Good Content from: Team Saucony

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To stay motivated during this challenging time, we asked Molly Seidel to share her best tips to help runners deal with the effect of the pandemic on their racing dreams.

What’s Your Why?

“The last few months have been crazy, and it’s really making us all reflect on what we do and why we do it. It’s important to remember that running doesn’t define you, and that you are a person outside of the sport. It’s okay to take this time to heal and recover a bit and let running be something that takes away stress rather than adds to it.”

If you’re finding it tough to stay motivated think about why you started running in the first place. Was it to deal with stress, get fit, feel better? Running can be transformative, not just physically but emotionally. This is the perfect time to recommit to your ‘why’ and run in the present instead of focusing on racing goals. Run for the pure pleasure and feeling of goodness that the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other can deliver.

Adapt

“It’s definitely a bit of a waiting game right now, because we really don’t know when the world is going to get back to ‘normal. It’s easy to focus on the negatives but using this time to adapt and grow will help put you ahead when races finally resume. Often when we have a race on the horizon, we don’t have the time or energy to focus on some weaker areas, like strength work or flexibility; everything you do now can help you get into better shape and become a healthier, stronger athlete!”

This is a great time to work on your areas of weakness without the stress of training for a race. Take a self-assessment. Do you need to work on strength training? Grab some resistance bands. Are you tight as a drum? Improve your functional range of motion with a pre-run dynamic stretching routine. Bored with the roads? Hit the trails to use different muscle groups while enjoying a change in scenery.

Go Virtual

“Even though races are cancelled there are a ton of ways to keep challenging yourself. Whether it’s a time trial, a virtual race, or even just going after local Strava Segments there’s some pretty cool opportunities to stay competitive and race-ready.”

Virtual races allow you to run at any location, at your pace, outside or on a treadmill. Some even support a charity and supply a race package that includes a t-shirt, medal and bib. Strava Segments let you compete with a global community. This is a great way to keep track of your performance progress. Saucony just wrapped up a You, But Faster challenge on Strava, where over 300 thousand runners chased their best 5K time for 2020.