Why turning up every week beats hero sessions

I have several running mantras and core philosophies that I repeat to myself and to clients.

These are the core tenets of running performance that I've found the most useful over a decade of running.

The key philosophy that I hang on to is that consistency really is king.

Doing something, anything, over a long period of time will ingrain you to that thing. After long enough, surprise surprise, you become really good at doing that thing, in whatever way being good means to you.

With running, this consistency can be hard to do. Running is hard at times and brutal in others. There's the dragging yourself out the door when it's raining, the tiredness and life stress pulling you in every direction to just skip this one.

It's hard.

What tends to happen with someone who cares about running but is really struggling with this is that they alternate hero weeks with not much running at all. It looks like this:

The usual motivation driven new runner cycle:

  • Motivation high, new shoes maybe. High mileage week with some really good quality fast sessions.
  • Three weeks pass, motivation faded, it's harder to get out the door now.
  • The weekly distance slows down, getting out the door is hard now.
  • Until eventually, a week or two with nothing passes.
  • This happens until the motivation comes back again in some form, and we repeat the cycle.

This cycle is universal and insidious. The best, most consistent-looking runners you know or see do this or have done this for years.

It's a human experience, not a personal failure. If you're experiencing this rollercoaster, please remember that.

What does consistent running even mean?

Consistency in running genuinely does look different for everyone. Someone with goals of winning local races compared to the parent that just wants to keep fit have very different ideas of what constitutes consistency.

What consistent means for you is decided by you.

For most new runners, consistency often looks like:

  • 1-3 runs per week

  • Each run no longer than 5k

  • All at an easy pace, though truth be told most new runners don't yet have an 'easy' pace

But, depending on you, this may be too little or too much. Lots of runners start out with just 2 1k runs per week, with walking sections.

It all depends on where you come from and what you're goals are.

It is important to outline what consistency looks like for you, set yourself an really low bar that's incredibly acheivable, and call that your consistency line.

For example, a new runners consistency line can look like:

  • 2 runs per week, any distance or time

The key is, set it as something that isn't daunting, you start from the beginning and work up.

Why consistency in running is so important

Consistency in running is so vital because it builds foundational aspects of a strong runner that no hero session or two can ever replicate. These are real adaptations in your body that accumulate over time, and turn your warm ups, into what used to be your 5K pace.

To breakdown why consistency is king for runners, we can break down the benefits into two areas, the physical and the mental.

The physical benefits of consistent running

As you run over months and years, your body undergoes massive changes that you might not expect. These are physical changes within your body that no single session can get for you.

The physical benefits of consistent running include:

  • The volume of red blood cells in your blood increases so you can carry more oxygen
  • Your muscles grow new blood vessels around and inside them to better deliver blood and oxygen to them
  • Your heart can even develop new routes for blood delivery
  • The mitochondrial count in your cells increases. These are the very things that help you move your muscles. They are fundamental to life.
  • Every part of the process from breathing, to blood delivery, to exhalation, gets more efficient, your body uses the same volume of air to much greater impact
  • Your bones, ligaments and tendons get much stronger. Your joints get stronger and more resilient.
  • If you train sprints, your body gets better and more efficient at working in an anaerobic environment
  • Your body gets better the sub-second timing required to move you more efficiently. The exact moment your hamstrings contract for example, they get better at timing that for maximum efficiency. Same with your calf muscles when you land. This all combines to make each stride you take, require less energy.
  • You get better at sweating to cool yourself more efficiently, you sweat quicker and if you run in hot climates, your body adapts to lose less salt and electrolytes in your sweat.
  • Your muscles get stronger and more resiliant, including your heart.
  • The thickness of the walls of your heart can increase, allowing each pump to move more blood, more quickly.

There are caveats with all of these and they don't all apply in equal measure, but you get the point.

There is no physical way to get this level of adaptation in 3 months of running. Consistency is the only way.

These adaptations don't just make you a fitter, healthier immune being, they make you a stronger, more efficient runner and that often comes with more speed.

The mental benefits of consistent running

People often tout the physical benefits of running, but I really do think that in terms of your day to day life, the mental benefits are so much more important.

Mental benefits of consistent running

  • You get better at dealing with stress, you've literally trained yourself to do something hard consistently.
  • You develop mental tricks to work through pain. The little mind tricks you say to yourself in the middle of hard runs carry through to the rest of your life.
  • You being to trust yourself more. You've built a hard habit, stuck to it and are seeing the benefits. Why on earth would you believe there's anything you can't do if you try?
  • You develop discipline and routine that help you do what you need to, even when motivation isn't present. This carries through to your life in every way possible.

There are so many more things that I could cover here but won't for brevity. But this alone shows how important consistent running is.

Tips to be a consistent runner

With all that said, being a consistent runner is still quite hard. Before you get any of these benefits, you need to force yourself to run, often, for a long period of time. Way before you've seen any rewards.

There are some tried and trusted methods however, that can help you. They've helped me and countless better runners than me for generations.

Do not, ever, rely on motivation

Motivation is the single biggest killer of all dreams. It is not your friend, it's a fleeting fairy that shows up when it wants, and will not come to you even when you want it most. Relying on motivation to run consistently is the single biggest way to ensure you fail.

