Running Lean with Patrick McGilvray
In this week’s episode of the Running Lean Podcast, I’m diving deep into a topic that affects every single one of us—Understanding and Identifying Self-Sabotage. If you’ve ever made progress toward …
Continue Reading about 306. Understanding and Identifying Self-Sabotage →
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner sports nutritionist, master life coach, and weight loss coach. For runners, I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you, properly fuel your body and your mind so you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster, and run longer than you ever thought.
Possible. This is running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to episode 306 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners, and today understanding and identifying self sabotage. So today I am gonna be diving deep into a topic that affects every single one of us understanding and identifying when we self-sabotage.
If you’ve ever made progress toward your running or weight loss goals only to find yourself slipping back into old habits and behaviors, this episode is going to hit home for you. You’re gonna learn what self-sabotage. Actually is and what it isn’t. How to recognize when you’re doing it and the surprising reasons why we all do it.
Most importantly, I’ll show you how to start breaking the cycle so you can finally build real. Lasting consistency. This is not about guilt or shame, it’s about awareness and growth. Because once you see how you’ve been getting in your own way, you’ll have the power to stop doing it and to start creating the results that you’ve actually been working for.
But first, listen, I know how frustrating it feels when you’re doing all the right things. You’re running, you’re eating healthy, you’re putting in the work, but something still feels off. You’re tired of feeling like progress takes too long, that you can’t stay consistent, or that maybe your body isn’t responding the way that it should.
Here is the truth. You don’t need another quick fix. You don’t need another cookie cutter training plan. You need a comprehensive approach that helps you to build strength, improve your endurance, and burn fat without burning out. That’s exactly what we do inside my coaching program. I’ll help you develop a nutrition strategy that actually supports your running.
Uh, I’ll help you to build a body that feels strong and resilient, and I’ll help you to master the mindset that keeps you consistent long term. How about no more self-sabotage? Listen, you don’t have to keep doing this alone. The next step is simple. Go to my website running lean coaching.com, click on work with me.
Let’s get you feeling light, feeling strong, feeling confident, again from the inside. Out. Okay, so let’s talk about self-sabotage. Yay. What it is, what it isn’t. How to know when you’re doing it, why we do it, and the sneaky ways it shows up in our lives as runners and just as human beings. This op, I’m hoping that this episode is going to hit home for a lot of you because.
That’s my intention here. That would be a good thing. You can’t change something if you don’t know that you’re doing it. Okay? You have to acknowledge it in order to change it, and so today is all about recognizing, identifying, and acknowledging what’s really going on. So the first thing I wanna do is kind of talk about what self-sabotage is and what it isn’t.
And I wanna start with a, a definition. So self-sabotage is when your thoughts, emotions, or behaviors are working against your goals. Okay? It’s when you say you want to do one thing, like, you know, I wanna lose weight, or I wanna be able to run faster. You know, I wanna feel confident in my body. But what you’re doing, your actions tell a completely different story.
It’s that internal conflict between what you say that you want and then what you’re actually doing, you know, every day. The crazy thing is most of the time. We don’t even realize when we’re doing it, and we all do this. I wanna make that very clear right now. This is not something just for, it’s not just something that weak people do or something that unaware people do.
Like everybody at some point has engaged in some sort of self-sabotage, okay? And a lot of times we don’t even realize we’re doing it. You might just think that you’re tired or you’re stressed or you’re busy, but underneath that, there’s deeper things happening. Okay? So self-sabotage is not laziness, it’s not weakness.
It’s not because you’re broken. It’s not because you’re undisciplined. It’s actually your brain. Trying to protect you. So your brain is wired for safety and for comfort. Your brain wants predictability. It wants safety at wants the familiar. So when you start to change things, when you start a new food plan or a new strength program, you know, you start pushing yourself a little bit.
You start doing hard things that that feel a little uncomfortable and unfamiliar, your brain starts to freak out a little bit. It’s like saying, whoa, wait a minute. This is unfamiliar territory. This feels uncomfortable. Let’s go back to what we know. So it throws up all kinds of thoughts and emotions and behaviors that subtly pull you back to your old ways.
Not because your brain hates you, but because your brain is always trying to protect you from pain, from discomfort, from risk, from change. Your brain does not like things that are different. It likes the familiar. So that’s what self-sabotage is. It’s your subconscious mind saying, let’s just stay safe. Um, even when safe means staying stuck where you are, you know, if you’re trying to lose weight and you start eating differently, that’s gonna feel uncomfortable.
To your brain that’s gonna feel unfamiliar to your brain. What? Vegetables? Like what? I’ve, I’m not used to eating vegetables. Like, what is this all about? And so your brain is gonna be like, no, that, that feels like danger to us. We gotta get outta here. You know, we can’t eat broccoli. Okay. So a lot of times we don’t even know that this is happening.
So let’s talk a little bit about, um, how you can start identifying when you are self-sabotaging. Okay. Because sometimes, sometimes it’s kind of obvious. Okay. Like if you’ve been eating great all week and then you, you binge eat like all the leftover Halloween candy all at once, that might be of. Pretty clear and pretty obvious way of self-sabotaging yourself.
Okay. But it’s usually not that. It’s often a lot more subtle and kind of sneaky. Okay. So here are some signs that you might be self-sabotaging. Okay? If every Monday you’re telling yourself, oh, I’m just gonna start over on Monday, and then the next Monday comes around and you have to start over again.
’cause maybe you, you do pretty well, like, you know, Monday through Thursday and then like Friday, Saturday and Sunday, everything kind of goes to crap. You know, that could be a sign that you’re self-sabotaging. You know, because the weekends are typically when you’re used to living it up a little bit and drinking more and eating whatever, and you’re starting to slide back into those old behaviors, those old weekend behaviors that feel comfortable and safe, you know?
Um, and if every Monday you’re starting over, that could be a sign that you’re self-sabotaging. Um, if you find yourself giving up or quitting, as soon as things start to go, well, this could be a sign of self-sabotage. And what this looks like for a lot of people. For example, let’s say you’re trying to lose weight and you lose like five or eight pounds, so things are starting to go well, and then you kind of give up on yourself.
You know, because what you’re doing is working, but it feels unfamiliar, it feels uncomfortable. And especially at the beginning of any sort of change, it’s going to feel weird and uncomfortable. It’s not what you’re used to. You’re gonna be doing different things, you’re engaging in new behaviors. Um, but if you find yourself, you know, as soon as things start to go well, you, you give up.
You quit on yourself. That’s self-sabotage. Okay. If you tell yourself, you know, I just need to take a short break here. You know, I need to just stop running for a few weeks. You know, I’m kind of feeling tired, or, you know, I just need to give myself a chance to eat whatever I want because I’m just feeling too deprived.
You know, I’m not, you know, I, I. I’m, I’m eating pretty clean, but I need to give myself a, a chance to eat some donuts or cookies or some ice cream or some pizza, and that little short break turns into weeks or maybe months. That could be self-sabotage right there. Okay. Even just telling yourself I need to take a break from eating healthy could be a sign of self-sabotage.
Okay. Another sort of subtle way that we, we can self-sabotage is setting unrealistic goals for ourselves, knowing deep down that you’re not gonna follow through with all that. Um, I remember. Um, some time, a long time ago, um, talking to somebody who had all these massive goals. You know, this person wanted to lose a hundred pounds and, um, uh, run an ultra marathon and, uh, you know, get super strong and had all these huge.
Goals? Well, they had never really run before, ever. Um, they had been pretty large their whole life and hadn’t ever really been able to lose the weight, you know, um, never really been to a gym before. So setting all these huge unrealistic goals made it so that they could just say, you know, that’s just too hard.
I’m never gonna be able to do that stuff. And then they didn’t have to follow through with it, you know, so that’s a sign that you might be. Self-sabotaging, just setting goals that are just unrealistic, um, and, and unreachable really. Another way that we subtly self-sabotage is constantly comparing ourselves to others and deciding that you’re never gonna measure up.
You know, and I, I’ve done this in the past where I said, you know, other people can do hard things. Other people can run marathons. That’s just tsunami. I’m never gonna be able to do that. It’s too hard. And I remember after I did run a few marathons, I remember, um, you know, that part sort of went away. But then I had some friends that were doing.
Triathlons and Iron Man, and I thought, oh, I could never do something like that, you know? And I, and I kind of made a decision that I’m, I would never be able to do that. And that lasted for a while until, you know, I, I, I had to change that thinking and I had to stop comparing myself to other people, you know?
And instead I said, okay, well, what do I want for myself? And I set out to start doing some triathlons, and then eventually did an Iron Man. And, and I proved myself wrong. You know, I was trying to stay safe and comfortable by not having to do something hard, you know, so the way I did that was compare myself to others and say, they’re better.
They can do these things. I can’t do these things. Um, and so I’d never, you know, if I had chosen that path, I never would’ve had to do those things that were hard. Okay. Or lastly, finding excuses for why you can’t do something instead of finding ways of making it work. You know, if you keep telling yourself, I can’t do this, and, and you, you can probably list all the reasons why you can’t do something.
Shift that thinking. Like, instead, find ways to make it work for you. Like list all the reasons why you can do it. List all the different ways that you could. Work to make that thing happen for you. Okay, so these are just sneaky, subtle signs that you might be self-sabotaging and you don’t even really realize it.
You know, you might be procrastinating. You might be saying things like, you know, I’m gonna start after this vacation, or I’ll get serious when work slows down. Or, you know, I just need to be motivated. I do better when I’m motivated and I’m just not motivated right now. Here’s the truth though. You don’t need more motivation.
You need more awareness when you can recognize that these patterns are self-sabotaging patterns. They’re not like. You know, bad circumstances or lack of discipline, you know, or, or you know, fate that you can finally start to change them. Once you recognize that these are just things that your brain is doing to try to keep you safe, you can start working on changing these things.
Now, a lot of people talk about, well, why? Why do we do this? Why do we self-sabotage? What’s at the root of this thing? Because if you understand why you do it, you can really stop judging yourself for it and just start making some changes here. Okay, so there’s a few core reasons, um, why people self-sabotage.
You know, I already talked about our brain sort of wanting to stay safe, and that’s a big part of this, but even underneath that, there’s a few things that. Are really the cause of a lot of our self-sabotage. And there’s like four things I’ll talk about. There’s more, but these are four big ones. Number one is a fear of failure, so this is a big one.
You might think, you know, if I really try and I fail. That’ll, that’ll just prove to myself that I’m not good enough and it’ll prove to the rest of the world that I’m not good enough. So I’d rather just not try, not even start that way. I won’t fail. So you, you subconsciously are. Pre-filing, you’re creating failure ahead of time.
You’re doing it to yourself and you’re controlling your outcome, right? You, you don’t have to fail you, you’re not gonna succeed at anything, but also you’re not failing. So for you, it’s gonna be safer to fail on these terms than to risk, you know, trying something new and hard and giving it your all and then, and falling short.
Okay, so fear of failure is a. Big one. A lot of people will not even start things because they’re afraid that they might not be able to do it. Guess what? There’s no such thing as, uh, success without failure. Like you have to fail your way to succeed in just about everything that you do. Number two, uh, and this is kind of related, but sort of the opposite is the fear of success.
