training plans (and post-marathon recovery schedules) give you peace of mind that your training is rock solid.
Matt Frazier and I created Run Your BQ to help runners experience the thrill of qualifying for Boston like we have in the past. Qualifying is an unbelievable feeling and one of my proudest running memories. Knowing that I earned a spot on the starting line in Hopkinton next year is amazing.
Our runners are already transforming their training. Here’s what one current member said:
RYBQ is a great help and a great motivation to keep aiming for higher levels. Between the information published so far by Matt & Jason and the different members sharing their wide range of experiences & stories, the experience had a very positive effect on my training.
With different people sharing their progress and successes, this will be even a bigger motivator to keep training hard. There is no one local that I know of who is training for a marathon let alone for BQ, so I mostly train alone. So this site and community is very uplifting in my case. – E.Fahmy
Qualifying and successfully registering for the Boston Marathon is getting more and more difficult. But it’s a worthy goal and we want to help you accomplish the challenge of getting your BQ.
If you’re ready to create more systems in your running to help you succeed, sign up to our RYBQ email list and we’ll let you know as soon as we’re open.
Do you have any questions about Run Your BQ? Let me know in the comments and I’ll make sure I answer every one.
