Running consistency is key, the training Iceberg

Are you looking for a silver bullet or magic ingredient to get faster and/or set personal bests? Whilst you enjoy your running there’s areas you can change up or start doing to set a solid base. The key to any training programme is consistency, if you want to improve you need to get into a good routine. The ICEBERG can best summarise this 🙂

The Training Iceberg

The iceberg can apply to many areas of your life, from work, education, family, personal pursuits, etc. For the purpose of this post (and website!) we’ll call it the training iceberg 😃. Some of the key words which it takes to improve are dedication, discipline, persistence, hard work, failure, sacrifice, disappointment.

If you’re a veteran running you’ll be able to relate to these, from failing in a big race to persistence to keep going until you crack your PB. For example, running 3 times per week is a good routine to get into. Running twice in a week then not for 3 weeks shows a lack of dedication and discipline so you’re unlikely to see many benefits.

Examples of the training iceberg in action

Having weekly running targets
Varying your run sessions (Intervals, Long Runs, Easy Runs, Progression Runs)
Going to bed earlier for more rest/recovery
Skipping social events to get more rest
Working with a running coach for accountability
Bouncing back from disappointing race results to go again (taking recovery into account)
Strength and core training
Cross training for active recovery

Growth Mindset

It helps if you’re able to see past current state and imagine progressing, to get fitter, healthier and/or faster. You may plateau and get bored or frustrated but by mixing it up and reviewing your iceberg you may well be able to kick on and unlock new performance gains.

What and where you are now is not where you can be embodying a growth over fixed mindset. I recommend reading Growth Mindset by Carol Dweck 🙂.

Continuous Improvement

In addition to following a growth mindset, consider the practice of continuous improvement. As defined by the internet, continuous improvement is the ongoing improvement of processes through incremental and breakthrough improvements.

A good example of this is working with a running coach who’ll be able to mix up your training, from doing different sessions to working on your weaker core areas. The opposite of this would be running the same distance and route every run, which is enough to bore anybody!

Marginal Gains

The marginal gains theory is concerned with small incremental improvements in any process, which, when added together, make a significant improvement.

You might think 1% is too small a target for you. Add these small changes together though and you may find big breakthroughs. For example, a small amount of extra stretching at the end of a run could help with recovery so you feel stronger for your next run. Maybe laying your kit out the night before (if you’re planning an early run) will aid in getting ready rather than getting stressed trying to find something to wear.