So, believe it or not, for a lot of people’s success can be just as scary. So. What do you do? You know, what if you do lose the weight? You know what if you do get faster? What if you do change your life, but you can’t keep it up? Then what? So a certain level of success brings a whole new set of like pressures and expectations and responsibility, you know, and this can feel very terrifying.
So you sabotage yourself. To just stay in the familiar struggle instead of stepping out into the unknown. So, you know, fear of succeeding can be just as scary. It can be frightening to a lot of people because once you get there, how do you maintain that? What if you can’t maintain it? Um, another big one is the fear of change.
You know, humans, we crave certainty. We crave consistency. So even when your current situation isn’t perfect, at least it’s comfortable, right? You know what to expect. And when we change things, that requires letting go of that comfort. You’re literally getting out of your comfort zone when you make changes.
And this is like your brain saying, you know better the devil that you know than the devil you don’t, you know? So instead of, you know, making positive changes, we will stay stuck. We will stay where we are presently and not grow, not evolve, not become more, because that fear of change, changing anything is too great.
It just feels too hard and too scary for us. And then number four is a fear of judgment. So you might be thinking, well, what will people think of me if I fail? What will people think of me if I succeed? You know, you don’t wanna stand out, you don’t wanna rock the boat, you don’t want to face criticism. So you stay small, you stay safe.
You don’t do things that are hard, you don’t do things that might be considered, um. Uh, great because you are thinking you’re gonna be judged if you do well or, or if you fail. So either way, you’re screwed according to yourself. You know, it’s this like unnatural fear of judgment. And again, these fears are all rooted in one thing.
Your brain is trying to protect you, and your brain isn’t your enemy. It just doesn’t understand the difference between real danger and emotional discomfort. Emotional discomfort is something that we all have to deal with, and if we can get good at dealing with emotional discomfort, um, we can overcome all of these fears and we can, you know, reach our goals much faster.
Without all the self-sabotage, discomfort is where growth actually happens, right? Everything you want but don’t already have lies outside your comfort zone. If you’re unwilling to get uncomfortable, you’re going to stay stuck forever. Now let’s talk about, um, the main ways that we self-sabotage and what this might actually look like in your day-to-day life.
So here are some of the main ways that I see, especially runners self-sabotage, especially when it comes to their health, their fitness, their mindset. And I already mentioned this one a little bit, but it’s procrastination. You know, procrastination is a very popular form of self-sabotage. You know, you tell yourself, I’m gonna start when, and then just fill in the blank.
Like, I’m gonna wait until this vacation is over. I’m gonna wait until. Monday, or I’m gonna wait until after the holidays, or I’m gonna wait until after the kids are grown up and moved out of the house or whatever. Well, guess what? Things are never going to be perfect. The planets are never going to align.
There’s never a perfect time to start other than right now. So procrastination is just fear disguised as. You know, logical thinking. Well, I’m gonna be very practical and very logical about this, and the best time to start is gonna be when this person is, you know, different in my life. And this thing has changed and I don’t have a busy work schedule and the kids are taking care.
Like you can like come up with all these. Excuses and reasons, but it’s, it’s all just a form of self-sabotage. So procrastination, one of the main ways that we self-sabotage in other ways, perfectionism. And you tell yourself, you know, if I can’t do things perfectly, why should I bother doing it all? So a lot of people, they don’t ever start anything or they quit the moment something isn’t, you know, completely perfect.
But perfectionism isn’t just having high standards, it’s the fear of being seen as imperfect. It’s the fear of having to do something imperfectly. You know, I can’t tell you how many people who I. Set out to lose weight. They change their diet, they’re doing pretty well. And then they have like a bad day.
They might, you know, eat some junk food. They like drive through McDonald’s or something like that, and they’re like, look, I can’t do this perfectly, so I’m just not even gonna bother. And they just quit just because they feel like if they’re not doing it a hundred percent, they’re not doing it right. And the truth of the matter is like.
And I always tell people this, like, if you’re doing well, like 90% of the time, if you’re sticking to your plan, like 90% of the time, you’re fine. Go through the McDonald’s, drive through if that’s what you want to do. Um, don’t do it every day. Um, but you do have a little bit of wiggle room there. So if you want to eat some french fries from McDonald’s, knock yourself out.
Number three, negative self-talk. So you might tell yourself stuff like, you know, I’m too old. I’ve always failed at this. I’ve tried before. It never works. I can’t, I can never stick to something. These, these thoughts become self-fulfilling prophecies. You know, your brain. Believes, whatever you repeatedly tell it.
And if you keep saying, I can’t do it, I’ll never be able to stick with it. I’m too old. I always fail. Those things are going to be true for you. You will be too old to do this. You will completely fail. You will not be able to stick to it. So that negative self-talk is a big one, and it’s something that you really have to be aware of.
Okay. Number four, the all or nothing thinking, you know, this is, you know, part of that perfectionism thing, but it’s like either I, I have to do it all and and do it all perfectly or not at all. So maybe you run five days in a row and then you miss a day and you’re like, you know what? Screw it. I’m just gonna start again next week.
Or you eat one off meal, off plan meal and you decide that your whole day is ruined. So you just, you know, just. Trash the rest of the day. Essentially, this kind of thinking just kills progress. You know? Consistency matters more than perfection, right? 90% rule. Just you don’t have to do it perfectly all the time.
Um, and that’s all or nothing thinking like you have to, you know, always, like I tell people, like, take a break from eating sugar, for example. See how your body feels. You might find that you do much better when you’re not eating sugar all the time, but this doesn’t mean you can never eat sugar again in your life.
You know, if you know a month from now you wanna have a donut, or you’re at a wedding and you wanna have a piece of wedding cake, eat the cake, eat the donut, it’s fine. All right? If you’re telling yourself, well, you know, I’m not gonna be able to do this. Uh, if I can’t go all in and then you do eat the donor or something like that, you’re gonna wanna quit because that’s.
Your mentality, you gotta shift that thinking. Number five is emotional buffering. Another big way that we self-sabotage. So you might be using something like alcohol or food or scrolling on social media or just being super busy to numb yourself to your emotions instead of just dealing with them instead of processing them.
So you tell yourself, well, I deserve this when what you’re really doing is you’re just trying to avoid being uncomfortable, emotional buffering. Or numbing ourselves to our feelings. You know, it feels good in the moment. It’s like, oh, you know, oh, I have a glass of wine and I just, I can really unwind and relax.
But it keeps you from facing the real issue. You know, you got emotions that you need to deal with and you need to process, and you need to feel those things. You need to feel fear and anger, and frustration, and stress, you know, and I’m not saying we, we can’t do things too. Um, make ourselves feel better at times, but maybe going for a walk or taking a run or going to the gym for a, for a workout to get those sort of feel good chemicals going, like endorphins and dopamine and stuff instead of just numbing yourself using alcohol or scrolling through social media or food.
Okay. That emotional buffering is, is a big one, and it is a big way that we self-sabotage. Um, and then lastly, overcommitting. So you’re just trying to do too much, too many goals, too many commitments. And then you just burn yourself out and that burnout gives you an excuse to just quit. You know, this is a very subtle but also pretty common form of self-sabotage.
I see this with some people who, they just have to be doing all the things all the time. They say yes to everything, and they can’t possibly commit to it all, and they use. Their overcommitment as an excuse to not be able to stick with anything essentially. Um, and again, this is like that, a type A personality disorder, I’ll call it, because I think it is a disorder.
I think having that type A personality, there are some good aspects to that. Like, Hey, you know, you’re very productive, you can get a lot of stuff done, but if you’re using it as an excuse, then you might be just self-sabotaging. So, what’s the cost of all this? Well, the hard truth is this. The self self-sabotage doesn’t just slow down your progress.
It just, it destroys your confidence. You know, every time you break a promise to yourself, you break a little bit of that trust with your yourself. You start to believe your own excuses. You start to expect yourself to fail, and it becomes a vicious cycle. You sabotage, you feel ashamed and guilty. You promise to do better, you sabotage again, and then the cycle just continues.
Does that sound familiar? This is why so many people feel stuck in the start over cycle, not because they can’t follow a plan, but because they haven’t dealt with the mindset that keeps derailing them. Okay, so how do you stop all this? How do you break the cycle? How do you stop self-sabotaging? Well, it all starts with an awareness, and that’s what we’re really talking about here today.
You can’t change what you don’t see. So what I want you to work on. This week is step one. Just notice, catch yourself in the act. When you skip a workout or you eat something you said you wouldn’t eat, or you make an excuse, just pause. Take a moment and ask yourself, is this action helping me, me, me, move toward my goal or keeping me stuck or move away from my goal?
Don’t judge it. Just notice it. Be kind to yourself, but just. Pause, is this moving me towards my goal or away from my goal? And then just notice what is happening. Identify the emotion. So what are you feeling in that moment? What is it? Fear, stress, boredom. Doubt. Frustration. What’s the emotion you’re feeling?
Because you can’t manage what you don’t understand. And emotions drive behavior. Right. It’s not the other way around. Your emotions drive your behavior. So what are you feeling in that moment? What is driving you to take the action of X, Y, or Z? And then question the thought, like ask yourself, what am I thinking right now that’s creating this feeling?
Maybe it’s, this is too hard, or I deserve a break, or one drink won’t hurt. You know, once you see the thought, you can kind of take away its power. And then number four, just choose intentionality instead of reacting automatically. Pause and make a decision. Decide on purpose. You can ask yourself this question, what would the future version of me, the one who’s already achieved this goal, what would that version of me do right now?
And then do that thing. Okay. Now, here’s a little tough love for you. If you keep self-sabotaging, it’s because some part of you is getting a payoff from staying stuck. Maybe you get to avoid discomfort. Maybe you get to keep blaming your circumstances. Instead of taking responsibility. Maybe you get to avoid the pressure of success, but if you wanna change, you’ve got to give up that comfort.
You’ve got to be willing to get uncomfortable. You’ve got to be willing to fail, willing to feel awkward, to mess up, to be seen trying. That’s what growth looks like. Self-sabotage is not a life sentence. It’s just a habit. And habits can be broken when you bring awareness, honesty, and compassion to them.
So you’re challenged this week. Keep a journal. Just write down the moments when you notice yourself self-sabotaging. When you notice yourself getting in your own way, what’s triggering it? What am I thinking in that moment? What was I feeling? What was I doing? What was the behavior? And then what would I do differently next time?
And then look for patterns. What do you, what are you, when are you self-sabotaging? Like, what does that look like for you? When are you most often doing that? When things are going well, when you’re feeling tired or stressed, when you’re afraid of being judged by others? Look for those patterns and see if you can, you know, put a few of these, uh, uh, connect a few of these dots here.
Okay? And then replace the behavior instead of reacting from fear. Choose from awareness. Even small shifts like pausing before you grab a snack or just skipping that excuse, that’ll start to rewire your brain. And then lastly, practice self-compassion. You’re not broken. There’s nothing wrong with you, you’re just human.
Self-sabotage is just a learned behavior. It’s a learned pattern of behavior, and you can learn a new one. Okay. So quick recap here. Self-sabotage is when your thoughts, your emotions, your behaviors work against you and your goals. It’s your brain’s way of trying to protect you from discomfort, not an indication of failure.
