Using Your Blog As A Training Tool

Before I had a blog I will admit, I did not really understand them. They seemed time consuming and for what?


Blogging has changed my life. It sounds like a dramatic statement, but it's true. It can change your life too and possibly help you become a faster, more consistent or happier runner.

How?

Blogging and using sites like dailymile or even Foursquare can help keep you accountable to your training. It is harder to skip a run when you know that what you did or did not do for the day will be posted for all your friends or training partners to see.

If you do not have friends who run or you are not part of a running group or club, the Internet allows you to make friends virtually. Running can at times, be a very lonely sport. While the Internet can not always help you find a friend to run with, it can help you find a virtual community of runners where you can share your passion for running.

In order to have a successful relationship with running, you must do it for yourself.

What do I mean? You are ultimately the only person who can get you out the door. The only person who can push yourself farther or faster on a run. You are the person who will have the internal head battle that all of us runners have. Should I run today? Will I feel better if I run? I'm tired, maybe sleep is more important today? I ran 2 days this week - I really deserve a rest day - right? You can not and should not run to impress others, to make someone else happy, it has to come from with in - in order for it to become a life long endeavour.

Allow the Internet to help you on your quest to become a runner, but do not let it take over your training life. Do not log miles just to log miles for your weekly total, those are junk miles and get you no where fast. Do not run faster than you should just because you know someone will see it on your facebook page. Ultimately if you are the type of runner who trains for and run races, your blog, daily mile, etc. will hurt you if it pushes you at the wrong times. Remember the training runs are not the race. Do not peak when it does not matter.

Run your own pace so you are ready for your own race.



Has blogging, dailymile, foursquare or twitter helped you become more accountable to running and working out?
 
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