Rely instead, on the points below. They'll serve you better in a day than motivation ever will.

Set a time, place and distance

If you rely on motivation, you will fail. So instead, rely on promises to yourself in the form of set times to run. These are the exact time and places you will run. Without question and without thought.

Mine for example, is that between 6am and 7am every day, is my running time. This isn't up for debate and is unchangable. It's not a question in my head what I'm doing at that time, I'm running.

This may sound extreme, but just setting yourself up this way, with no wiggle room. No "if i feel like it" and no "if the weather is good" makes it easier. The wanting to skip a run feels much stronger when you've left a tiny gap in your mind to let you skip it.

Plan out your running days each week like this. Leave no room for excuses because they will come to you and you will like them.

Make it easy

Get your stuff ready, know where you're going and everything else.

Leave no room for "oh damn, what about...?".

If you can, make the run starting point require no drive, travel time or co-ordination. It should be as simple as walking outside and getting going.

Do just 1k and go home

Sometimes the pressure of a long or hard run you dont want to tackle is too much, and that’s fine and normal.

The antidote to this is to minimise the session, lower the stakes and reduce the activation energy needed to get out the door.

Say “I’m just doing 1k easy and that’s it” and mean it. If you get to 1k and want to stop, do it that’s great. You’ve maintained consistency which is more important than skipping it entirely.

Chances are you’ll get to 1k and then just carry on because you’re out anyway.

Either way, you win.

Accept that you won't like it and won't want to

Similar to relying on motivation, relying on the feeling of wanting to do the run, and wanting to look forward to it, is a path that only leads to a lack of consistency.

There are times that everything in your head will tell you to stay in bed or just skip the run.

That's normal, it's not a failing or a sign you're a bad runner. It's human.

Holding this feeling in your head, but getting out and doing the run anyway, is the way you build a strong character.

There's no tricks here to avoid the feeling of really not wanting to. It is just a case of pushing yourself out the door. Focus on the first step, the rest normally comes along much easier.

Common reasons that running consistency doesn't happen

Despite all of this, you will stumble sometimes and end up missing a week or two.

That's completely fine, you're not a bad human, everyone does it. What's infinitely more important is how you process that, understand it and move forward.

There's almost always a reason, missed weeks don't happen in isolation if you're intent on bringing consistent running into your life.

The first step is understand what happened

The most common cause is external factors. Consistent running relies on routine. Disruptions to that routine are the number one cause of missed weeks.

some other common reasons for missed weeks:

  • Disruptions to routine, travel, life disruptions

  • General life stress, relationship or family trouble

  • Work in general, tiredness or lethargy

These are all external factors and for the most part, disruptions to your normal routine are outside your control, so there's no need to beat yourself up about them.

Accept what happened, don't feel bad about it, feel neutral, life happens and that's not your fault or even a problem.

Hard truth caveat: life happens and while we can't control it, we can expect the unexpected. If you know you have routine disruptions of a certain kind, plan around them. The same disruption interupting your running for months on end isn't an exception, it's part of your routine. Figure out ways around it. Ultimately if you care about running, you can't blame life for months of inconsistent running. Taking a level of responsibility and ownership for your running is vital here and will make you a better runner.

How to recover when you miss a week or two

After these missed weeks though, it's important to reset, forgive yourself or accept that life happens, and look forward.

  • Get back to your normal running routine as quickly as possible, same place as normal

  • Don't try to cram in missed runs or miles, just focus on carrying on as if you hadn't missed anything. Cramming will only result in injury or mentally being sick of it. You don't want to feel like running is a job that you owe time too.

  • Plan to account for the disruptions if you can see them happening again. If it was work travel, plan how you can fit in runs when you have that happen.

Start by analysing the reason you missed a week, and how to plan around it or account for it in the future if it happens again.

From there, set a plan, the first goal is to jump as quickly as possible back into your routine. Same time, same place to run as your usual.

How long consistency is needed before you see results

It depends, but most runners can expect to start to see the benefits from consistent running after about 6 months. But these wins won't truly begin to compound until at least a year of consistency.

After 2 months of consistent running

The routine is getting established now. You have a few aches and pains and maybe still start out too fast and have to slow down. You're getting better at dealing with the unexpected disruptions and have found some neat ways to fit running into your day.

After 6 months of consistent running

The routine feels pretty set in stone now. You maybe miss a day here and there, but it's much less common now. Your aches and pains are going away but you still feel them. I would say most runners don't enjoy running yet, but maybe you look forward to a run after a stressful day at work. You notice that your breathing now is much more comfortable, when you do an easy run it's beginning to feel easy and controlled now.

After 12 months of consistent running

You might consider yourself a runner now. You don't notice the aches and pains pretty much at all anymore and running is just part of your day, not something you have to consciously plkan into it anymore, it's just what you do. The same as getting up for work or brushing your teeth.

The runs that used to feel daunting or challenging are now just a part of your routine. You might even now be the annoying person in the office who talks about running too much.

You've noticed that your heart rate sits lower on most runs and the pace has quietly increased without you knowing. You see yourself as a proper runner now and the beautiful truth is that with continued consistency, this is the worst runner version of you, you've made so much progress already and you will only get faster, fitter, stronger and more capable from here on.