You could recognize self-sabotage by noticing when your actions aren’t in alignment with your intentions. We self-sabotage because we’re afraid because of fear, because of fear, of failure, of success, of change, or judgment. The most common forms of self-sabotage include procrastination, perfectionism, negative self-talk, all or nothing thinking, um, emotional buffering or overcommitting.
And the cost of self-sabotage is huge. Loss of confidence in yourself, loss of trust in yourself, loss of progress, but with awareness, honesty, and intention, you can break the cycle. One decision at a time. So here’s what I want you to remember today. Self-sabotage doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you’re human.
It’s just your brain’s misguided attempt to keep you safe. Uh, you are not here to stay safe, though you are here to grow. And growth requires discomfort. Change requires courage and freedom. Real lasting freedom comes from taking responsibility for your thoughts, your emotions, and your actions. So this week, pay attention.
Notice when you’re getting in your own way, call yourself out with kindness, with love, and then remind yourself, you know, I’m just not gonna do this anymore. I’m gonna choose differently this time. I know you got this. So if this episode resonated with you, if you saw yourself in some of these patterns of self-sabotage, that’s good.
That awareness is your first step towards freedom. And if you want help with this, if you wanna learn how to stop self-sabotaging, learn how to lose weight, get stronger, run with confidence. I’m here to help. Just head over to running lean coaching.com. Click on work with me to learn more about my coaching program.
That’s all I got for you today. Love you all. Keep on running lean and I will talk to you soon.
Sometimes it’s during a marathon when your body just says “no more,” but other times, it’s just life that stops you cold. You lose motivation, faith, or direction — and it feels like there’s no way …
Continue Reading about 305. What to Do When You Hit the Wall →
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, sports nutritionist, master life coach, and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you properly fuel your body and your mind so you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster, and run longer than you ever thought Possible. This is running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to episode 305 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners. And today, what to do when you hit the wall. So we all hit walls. Sometimes it’s during a marathon when your body just says, no mas. But other times it’s just life that stops you cold.
You might lose motivation or faith or direction. And it feels like there’s just no way through. But what if the wall isn’t the end? What if it’s actually the path? In this episode, I’m talking about how to face the hardest moments in your life and find the strength to move through them, whether you’re struggling in your running, your health, or just life in general.
This episode will help you reframe those challenges and see them for what they really are. Opportunities to grow stronger, wiser, and more resilient than ever. This one’s gonna be honest, emotional, and powerful. Stick around. But first, listen, if you’re tired of feeling stuck, if running feels harder than it should, if you’ve been doing all the right things, but you’re still not seeing the results that you want, you don’t have to keep trying to figure it all out yourself.
What most runners don’t realize is that the struggle isn’t just physical, it’s mental, it’s emotional. It’s about mindset, nutrition, training, recovery. All of it working together, and that’s exactly what I help my clients do every single day. When we work together, you’ll get a customized plan for running, for strength, for nutrition, but more importantly, you’ll get coaching and accountability to help you to follow through.
You’ll finally build the consistency. The confidence and the strength that you’ve been missing. So if you’re ready to break through your wall in running and in life, go to running lean coaching.com. Click on work with me and we can do this together. All right, let’s get into this topic. What to do when you hit the wall.
Um, and I’m not just talking about that moment in a marathon, when your legs feel like cinder blocks, your brain starts telling you it’s time to quit, and every cell in your body is screaming for mercy. I’m talking about the kind of walls we hit in our life, those things that stop us dead in our tracks that kind of make you question everything.
Maybe you’ve hit a wall in your health and fitness journey. You’re doing everything right, but the scale won’t budge. Maybe it’s in your training, you’ve lost motivation. The joy of running is gone. Maybe it’s something much bigger, something personal, emotional, spiritual, something that shakes the ground under your feet, whatever form it takes, hitting the wall can feel like the end.
But what I wanna offer you today is a different perspective because the wall. Isn’t the end. It’s not a dead end. It’s actually the beginning of something much deeper, A chance to grow, to evolve, to become someone new. Uh, there’s an amazing author and book out there. Ryan Holiday wrote this book called The Obstacle is The Way, and he says this beautifully in this book, the Impediment to Action Advances Action.
What stands in the way? Becomes the way, and that’s the essence of what we’re talking about here today. The obstacle that you see in front of you is the way the wall is, the path. The only way through is through. So I wanna start by defining what I mean when I say the wall in running. It’s that physiological crash.
You know, you’ve burned through your glycogen, your brain starts shutting systems down. You just can’t go on. You’re weak, foggy, unmotivated. Every step feels terrible. The reason I’m bringing this up is because I was talking to somebody last night who recently. Ran the Marine Corps marathon. She did it some years ago.
Um, my fiance Jill and I were just in Washington, DC for the Marine Corps Marathon. And we were working the expo, as you know, Jill is the assistant race director for Air Force Marathon. And so we were representing Air Force Marathon at the Marine Corps Marathon Expo. And so we, we watched 40,000 runners cross the finish line.
We were handing out some challenge medals at the end. It was, it was really an amazing experience. But we, um. We’re talking to someone last night who said she, she ran the Marine Corps marathon, and we were like, oh my gosh, that’s so awesome. She goes, yeah, I didn’t finish. I got to mile 20 and I quit. And we were both like, oh my gosh, that’s terrible.
You know? Um, and, and in reality, my thought was. Come on. You only had a 10 K to go. Like, you gotta push through that, uh, feeling of, uh, wanting to quit. You know, your body is shutting down. I totally get that. And, and listen, if you have ever, you know, uh, given up at the end of a marathon because of physiological reasons, you got, uh, really bad.
Cramps or you’re injured or something like that. What she was telling us was a little bit different. She just didn’t feel like she could go on, you know, there was nothing, uh, majorly wrong with her. She just kind of, you know, was tired and just felt like she couldn’t do it. And so she kind of gave up on herself and she sort of regrets that.
And, and I started thinking about that and, and I thought, you know, that’s a, that’s a good metaphor for life because life throws things at us all the time. Um. We have these moments in our life where, you know, things seem un insurmountable. These problems that seem like there’s just no way that we can get through them.
You know, there’s these huge obstacles to our, what we feel like are obstacles to our success, and we just can’t see a way forward. You know, maybe you’ve lost someone you love, maybe a relationship ended. Maybe you failed at something big like a business or a goal or a dream. Maybe you’re just exhausted from trying so hard for so long.
And here’s the thing, we all do this. Everyone at some point in their life hits a wall. You know, runners, parents, entrepreneurs, coaches, leaders. No one is immune to this. The wall is something universal. It’s part of the human experience, and it’s not a sign that something’s wrong. It’s a sign that you’re on the edge of transformation.
Our natural instinct, though, is to avoid it, we want to go around it, go under it, find a shortcut, or pretend it’s not there. And that’s a problem because growth doesn’t happen by avoiding walls. Growth only happens when you go through them. Here’s a truth that took me a long time to really grasp the wall.
Isn’t your enemy, it’s your teacher. Every wall you hit in your life is trying to teach you something. It’s showing you what’s not working. It’s revealing what still needs to change inside of you. It’s refining you, burning away what’s weak and temporary, what’s not in alignment with who you’re becoming.
You know, one thing in my life that was a big struggle was. Uh, 18 and a half years ago, I, I was really struggling with this addiction to alcohol and I had kind of hit a rock bottom and it felt like the end of my life. Like, this was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to like, deal with, you know, to, to stop drinking.
Um, because it was really destroying my life. It was, it destroyed my marriage. It was, um, threatening to destroy my relationship with people, with my kids. Um, and it was something that just felt like the end of me. But really it was the thing that I had to go through in order for me to become the person that I am today.
And today, that wall that I hit, I’m grateful for that wall. Right in the moment though, it did not feel like that. It felt like the end of the world to me. It felt like the end of my life. It was painful. It felt like a loss. It, I felt like a failure. But I can look back on this, you know, years and years later, and I can realize that.
The wall wasn’t blocking me. It was actually guiding me toward who I needed to become. I wasn’t being punished, I was being shaped. Okay, so when you hit the wall, it kind of brings everything to the surface. The fear, the doubt, the excuses, the stories you tell yourself. It’s like stripping away all your armor, your raw, you’re vulnerable, and you can’t hide behind things like willpower anymore.
And that’s why it’s so uncomfortable. That’s also why it’s so powerful ’cause when you’re standing there face to face with whatever it is that your wall is in that moment, you get to see who you really are. It reveals that about you. It reveals who you are. You see what you really believe about yourself.
You can see how much you can actually trust in your own strength. You see whether or not you’re willing to fight for what really matters to you. And most people never get to that point because they quit. They quit before they get there. They feel the discomfort, they see the wall and they run the other way.
But if you stay, if you stand your ground and you choose to go through it, that’s where you find the version of yourself that’s been waiting on the other side. You know, it’s like pushing through the marathon when you only have those last 10 Ks to go. And I can relate to this because I’ve been there before, back in 2012.
I know this was a long time ago. That’s when I hit my marathon pr. Um. Like a 3 43, uh, which is pretty decent for me back in the day. I, I felt great about this. Um. It was in Indianapolis, it was in November. It was cold. We were dealing with, uh, an ice storm. Uh, the wind and, and, and ice were blowing in my face, heading back towards downtown Indianapolis.
And I had a friend running me in those last 10 Ks, like he met me at mile 20 right around there and, and was running me in. And I actually said to him out loud, like, I don’t think I can do this. I don’t think I can keep running like this. And he just said, you, yes you can. But I was like, forced to deal with this wall that was in front of me, you know?
And it was like a, literally like a wall of wind and ice, you know? And, and, and I was doubting myself and the pain had set in and I was exhausted. Um. And, and he just said, you, you can do this. And, and that was the thing that’s just, I just kept running that through my head. Like I just have to push through, you know?
I know what’s on the other side of this. I’m going to hit my PR if I can keep going like this, and I really, really, really wanted to quit and I didn’t. Right. Most people though, when they’re in that situation, when they feel like they just can’t go on when they. See the wall. When they hit the wall, they do one of three things.
They stop, you know, they give up. They tell themselves, it’s too hard. I’m not good enough. I can’t do this. Or number two, they try to go around the wall. You know, they look for the easy way out. What’s the shortcut? What can I do to avoid this discomfort here? Or number three, when they see the wall, they pretend it’s not there.
They numb out with food, with alcohol, with scrolling, with busyness, anything to just avoid feeling that pain of dealing with the wall, of going through the wall, but all those things, stopping going, trying to go around it or pretending it’s not there, they keep you stuck. You can’t outsmart the wall, you can’t ignore it.
You can’t run from it. Eventually it’s gonna find you again, usually in a bigger way. So you have one real option, and that is to face it. And that is terrifying, but it’s also where freedom lives. So the first step in breaking through any wall is facing it and accepting that, that it’s there, accepting it.
You gotta stop seeing it as a problem and start seeing it as part of the process. The wall isn’t a detour, it’s not a roadblock. This is the path. This is where you shift from. Why is this happening to me? To what is this here? To teach me that question. What is this teaching me? This changes everything for you.
Because it takes you outta victim mode and puts you in power mode, right? You stop fighting reality and you start working with it and acceptance. It doesn’t mean resignation. It doesn’t mean you’re giving up. It means you’ve acknowledged that, okay, this is real. This wall here, this is a real thing. And then choosing to go through it.
An ex good example of this is when I first started working as an entrepreneur and I was coaching other entrepreneurs, um, I was working with people who own small businesses and were trying to get started and I had some experience with this and so I started, you know, coaching them and this never really felt right for me.
Um, I had to accept the fact that this wasn’t really where I needed to be and it wasn’t the right. Fit for me and, and I had to sort of give up on that idea, you know? And when I finally did that, when I finally accepted that this wasn’t really where my heart was, and I started working with runners instead, everything fell into place beautifully for me.
But that was really hard to do because quitting something that I had started, I am not a quitter. I don’t quit anything. And when I had started this business and, and I had to make a decision because it just wasn’t working, I had to make that decision to shift into a different sort of genre here, a different, uh, niche.
And so I had to, uh, make that decision to shift gears and do something else, but it felt like a failure. It felt like I was a complete failure. And, and I didn’t wanna be a failure to myself or anybody else, but I realize now that I just pivoted. All I did was, was made a little, you know, shift in my direction and everything became clear.
And, and of course, this business that I have has become a. Incredibly successful, and it was facing that wall and going through it and not trying to avoid it, not pretending it wasn’t there. You know, my wall was, this wasn’t the right fit, you know, and, and this isn’t working. And, and I had to go through that in order to get where I am today.
But listen, going through the wall. It sucks. Okay. It’s like an emotional rollercoaster. It’s not graceful. It’s not easy, it’s messy. It’s emotional, it’s raw. You’re gonna cry, you’re gonna want to quit. You’re gonna feel lost. You’re gonna question everything. Your faith, your purpose, your strength, and you might even get.
Angry at yourself, at others, at the universe, and all that is okay. It’s part of the process, but you can’t numb your way through the wall. You can’t just check out and avoid it. You have to feel your way through it. The emotions that come up, the fear, the anger, the sadness, the grief, they’re not the enemy.
They’re signals. It’s like an alarm going off saying like, Hey, this is some stuff going on that you need to move through. Okay. And when you let yourself feel all that stuff, when you a, allow yourself to, to go on that emotional rollercoaster, ride without judgment, without, you know, uh, beating yourself up about it, something shifts for you.
This is when you actually start to heal and the wall begins to crack. And one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in all of this is that. Resilience isn’t built in comfort. It’s built in the moments when you think you can’t keep going, but you do anyway. Yeah. Every time you face a wall and you refuse to quit, you’re building that muscle of resilience.
That’s how you grow stronger mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Runners understand this better than most people ’cause every hard run, every tough race, every miserable workout, it’s training your body and your brain to handle the tough stuff, to handle adversity. And that’s why I always say like running is such a perfect metaphor for life.
’cause if you can learn to push through the pain during a really tough run, you can do this anywhere, right? The key though is that you can’t just like survive it. You have to be present in it. You have to notice what’s happening. You have to be aware. You have to be there. You can’t just check out. Notice what your mind is telling you.
Uh, notice how much stronger you are than maybe you think that awareness is what transforms that pain into power. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run in the freezing cold. Or the pouring rain or push through a really hard race. And every time I’ve done something really hard like that, it’s built up just a little bit of mental toughness.
It’s like building that mental toughness muscle. And little by little, my mental toughness, my resilience has grown and gotten stronger and stronger and stronger, and it’s taken years. And it’s taken going through a lot of tough stuff, tough runs and divorces and you know, a addiction. And cancer, like I’ve I, back in 2003, I was diagnosed with cancer and I had to go through all of that really tough times, but I came out the other side of that a lot stronger.
It didn’t feel like it at the time. I can look back on it now and say, yes, that was something that I had to go through in order to become who I am today. But you can’t avoid these things. You can’t avoid. The wall because all that does is just keeps you stuck. It just delays the growth and compounds your suffering.
Every time you avoid discomfort, you reinforce the belief that you can’t do it, that you can’t handle it, that it’s too hard for you, and you’re teaching yourself, Hey, when things get hard, we quit. Like the person I was talking to yesterday about the Marine Corps marathon, she got to mile 20 and it got hard.
There’s a hill there and she couldn’t do it. She quit. And that becomes your default for life. But the truth is you can handle it. You’ve already handled so much more than you give yourself credit for. Think about all the walls you’ve already gone through. Every challenge, every loss, every heartbreak.
You’ve made it through. Every single one. I always tell people you’ve got a hundred percent, uh, uh, track record of getting through tough stuff. We all do. We all have a hundred percent track record of getting through tough stuff. You didn’t think you could do it at the time, but you did. You always did. So when the next wall shows up and it will remember, this isn’t new.
You’ve been here before. You know what to do. You gotta just keep going. So I wanna give you guys a couple of practical tips for a minute here. ’cause this isn’t just about thinking, it’s just not just about mindset. It’s what you do when you hit the wall that really matters. And here’s a few things that can help you to move through it.
Number one. Pause, right? Don’t panic. Don’t freak out. When you hit the wall, your first instinct is to, um, you know, freak out and panic and think the world is about to end. But instead just take a beat. Okay? Take some deep breaths. Remind yourself. This is temporary and you don’t have to fix it right now.
Just breathe and stay present. Number two, just name what’s really going on. What’s the real wall here? Is it fear or self-doubt or burnout? When you name it, you get power over it. Okay. When, when you just, when you’re thinking about something as being so overwhelming that you can’t deal with it, then it has power over you.
But when you give it a name, because it might be something like addiction, but what’s, what’s really behind that? It’s like fear. You know? When you give it that name, then it becomes something that you have power over. Okay. So pause, name it. Number three, ask better questions instead of like, why do things always happen to me?
Why is this so hard? Maybe ask a question to of yourself, like, what’s the real lesson here? How can I grow from this? You’re gonna start to see opportunities instead of obstacles. Alright, those questions are terrible. Why is this so hard? Well, you can come up with all kinds of ideas and reasons why it’s so hard.
But when you say, how can I grow from this? You can come up with lots of ideas there too. Focus on those questions. Those are much better questions. Number four, lean on your people. You don’t have to go through anything alone. Talk to your friends, your family, your coach, your running community. Sometimes just being seen and heard makes the wall feel less heavy and it it becomes something that you can get through and maybe you need help from others to lean into that.
Okay? Don’t, don’t neglect that. Number five, recommit to the process. The wall will test your commitment. It’s like, how bad do you want? This is what it’s saying to you, okay? Reconnect to your why. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Remember what you’re fighting for. Okay? And then number six, take the next step.
Don’t worry about the whole wall, just take the next step and then the next one, then the next one, then that’s how you get through it. One small, messy, but brave step at a time. That’s what’s gonna get you there. Okay. And I get it. Sometimes the wall just feels too big, it’s too painful, it’s too much. And there are things that happen in life when you hit wall after wall, you just don’t have the strength to go again.
And I get that. And if that’s you. Hear me when I say this. You’re not broken. You’re not weak. You are being refined in fire. Sometimes the wall doesn’t move because you’re not ready yet. You’re still becoming the person who can move it, who can push through it. Don’t rush this process. Sit with it, learn from it.
Let it change you. And when you’re ready, when you’ve built the strength, the courage, the faith, that wall that once felt impossible will start to crumble. This took me years and years and years when I wanted to quit drinking. I knew I had a problem with alcohol. It was too big, it was too painful. It was too much.
I couldn’t do it. And it took me years and years and years to sit with it and learn from it. And eventually I had enough strength and courage and faith in myself to attack that and quit, you know? But it felt impossible at the time. It felt like there’s something I could never do. I had to sit with that one for years.
Hmm. When you finally do come out the other side though, something beautiful happens. You’re not the same person who, you know, walked into that wall on the other side of it, you’re stronger. Now, you’re wiser. You’re more grounded, more compassionate. The things that used to scare you, maybe they don’t so much anymore.
The thi things that used to break you or you know, you felt like they could break you. They don’t have that power over you anymore. Because you’ve been through the fire and you didn’t just survive, you transformed yourself in the process. And once you’ve gone through that, once you know you can do it again.
And then once you do it again, you know you can do it again. That’s where freedom, uh, really begins. That’s where your strength really comes into play. That’s where growth really happens. Circling back to Ryan Holiday’s book, the Obstacle is the Way. It’s not just a catchy quote, it’s literally a roadmap for life.
So whatever’s in your way right now, whatever wall you’re facing, it’s not blocking your path. That is your path. It’s the training ground for your soul. Every wall you face prepares you for the next one, and every obstacle builds the strength that you’re gonna need later. And when you start to see life that way, life really changes for you.
You stop dreading hard things. You start welcoming these hard things as opportunities to evolve. Now, we don’t wish these things on ourselves. We don’t wish for, you know, these huge obstacles to show up in our lives. But when they do, you’re not as afraid of them. You realize that the wall isn’t, you know, punishment.
It’s how you build your purpose. Okay. Now, a lot of you, uh, are, are runners and I want to talk a little bit about running here because. What it’s like to hit the wall. Uh, physically, we understand that as runners, right? You, you get that fatigue, that moment where you can’t just, you can’t go another step, but you do anyway.
You dig deep, you find something inside of you, something primal, something fierce that refuses to quit. Well, that same spirit and strength that’s inside you when you’re running and you want to quit, but you keep going. That’s what you need to tap into when life gets hard, when everything starts to fall apart, when you’re tired and broken and scared.
That same, you know, runner’s heart that got you across the finish line, that’s what you need to tap into. You just have to remember that that’s there and it’s available to you. And you’ve done this before and you can do it again. So if you’re standing and, and staring at your wall right now. Maybe it’s a health challenge or a relationship, or your job or your training.
I want you to know this. This moment is not the end. It’s the middle. It’s, it’s the part of the story where everything starts to change for you, but you can’t run from it. You can’t numb yourself to it. You can’t pretend it’s not there. You have to face it and feel it and then move through it. ’cause on the other side of that wall, that’s where freedom is.
And power and peace, and you will make it through this. You always do a hundred percent track record so far of getting through tough stuff. And if any of this spoke to you in this episode, if you’re in the middle of your own wall right now and you want help getting through it, that’s what I do every day as a coach.
I help runners get unstuck physically, mentally, emotionally, so they can do hard things. Lose weight, get stronger, become the best versions of themselves. If you’re ready to break through your wall, just go to running lean coaching.com, click on work with me, and we can do it together. That’s all I got for you today.
Keep on running Lean and I’ll talk to you soon.
You’ve crossed the finish line, achieved something incredible, and then… it’s just over. Now what? This week on the Running Lean podcast, I’m diving deep into The In-Between: What Happens After …
Continue Reading about 304. The In-Between: What Happens After Your Big Race →
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner sports nutritionist, master life coach, and weight loss coach. For runners, I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you, properly fuel your body and your mind so you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster, and run longer than you ever thought. Possible. This is running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to episode 304 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGill. Ray, the weight loss coach for runners. And today, the in-between. What happens after your big race? So you’ve crossed the finish line, you’ve achieved something incredible, and then it’s just over. Now what? Well, today I’m diving deep.
Into the in-between. What happens after you complete your big race? This is a space that few runners really talk about, that strange quiet period after your big event. When the structure disappears, the endorphins fade and your left feeling a little lost. I’m gonna walk you through what’s really happening mentally, emotionally, and physically.
During this time and how to handle it like an athlete with wisdom, with care, and long-term perspective, you’ll learn how to recover the right way, how to rebuild your mindset and reignite your purpose so you stay consistent and strong between seasons. ’cause running isn’t just about one race, it’s about who you become for life.
But first, if you’ve been feeling stuck lately, like running just isn’t clicking the way it used to rest assured you’re not alone. Maybe your energy feels low, your pace isn’t improving, or you just can’t seem to find that spark again. I get it and I can help. What most runners don’t realize is that running stronger, feeling lighter and performing your best isn’t about doing more.
It’s about doing the right things, the right nutrition, the right strength training, the right mindset, and that’s exactly what I teach inside my coaching program. It is a comprehensive, personalized approach that helps you transform your body and your mind, so running feels easier, more powerful. And more fun.
Again, you’ll rebuild your confidence, renew your energy, and start seeing results you didn’t think were possible. So if you’re ready to take your running and your life to the next level, go to running lean coaching.com. Click on work with me. Let’s get you running. Lean for Life. Okay, so let’s talk about the in-between.
What happens after your big race? So today’s topic is about something that almost every runner experiences, but a lot of people just don’t talk about it. It’s that strange, quiet sort of emotional space that happens after you finish a big event like a marathon or ultra marathon. Or maybe you just ran your first half marathon and suddenly you feel like you just.
Don’t know what to do next. You’ve spent months, maybe even years, training for this one thing. You’ve structured your entire life around it. Every run, every meal, every weekend long run, every early morning, wake up in the rain and the snow in the wind. Then you cross the finish line, you feel the joy, the pride, the relief, the pain, all of it.
And then it’s just over. And you wake up the next day and you’re like, okay, now what? So I want to talk about what happens in that place that’s. Base between mentally, emotionally, and physically, and you gotta learn how to navigate this with some grace and with some purpose. And this in-between time can be really hard, but it can also be beautiful.
You might feel lost, you might feel unmotivated, you might even feel a little depressed. But I want you to understand that this is normal and it’s necessary, and if you handle it right, if you can actually. Set yourself up for greater success in your next chapter, whatever that looks like for you. So I’m gonna walk through what’s really happening in your mind and in your body after a big race.
How to care for yourself physically and emotionally. How to get moving again, and how to set new goals for the future, all without losing your sense of direction or purpose. Because we’re not just doing this for one race, we do this for life. So let’s start with the emotional side of this, because that’s where most people feel this first.
So you’ve just come off of months of structure and focus and intensity, and you had a clear goal, a plan to follow, a purpose driving you every single day, and now it’s all gone. What most runners don’t realize is this, this creates. A very real emotional and chemical shift in your body and in your brain.
When you’re training, your brain is constant re constantly releasing feel good chemicals like dopamine, endorphin, serotonin. And every time you check off a workout or nail some long run, your brain gives you a hit of that reward system so you feel accomplished. You feel like you’re moving forward, and then suddenly.
You’re not chasing anything anymore. There’s no countdown. There’s no race on the calendar, no Saturday long run to prepare for, and your body’s not producing those same chemicals at the same level, and that’s why you can feel flat and unmotivated or even sad, even though you just achieve something amazing.
It’s a little like withdrawal. And if you’re not expecting it, it can kind of throw you off and you might start questioning yourself, like, why do I feel this way? Shouldn’t I be happy I just accomplished this major thing? How come I feel so depressed? But listen, there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just a natural swing from a high intensity season back to a resting one.
And it’s the pen pendulum swinging back to the center. So one of my biggest emotional crashes came after I finished the Iron Man, uh, in Louisville in 2013. I had trained for more than a year for this event. And when I crossed that finish line, it was one of the most amazing moments of my life when I crossed the finish line and I heard the announcer say, Patrick McGill, you are an Ironman.
Every time I say that, I get chills. Like I got goosebumps right now. Definitely one of my most amazing moments, probably the proudest moment of my life up to that point anyway. And. I was reeling, you know, for a week or so afterwards, but the depression and the sadness kinda kicked in and I felt like I didn’t have any purpose anymore.
Like my sole purpose for more than a year had been, you know, preparing to cross that finish line. And then I did it and it was done, and I felt like I, I should have been so happy, but I wasn’t, I felt like. Something was wrong with me. So first and foremost, you gotta give yourself permission to feel all of this, right?
You don’t have to rush out of it. You don’t have to fix it. There’s nothing to fix. Just let yourself feel it and then let yourself sort of come down from that. Okay? Now let’s talk about the physical side, because this part is just as important and just as misunderstood. So most runners underestimate how much recovery they truly need after a big race.
Even if you’re feeling okay a few days later, your legs aren’t as sore. You can walk normally again, you can go downstairs without wincing, your body’s still dealing with. Massive stress. Your muscles have micro damage. Your glycogen stores are depleted. Your hormones and your immune system are out of balance.
Just because your mind wants to run again doesn’t mean your body is ready for it. And this is where a lot of runners get into trouble. They start running again too soon. They do too much too soon. They want to, they wanna get back on track. They want to get. That physical feeling again, of running, and they wanna fill that emotional void too with more training.
But if you push your body before it’s ready, you risk injury burnout and prolonged fatigue. So there’s a better approach. I’m gonna call the smart recovery timeline. So this is where the, for the first, you know, one to two weeks after a big event. Don’t do much running. Really, this is the time just to rest, sleep, recover and reflect.
Do some walking, some stretching, some yoga. If it feels good, maybe a short bike ride. I think walking is one of the best things you can do, but keep everything. Easy and restorative. And then once you start getting into weeks like three and four, you can start adding in a few easy runs, but only if your body feels ready.
Keep the pace slow, the distance short. Focus on just getting out there and moving, even if you’re doing a run walk thing, not. You know, increasing the mileage too fast. And then week four and beyond, you can start to gradually rebuild your running routine. A few easy runs, maybe one day of light strength training.
Still no, you know, intense speed work or long runs. Let your body reestablish some balance before you start, you know, building again. Okay. The rule of thumb I always share is this, you can’t rush recovery, you can only support it. And after my a hundred miler that I did back in 2017, I was feeling so kind of lost and stuff.
So I signed up for a trail marathon that was just like two months later and I figured this would give me enough time to recover. And I went into that event thinking it was gonna be pretty easy ’cause it’s just a marathon. I thought to myself, you know, I just ran a hundred miles, so this marathon’s gonna be super easy, but I, my body was not ready to run that much.
Um, I did a few easy training runs and I felt okay, so I figured, oh, it’s fine. I’ll run a marathon. I had such a terrible time out there. It was really hard. Every step was challenging. My legs, uh, were definitely not ready for this, and I had to make the tough decision to cut it short. It was a looped course.
Each loop was like six and a half miles, so they had a, a 10 k, a half marathon and a full marathon. I ended up doing three loops and then called it quits. It was around 20 miles, but that’s all I could do. That’s all I had in me. At that point, I had to just listen to my body and say, you know, um, I, I can’t finish this, and I shouldn’t really, I didn’t wanna get injured.
Uh, you know, I didn’t want to just burn myself out. Um, so I had to like squash my pride a little bit and call it quits around the 20 mile mark. And I, and I feel like that was the right decision. So remember your body, you know, you just did something extraordinary, but it was very stressful. Um. Probably for, for some of us, you know, if, if you ran your fastest marathon or your first marathon or whatever, it’s, it’s probably the most demanding thing you’ve ever done.
And you’ve gotta give your body time and respect and care, um, just like you do in your training. You know, you respect your body and your, and your, um, and your physical state in your training. You gotta respect it in your recovery as well. So let’s shift gears a little bit. I wanna talk about something a little bit deeper.
Something that catches a lot of runners off guard, and this is the identity shift. So when you’re training for a big race, your identity gets wrapped up in that process. I’m a marathoner in training. I’m a. I’m an ultra marathoner in training. I’m an Ironman in training, and you’re, you’ve got this mission, you got a big goal.
You got this mission, your schedule, your nutrition, your mindset, everything orbits around that one big goal, and then suddenly that’s all gone, that identity. Disappears. Uh, you’re still a runner, of course. Um, but that structure, the drive, the sense of purpose is gone. It’s like you’ve lost your compass and it can feel really unsettling.
Some people start overcompensating by signing up for another race right away. Others just stop running altogether for a while either. Extreme kind of misses the point though. The truth is this, in-between time is a chance to reconnect with yourself, not as someone chasing a race, but someone who runs because you love it, because it’s part of who you are.
And this is your opportunity to remember why you started in the first place. Training for those big races for me. It took years of my life and, and during those years, my identity was all about being an Ironman or being that a hundred mile finisher. And after those events were over, I had to accept that.
Yes, that is a part of who I am, but I’m also so much more than that. I’m more than an ultra runner. I’m more than an Iron man. In fact, it was shortly after I did that Iron Man and I finished that, that I decided to quit my corporate job and start, uh, my own business. And I started coaching ’cause I wanted to share everything I learned about, um, running and identity and purpose and nutrition with other runners who might also need help navigating all that stuff.
So that was really. The thing that made me sort of shift my identity. Okay, so I want you to ask yourself, what do I love most about running when I’m not training for anything? Like what is it that’s really driving you and what else in my life lights me up that maybe got pushed aside during the training?
Who am I outside of this event or this particular finish time? This is the identity work that turns you from a. Seasonal athlete into a lifelong athlete because when you truly identify as an athlete, as someone who values health and strength and growth year round, then you don’t really lose that sense of direction or identity.
When one race ends, you just move into a different season with a different intention. Okay, so once the dust settles, once your body starts to heal and your emotions start to level out, this is the perfect time for a mental and emotional reboot. It’s not about setting the next big goal yet. It’s about reflection.
Learning and gratitude. Here’s a few things I recommend to every runner after a big race. Reflect on your race honestly. So what went well? What didn’t go so well? What’d you learn about yourself? What are you gonna do differently? Next time, write it all down while it’s still fresh. This kind of reflection gives you valuable insights that you can bring into your next training cycle.
So definitely do that reflection. That’s very, very important. Number two, celebrate. Celebrate your accomplishment. Do not skip this step. Most runners finish a race. Immediately think, okay, what’s next? But you just did something incredible. You earn that moment. So go out to dinner, eat some ice cream, frame your medal, share your story.
Take pride in that. Uh, number three, practice some gratitude. Thank your body for carrying you that far. Thank your mind for staying strong. Thank the people who supported you. Gratitude is very powerful. It helps you shift out of self-criticism and into appreciation for everything that you have. And then number four, check in on some other areas of your life when you’re training.
A lot of things can fall by the wayside, like relationships, hobbies. Even simple rest. Take time now to reconnect. Spend more time with family, with friends, do something non-running related. And this is all part of your emotional recovery plan. It’s how you refill your cup. It’s not just so you can go run again.
It’s about so you feel balanced and whole as a person, as a human being. So now you’re a few weeks out from your race, you’re starting to feel a little more like yourself again. You’ve rested, reflected, maybe you’ve gotten in a few easy runs. Now what? When should you start planning your next big thing?
Well, my honest answer is this. Just do it when you feel ready, emotionally, mentally, not just physically. If you’re still feeling kind of burnt out, mentally tired, or like you’re. Forcing yourself to care about things, you’re probably not ready yet. Give it some time. Most runners do best when they take two to four weeks off before making any big training decisions or any big race decisions during that time.
Keep moving. Keep journaling and start asking yourself some other questions like, what do I love most about, uh, training? What did I love most about my last training block? What kind of challenge lights me up? What excites me? Um, what did I miss out on that I want to experience next time? When you do feel ready to choose your next event, choose from a place of curiosity and desire, not like.
Fear or peer pressure. Don’t sign up for something just to fill the void, which is what a lot of people do. They come down off a race and they immediately sign up for something else. ’cause they wanna get that feeling back. Right? Choose something that feels meaningful for you, something that lights a spark in you.
And it doesn’t have to be another marathon. Maybe it’s a trail race. Maybe it’s a shorter distance with more focus and speed. Maybe it’s something totally different like. Just doing some strength training or cycling. The point is, your next goal should support your growth, not distract you from your emotions.
So after my Iron Man finish, I, I was like, you know what? I never want to do that again. I did not love the bike. I love running. I, I did grow to love swimming, but I never really liked cycling. Training for the Ironman requires a lot of time in the saddle. So I hung up my tri bike and I decided what I really loved and what I was really passionate about was trail running.
It’s simple, it’s primal, it’s freeing, you know, just get out there on the trails and run, and there are no bikes involved at all. So I signed up for a trail ultra marathon. I think it was a 50 K that next spring, and I set my sights on, on this new purpose and, and that decision felt really good to me. Okay, so let’s talk about what to do in the meantime, because this is where a lot of runners lose momentum.
So when you don’t have a race on the calendar, it’s easy to just drift, sort of, you know, it is like a ship on the ocean without a rudder. You’re just, you’re just out there. You have no purpose, no direction, and a lot of people lose consistency. Um, they start skipping workouts because they tell theirselves it really doesn’t matter right now, but this is actually one of the most important seasons of your entire athletic life.
The off season. That’s when you build a strong foundation. That’s when you maintain your fitness, uh, keep your habits solid, take care of your body, build strength. Here’s how to stay consistent between big goals. Number one, keep a simple running routine. You don’t have to train like a maniac. Just a couple easy runs per week is plenty.
Just enough to keep your aerobic base strong and your body in that rhythm of running. Number two, keep lifting. Strength training is the best off season invest investment you can make. I think you should be training all year round. Um, but the, the off season is definitely a time where you can spend more time, uh, building a, a solid strength foundation.
This is gonna keep you strong all year long, prevent injuries and make you faster when you do ramp up your training again. Uh, number three. Eat well. Don’t fall into the trap of reward eating after your race. Your body still needs real nutrient dense food to recover, and this is the perfect time to dial in your nutrition again and rebuild that metabolism.
Number four, prioritize sleep and recovery. You may not be training hard, but your body is still catching up from months of stress, sleep, rest, mobility, all that stuff still matters. And then number five, stay connected. Whether it’s to a coach or a running group or an online community. You don’t have to go it alone.
Stay connected, um, and it’ll help you to stay accountable and remind you why you love this sport so much. Because remember, we’re not doing this just for one race. We’re doing this for life. The most successful, resilient runners are the ones who learn to manage these in between seasons with patience and purpose.
They don’t chase the next high. They build consistency slowly and intentionally. So if any of this resonates with you, if you’re sitting in that in-between right now, if you’re feeling lost or unmotivated after your big event, please hear me when I say this. You’re not broken, you’re not lazy, you’re not done.
You’re just in a different phase of the process, and this phase is just as important as all the others. This is where you rebuild, reflect, and you remember. Who you are at your core, not just as a runner, but as a human being who’s learning, growing, and evolving through this sport that we love so much. The race isn’t the end, it’s just one chapter, okay?
The space between races, that quiet, uncertain, uncomfortable space, that’s where you truly become the athlete that you’re meant to be. So take care of yourself right now, physically, mentally, emotionally. Be patient with your body. Be kind to your mind. Celebrate what you’ve done and trust that when the time is right, that next goal will find you.
Right? ’cause you’re not training for just one season, you’re training for life. Alright, that’s all I got for you today. Love you all. Keep on running lean and I’ll talk to you soon.
Have you ever felt frustrated because the scale isn’t moving, your runs aren’t going well, or you’re just not seeing the results you want? It’s easy to get caught up in the tiny details and feel …
Continue Reading about 303. Are You Too Focused on the Wrong Things? →
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner sports nutritionist, master life coach, and weight loss coach. For runners, I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you, properly fuel your body and your mind so you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster, and run longer than you ever thought. Possible. This is running Lean.
Hey there and welcome to episode 303 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners. And today are you too focused on the wrong things. Have you ever felt frustrated because the scale isn’t moving or your runs aren’t going as well as you’d hoped, or you’re just not seeing the results that you want?
It’s easy to get caught up in these tiny details and feel like you’re not making progress like you’re failing. But the truth is. You’re doing the work, you’re showing up, you’re eating better, you’re training consistently, you’re probably just too focused on the wrong things. So in this episode, I’m asking that question, are you too focused on the wrong things?
We’re gonna take a step back and look at the entire picture of your health and fitness journey, because once you zoom out, you’ll see. That you’re actually doing a lot better than you think. So this is gonna be your reminder that progress doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be consistent. So get ready to feel a whole lot better about where you are right now with this episode.
Okay? But first, let’s be real for a minute. If running feels harder than it should, if you’re. Constantly struggling with energy and motivation or getting the results that you want. If you’ve been trying to change your body and your habits, but nothing seems to stick, then it’s time to do something different.
Nothing changes if nothing changes, right? Most runners think more miles. We’ll solve the problem, but if your body isn’t strong, if your nutrition isn’t dialed in, if your mindset is working against you, then running more is only going to make things worse. That’s why I created my coaching program. It’s designed specifically for runners who want to lose weight, get stronger, and make running easier.
We don’t do quick fixes, though. We don’t do one size fits all We do. Real change body, mind, lifestyle. So if you’re ready to feel better, run stronger and actually love the process, then let’s go. Go to my website running lean coaching.com, click on work with me to get started. Commit to yourself today. I know you are so ready for this.
Okay, let’s get into this here. Are you too focused on the wrong things? Here’s the deal. If you’ve ever obsessed over a number on a scale, or you’ve beaten yourself up for having a bad run, or maybe you missed a workout, if you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything right, but you’re still not getting any results.
Probably you are probably too focused on the wrong thing. So today is about helping you to shift your perspective and seeing the truth about your progress and, and not letting these little things hold you back. It’s very easy to obsess over some of these small things, so maybe you had a slower than usual run, or you gained a pound.
Or you made a bad food choice, or God forbid you actually missed a workout. When you’re hyper-focused on these individual moments, you’re focused on the negative, and it can really feel like. You are failing, like you are a failure, right? But here’s something I want you to understand. First of all, you are not a failure, right?
You just, you missed a workout or you made a bad food choice and you’re not even failing. What you’re doing though, is you’re obsessing over these little things and you’re almost too close to the situation to be able to see it clearly. It’s like standing an inch away from a painting and all you see are those messy little brush strokes up close.
I did this, you know, a couple years ago I was at the Cincinnati Art Museum, which is a, an amazing art museum by the way, and always free to get in. So if you’re ever in Cincinnati, you gotta go. But I was looking at a Van Gogh painting that I thought was really cool, and I got up really close, um, as close as they would let me, obviously I wasn’t like touching it or anything, but you could like see the brush strokes and, and when you get up really close, it’s a, it’s chaos.
It’s just these random. Brush strokes, it’s really messy. It does not look like something worthy of being in a museum like I’m no art critic or anything, but I’m looking up close at this thing and I’m like, this just looks like sloppy, whatever. Like a 4-year-old could do this. But as you step back, this image starts to become much clearer and.
Literally, it’s only then when you take that, that bigger picture, that zoom out, that you can see the beautiful art that has been masterfully created. So it’s really, when you’re really up close, it’s messy, it’s chaotic. It doesn’t look like anything. But when you zoom out and you look at it from the proper perspective.
You can see the truth of the painting and it is beautiful. So I want you to think about that as we’re going through this topic today, because that’s how I want you to think about you and your health and fitness journey. So let’s say you, um, had a race recently and you didn’t hit your race goal. Well, that happens, right?
I don’t, can’t tell you how many times I’ve run a marathon trying to pr or hit some particular time goal and didn’t hit it like it. It happens all the time. But you have to remember that you still did the work to get there. You did the work to show up. You trained hard, you showed up on race day. Uh, you ran the race, you finished the race.
Those things are huge. Don’t take that away from yourself. Um. One time I got really bummed out about a race. So I was, I was doing this series of 50 Ks, uh, locally here around the Cincinnati area, uh, one summer. And, and if you’ve completed four out of, I think there were six 50 Ks in this series, but if you completed four of the, of the six.
Then you got this, um, special like gym bag essentially, and it had like, embroidered on it. The, the name of the race or the challenge that you won or whatever it was. So I was like, oh, I’m gonna get that bag. You know, so I, I did three of these 50 Ks and it was time for the fourth one, and I had just gotten back from vacation.
I didn’t really train much while I was on vacation. Literally the day before I had, I got off the cruise ship or something like that and then showed up the next morning and I was just tired and not feeling it. And. I was like, I’m, it’s fine. I don’t need to, you know, crush this thing. I just gotta finish. I gotta get the bag, you know, so I, I started running the first mile, was on the road, kind of separate people out before it turned and went onto the trails.
Well, as soon as we got on the trails, about a hundred yards in, I tripped on a, on a route or a rock or something. I didn’t even see what it was. And. Fell on my knee and like busted up my knee and my knee sw up really big and I got up and I was limping and I, I couldn’t even walk on, I couldn’t even put any weight on it.
But I, I was, you know, determined to finish this thing. So I, I just hobbled along for a while. It did kind of loosen up a little bit and start to feel a little bit better and I could, I kind of walk on it without limping and then I could kind of run and walk and then I could run and I was like, maybe I’m gonna be okay.
Um, it was killing me and it was super swollen, but I’m like, okay, I can still run. So I ran and. I ran. I got to 26 miles, so I basically ran a marathon on a busted up knee. I had one more loop to do and that last, the, the loop that got me between like miles 20 and 26, I had to basically walk the last five miles of that.
I could not even bend my leg. Uh. By the time I finished that 26 miles, there was no way I could go on and I was so bummed out. I had to DNF, it was my one and only DNF. Um, and I was so bummed out about it because I had, I had done all this work and I had, you know, I was focused on this challenge and, you know, running these four races and then race day came, I showed up, I did my best, and it just wasn’t my day.
But I was so bummed out about it, and so I was talking to a friend about it and I was telling him about this, and I was like, man, I’m so bummed out. And I explained the challenge and, oh yeah, you’re gonna get this bag and stuff. He goes, I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna get a gym bag and I’m gonna have an embroidered that says you are a runner and I’ll give it to you.
Would that help? I was like. Well, first of all, you’re kind of being a jerk right now. But second of all, that does make sense and you’re, you’re, you’re right, you’re putting this into perspective for me. And I was so focused on the bag, or, you know, finishing this one race or focusing on this one failure that I didn’t step back and look at the bigger picture.
And he told me that too. He is like, what, what have you done this summer? You, you trained for and ran successfully? Three 50 ks. Who does that? Like most people don’t do stuff like that just because you like, you know, had a, a fall and an injury and you did your best. Like you, you showed up and you ran a, basically you ran a marathon on a busted up knee.
Like that’s pretty badass. That’s, um, David Goggins stuff right there. And like, he, he really helped me to see the bigger picture and that I wasn’t a failure. I felt like a failure. You know, I had never d NFD anything before, and I felt like a total failure, you know, but he really helped me to see the bigger picture.
So this is just one story, and I talk to runners every single day who deal with stuff like this. You know, maybe the scale hasn’t budged. It’s, you know, it’s been a couple of weeks. Um, but listen, you’re still eating right? You’re still fueling your body with the right foods. You’re still focused on being a healthy person and eating well.
You know, you’re still doing the work and taking care of yourself. Um, you know, maybe you. Had a, uh, cheat meal. You ate something off plan, you skipped a run, or you had a, a rough week of running and it was just you had a bad run. That happens quite a bit. You know, we just, we have a bad run sometimes. Guess what?
You’re normal. Welcome to the club. You’re a human being. Okay? None of these little moments. Can undo the progress that you’re making. So you gotta take a, a beat sometimes and zoom out and look at the bigger picture, because it’s only then that you can actually see what’s really going on. We get so stuck in, you know, the failure of a moment that we don’t see how much progress we’re actually making.
Some other things you can see when you zoom out, Hey, you’re running regularly. You’re eating healthier than you used to. You’re creating better habits around food and exercise. You’re stronger, you have more energy, you clothes fit better, you’re more disciplined. Maybe you’re sleeping better. You know you’re becoming.
The kind of person who shows up for themselves. All those things right there, that’s all progress to me. That’s what success looks like. You’re committed to the process of improvement. That’s what actually matters. And if you’re doing all these things, why are you letting like one bad run or, or one cheat meal, steal your joy.
You know, a lot of times we’re so focused on where we’re not, uh, we lose sight of how far we’ve come. This is the, the gap versus the gain principle. So it’s very easy to focus on the gap between where you are right now and where you ultimately want to be. So maybe you, you, uh, set out to lose 50 pounds, you know, and you still got, you know, 20 more pounds to go.
Or maybe your body composition isn’t where you want it to be. You know, you still have 10% of body fat to lose, or maybe you’re not running as fast as you want be. You still have to improve by, you know, 30 seconds or a minute per mile. Focusing on the gap, you know, where you’re not. Does this help you? No, just makes you feel like crap.
It makes you feel like a failure, like you’re never gonna get there. Like it’s always gonna be so far away and it’s frustrating. The truth is, though, this is not reality. Because when you look at how far you’ve actually come, when you look at the gains that you’ve made and you focus on that, Hey, I’ve lost, you know, 20 pounds already or 30 pounds, I’m, I’ve, I’ve lost 6% of my body fat.
I’m running faster than I did three months ago. When you actually look at the progress you’re making, that is what’s, what’s reality. That that’s the truth. The truth is you are making progress, but you don’t see it because you gained a pound. And now you’re miserable, right? Doesn’t that sound crazy when you say it like that?
But it’s true. We do this all the time. Can’t tell you how many people I talk to who get very upset if the scale goes up. I’m like, I’ve never seen anybody lose weight in a straight line that goes from, you know, the top, uh, to the bottom. Like it goes up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down. Now, of course, we wanna see it trending down, and it usually is, but it’s gonna go up.
It’s gonna come down, it’s gonna go up, it’s gonna go down. And if you’re, if you get upset every time the scale goes up a little bit, you are gonna be upset a lot. I’m just gonna tell you. So think about your journey, like the graph that I was just describing, right? If you, if you zoom in and you’re looking at those little bumps, it’s gonna be up, up, down, up, down, oh my gosh.
You know, I’m, I’m not making any progress. I’m two steps forward. You know, three steps back, whatever. But if you zoom out, you get that. You can see the clear trend. You know, you can see that things are actually moving in the right direction, right? You just gotta, you gotta just zoom out, okay? So you’re not the result of the scale, uh, you’re not the result of a bad run, you’re not the result of, uh, uh, a fall that you had on a run.
You’re the result of what you do consistently day in and day out, that’s who you are. So if you’re consistently showing up for yourself, even when you don’t feel like it, if you’re doing the work, even when it’s hard, if you’re staying on the path, even when you feel like you’re failing, that’s when you really win.
Look, I get it. It’s easy to get caught up in like metrics and numbers, your pace, your mileage, how many calories you meet, how many pounds you weigh, your, you know, PR or not a pr, whatever. But that stuff doesn’t tell the whole story. What matters more is like, are you becoming more disciplined? Are you showing up for yourself?
Are you proving to yourself that you can do hard things consistently? Are you getting stronger, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally? Yeah, because that’s what’s going to carry you through the hard times. You know, you’re not gonna have a perfect run every time you go out there, but if you’re consistently working on becoming the best version of yourself, mind, body, soul, then that’s what’s gonna get you through those tough times.
So you’re not every run’s gonna be perfect, and you’re never going to have a, a perfect, uh, scale reading every time you look at the scale. What’s going to help you get through all of that stuff though, is, is this mindset, this mindset of, Hey, I’m, I’m making progress. I’m showing up for myself. I’m doing something today to become the person that I ultimately want to become.
So if you’re in a place right now. Where you’re feeling discouraged, like maybe you’re doing everything right, but it’s not working, or it’s not working fast enough, or you’re feeling stuck, or you’re not seeing the results that you expected. You know, maybe you had a timeline. Oh, I was supposed to lose X amount of pounds in three months, or whatever it was.
Just take a pause, take a breath. Zoom out. Look at what you’re doing. Look at what you’ve already done. Look at how far you’ve come. Focus on the gains. Look at who you’re becoming. Look at what you’re doing each and every day to become that person. And chances are you’re doing much better than you think.
You just need to stop focusing on those wrong things, okay? So keep showing up for yourself. Keep doing the work, keep believing in yourself. I believe in you. And then lastly, never ever, ever quit. ’cause that’s the only time you really fail is when you give up, right? Failure. Is part of the process. Failure is how we succeed.
You gotta fail to succeed. You fail your way to success every single time. There’s not one person who’s done anything of of value that wasn’t, uh, challenged with a bunch of failures along the way, right? So the only way you truly fail is if you give up and quit. Okay? Don’t do that. That’s all I got for you today.
Love you all. Keep on running lean, and I will talk to you soon.
This week marks a huge milestone for the podcast — episode 300! To celebrate, I’m sharing something very special: 20 Principles to Help You Get Leaner, Get Stronger, Run Better, and Live …
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner sports nutritionist, master life coach, and weight loss coach. For runners, I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you, properly fuel your body and your mind so you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster, and run longer than you ever thought Possible. This is running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to episode 300 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners. And today, 20 principles to help you get leaner, get stronger, run better, and live longer. This week is a huge milestone for the podcast episode 300. So to celebrate, I’m doing something a little bit different.
I’m sharing 20 principles to help you get leaner, stronger, run better, live longer. After nearly six years and 300 episodes, I’ve covered just about everything from fat burning nutrition to strength training, endurance building, mastering your mindset. But the truth is. All of this boils down to a handful of timeless principles.
These aren’t quick fixes. They’re not hacks. They aren’t they, they are the core truths that every runner needs to live by. These are the principles that will guide you to becoming the strongest, leanest, most resilient version of yourself. And to keep you running well for life. So in honor of episode 300, I’m just laying it all out there for you.
Um, I hope you enjoy this. And listen, if you’ve been struggling with your running, with your body, with your health, I want you to know that it doesn’t have to be this way. Running doesn’t need to feel like a constant battle. Food doesn’t have to feel like, uh, confusing or, or feel like, uh, you’re being deprived all the time.
Strength training doesn’t have to be overwhelming. If you don’t have, you don’t have to keep spinning your wheels hoping that things will magically get better. What you need is a proven plan. You need the right support. You need someone in your corner to help you stay on track. That’s exactly what I do every single day with my coaching clients.
We work together to build a strong nutritional foundation. We develop a strength program that actually makes you a better runner, and then we master the mindset it takes to stay consistent with all this stuff for life. If you’re ready to finally transform into Lina’s strongest, most confident version of yourself, let’s go.
Just head over to my website running lean coaching.com and click on work with me. Alright, let’s get into this. Like I said. I’ve covered a ton of ground over the last 300 episodes. I was looking over my list of topics and oh my gosh, there’s so much I have covered on topics of nutrition and strength and endurance and mindset.
But what I’m sharing with you today are the. The big takeaways, the truths that have stood the test of time, truths, that’s hard to say. The truths that have stood the test of time. Think of these as the guiding principles that kind of tie everything together. Um, if you’ve ever like listened to the podcast and you thought, well, what matters most?
What should I really focus on? Well. This is it. Okay, so in honor of hitting this big milestone, here are my 20 principles to help you get leaner, get stronger, run better, and live longer. 20 principles that I believe every runner should live by. And the first one we’re just gonna get right into this, is to eat real food.
Everything really starts here. Real whole food fuels your body the way nature intended. If it comes in a box or a bag, or it has a barcode, or it has a lot of ingredients, I would question it. It doesn’t mean you, you shouldn’t eat it necessarily, but question it. Stick to food that still looks like food.
Food that is nutrient rich. Food that is, uh, in its natural form. You know, I’ve mentioned this in the past where there are some things where I think it’s okay to, to have some lightly processed food. Like I, I buy some frozen broccoli. That is in a bag that has been cut up. You know, if you’ve ever like cut a bunch of fresh broccoli, do you know how messy that is?
The little teeny broccoli pieces get everywhere. It’s ridiculous. So to me that’s like, yes, it is processed food, but guess what? There’s one ingredient in there, it’s broccoli. Somebody else cut it for me and. Froze it so that all I gotta do is cook it. You know, I don’t have to throw anything away so I’m not wasting anything.
Um, so that’s an example of a processed food that I am on board with. Okay? But look at the food that you’re eating. Make sure it is minimally or not processed at all. That’s kind of your, your best bet. Eat food still looks like. The food that it’s supposed to be. You know, number two, fat burning is your superpower.
So teaching your body to burn fat efficiently gives you steady energy. It improves your endurance as a runner. It makes it much easier to lose weight or manage your weight. Fat burning should be the focus. It should be your superpower. And when I talk about fat burning, I don’t mean that you’re gonna, you know, you gotta be on some kind of like ketogenic diet for the rest of your life or something like that.
We’re talking about being metabolically flexible. That means that. You have developed the ability to burn fat and carbohydrates equally Well, most people, they just don’t get into that fat burning zone very well. They don’t teach their body how to burn fat effectively. And so if you’re an endurance athlete, you’re sort of losing, uh, an edge.
You, you’re not using a tool that is available to you. So get good at fat burning. It really is a superpower. Number three, strength is not optional. Running alone will not make you strong. In fact, running is catabolic. It breaks down muscle tissue, especially long distance running. So in order to preserve muscle tissue, in order to preserve your strength, you need to be actively building muscle lifting.
Weights lifting heavy weights. This will build muscle. Eating enough protein. This will help you build muscle. Having more muscle means you’re gonna be, uh, you, you are at less risk of, of injury. You are more metabolically, uh, astute. In other words, like your body is better at metabolizing calories in general, you’re better at burning fat.
Um, you just burn more calories. When you have more muscle. Um, it’ll make you a. A faster runner, you’ll have more power. It’ll improve your endurance because it takes strong muscles longer to fatigue than weak muscles. Uh, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be building muscle. So strength is not optional.
Make it something that you do as part of your weekly training. Number four, you can’t outrun a crappy diet. No amount of miles is going to undo, you know, uh, decades of poor food choices, right? Nutrition is the foundation of fat loss. It’s the foundation of your performance as a runner when you are eating a really crappy diet.
You are putting your body in a state of stress. You’re putting your body in a state of inflammation and running just makes that worse. It actually creates more stress and more inflammation on your body. And so that is like a bad combination right there. So instead of just trying to run more and outrun all this crap that you’re eating.
It’s much better to change the diet, eat real food, stick to, you know, a, a, a diet that is low in sugar, you know, that is low in processed food, uh, that is low in hyper palatable food. And then you’re gonna be burning more fat. You’re going, when you are running, you’re, you’re going to burn more fat. You’re not going to be just burning off a bunch of junk and that.
Uh, diet is gonna have such a bigger impact on your overall metabolism and your weight and, and whether or not you are, you know, burning fat or burning sugar. But just trying to outrun poor food choices is not, it’s not gonna work. I talk to people every single day who tell me they’re running more, they’re gaining weight, ’cause their diet kind of sucks.
Fix the diet. Okay. Number five, discipline beats motivation every single time. Motivation is one of those things that comes and goes. You know, you might feel motivated because you, uh, you know, read a story about someone that did something hard or you, uh, got motivated because it’s a new year and you feel motivated to, to join a gym.
Okay. What happens after a couple of months of that though, uh, that motivation fades. Um, and this happens with a lot of people I work with too, who at the beginning of the process, they feel very motivated. They’re doing great, they’re staying on track, everything’s going well, and they start to lose a little bit of that motivation.
And so we have to, you know, reel ’em back in. We do a few things and we get, you know, get people to, to get back on track again. And one of the things we do is, is focus on discipline. Instead of trying to focus on just motivation. ’cause motivation might get you started, but it’s not gonna keep you going.
Motivation might get you started. Discipline is what keeps you going. Discipline is what keeps you moving forward. Long after the motivation fades away. So be disciplined. You’re not gonna feel like you’re not gonna be motivated. You’re not gonna feel like running. You know, some morning you wake up, it’s raining, it’s cold.
But if you’re a disciplined person, you’re gonna get outta bed. You’re gonna put on your running shoes, you’re gonna go do it no matter what. So be disciplined. It’s gonna be motivation every single time. Number six, consistency over perfection. You do not have to do these things perfect to succeed. Even the the 20 principles I’m talking about today, you are not gonna do these perfectly.
I guarantee that I work with God. I’ve worked with like a, a right around 500, uh, different runners and not one of them has done this perfectly. You just have to be consistent. You, you do need consistency. You need consistency over weeks, over months, and over years. You can’t just be consistent for a few days.
Like that’s not gonna be enough, but thinking that you do it perfectly or you’re not gonna do it at all, I’ve heard that from people. Well, if I can’t do it perfectly, I’m just not gonna start. I’m just not gonna do it. And that’s just kind of dumb thinking because nobody does it perfectly. So if you think that you have to do things 100% perfectly, or you’re just not gonna do them, you’re not gonna be doing a whole lot of stuff.
I promise you. So instead, try for consistency. Be consistent. If you are doing the right things, sticking to your plan, getting your workouts in, eating right 90% of the time, that means you have this 10% like wiggle room where you can just sort of. Wing it. I promise you, you’re gonna make a ton of progress over time, okay?
But we can’t expect to be perfect. Uh, ’cause it’s just not reality. Alright? So be consistent. Number seven. Let’s see. Rest and recovery are part of your training. Hard work breaks you down. Recovery is what makes you stronger. Don’t treat rest like an afterthought. You don’t gain muscle at the gym. You gain muscle while you’re sleeping.
You don’t improve your cardiovascular system while you’re out there, you know, running sprints. You, you do that when you’re at rest. You have to include rest and recovery in your training program. It just has to be part of your training plan. If it isn’t, put it in there. I know it’s hard. It’s hard to take a rest day.
Um. But I hear from runners all the time who are like, oh, you know, gosh, I was really burnt out and tired. I just felt exhausted, but I went and did this workout anyway. And I’m like, well, don’t do that. That is not going to help. You’re just like breaking yourself down even more when you do that. But we think we’ve been taught that like that’s what you need to do if you want to be a.
Badass. You gotta go run, even if you feel like crap, you know, even if you can’t even get outta bed, you’re so tired. But you gotta get up and, you know, do that anyway. Now, I think there’s plenty of days where if you’re just not feeling it, you need to just take a rest day. Okay? Uh, now if you’re, if you’re formulating your training properly, if you’re following a good diet, if you’re getting rest and recovery, you’re getting good sleep and things like that, you shouldn’t be burning yourself out anyway.
Um, but we do go through phases like that where we do get a little exhausted, and it’s okay to just take a, take a beat. You do not have to get out there and kill yourself. Like if you end up in the, in the, um, emergency room, uh, that is not a win. That is not a win. Okay? Number eight. Progress is never linear.
The scale’s gonna go up and down. Running is gonna feel hard sometimes, uh, setbacks are going to happen. You need to just stay the course ’cause your results will follow as long as you are persistent. I have seen so many people get frustrated anytime the scale goes up. Guess what though? The scale’s gonna go up and down, up and down, up and down from now until the rest of your life.
Like it’s just always going to happen that way. I’ve never seen anybody lose weight from day one to day 90 or whatever. Just perfectly like straight down like it. It’s always up and down. It always is. I’ve never seen anybody who’s improved their running. You know, do it perfectly where it just kept getting better and better and better and better.
There’s lots of days, weeks, sometimes that kind of suck and you’re running sufferers and you don’t do that well. Plenty of races where you don’t PR Progress is never linear. It is. It is wonky, you know. Instead go back to the principle of being consistent. Um, because instead of thinking that progress is going to be in some perfectly straight line, just.
Stick to the principles, do what you need to do each day, and progress will happen as long as you don’t quit. You’ll get there eventually. Allow the up and downs to be there. It’s part of the process. Okay? Um, don’t get frustrated by the ups and downs. It’s just part of it. Uh, number nine, zone two builds your engine slow, easy.
Miles are the foundation of endurance. They teach your body to to go longer, to recover faster, to burn fat efficiently. Um. You do not need to kill yourself every single time you go out there and run. In order to build a strong aerobic engine, you need to do a lot of slow running, slow, easy miles. So don’t be afraid to get out there and do some of that.
Now, I also think, uh, doing some very fast running is also. Equally as important. Um, hit type of training, high intensity, uh, intervals, uh, stuff like 32nd sprints, you know, uh, 400 repeats, stuff like that. That’s gonna build your VO two max, it’s going to improve your lactate threshold. Um, running will just feel easier, but also that zone two running is gonna help to build your endurance and, and help to create, uh, uh, a a running body that can run longer.
And this part is important too, is like you recover faster as well because you’re not putting so much stress on the systems every time you go out there and run. So if you’re one of those people that goes out there and runs kind of hard every single time, take it, take it easy, slow it down a little bit.
We want, you know, about 80% of our running should be done in that conversational pace. Slow, easy miles. This is your foundation. Uh, if you want to create more endurance, number 10. Comfort zones kill growth. So the magic always happens when you get outside of your comfort zone. You need to get. Used to being uncomfortable because that’s where you actually make change.
That’s when you grow, that’s when you change, that’s when you transform, that’s when you evolve. You’re not gonna change and evolve and grow inside your comfort zone. ’cause that is by definition the things that you’re comfortable with in order to grow. You need to get out of your comfort zone, everything that you want, but don’t already have lies outside your comfort zone.
So get out there in order to accomplish more. You can’t really grow just by sitting on the couch and watching Netflix. Like if you really want to become a better runner, you gotta get uncomfortable. You gotta do the speed work, you gotta do the, the slow easy miles, you gotta do the strength training, you gotta get good rest.
Like you gotta do those things that. May you’re not used to doing, they’re not comfortable for you. Get out of your comfort zone because that’s where all the good stuff is. That’s where the magic happens. Okay? Number 11, muscle is your metabolic currency. The more lean muscle you carry, the higher your metabolism, the stronger your your running is going to be, the longer you’re going to live and thrive.
Muscle is so important. You just have to make that a priority in your training is strength training and building muscle. It helps you to maintain your weight much easier. Um, if you did no other exercise other than some sort of resistance training. You know, and when I talk about resistance training, I’m talking about lifting heavy things, heavy weights.
Uh, if that’s the only type of exercise you did. Awesome. That, that’s probably the best thing that you can do for yourself. It helps in so many ways. Just understand that you’re, you’re improving your metabolism, you’re improving your running economy. Uh, you’re improving the length of your life. You need to carry.
We all need to carry more skeletal muscle. This is like one of the best things you can do for yourself. Make this one of your life’s goals is to build muscle. Okay? Number 12. You wanna fuel performance without sabotaging your fat loss. So food is both fuel and medicine. You know, if you use it wisely, you can support endurance, you can support recovery without derailing your, uh, fat loss gains, you know.
I talk a lot about using, uh, fuel, especially carbs for running because I think it is important that we use carbs for running. Um, but there’s ways you can do it that don’t sabotage your goals of losing fat. You know, if you’re, if your goal is to become a efficient fat burner, get yourself fat adapted, get your body really good at burning fat, and then we use fuels strategically in order to.
Help improve our running performance. That does not mean that you just go eating a bunch of pasta and donuts and, you know, drinking sugary sodas and things like that because you need it as, as fuel for running. No, that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about using Whole Foods. Good sources of carbs like sweet potatoes and rice and oats to help improve our glycogen stores to help improve our running performance and not, you know, sabotage our fat loss.
You know, we wanna make sure we’re maintaining, um, uh, fat loss while we are. Also improving our, uh, performance as a runner, right? And you do that by using carbs around workouts and not just doing the all carbs all the time. Diet, like a lot of runners do. Number 13, identity drives behavior. So. Um, your identity is who you are at your core.
You know, that’s like anything you say after the words. I am like, I am a father, I am a brother. I am a runner. I am an entrepreneur. Like, these are things that I. Would consider part of who I am at my core. This is who I am, this is my identity. Um, you want to become the kind of athlete who eats like an athlete, who trains like an athlete who stays lean for life.
Um, these are things that when they become part of your identity, um, do staying on track with these things is a no-brainer. When you say things like, I’m just trying to, to lose some weight, so I’m gonna go on a diet, what you’re basically doing is like. Making it a short term, uh, set of tactics. You know, you’re basically saying like, I’m gonna change my behavior for a short period of time in order to get these results.
Okay, that’s fine. And that can work sometimes. But instead of trying to change the behavior, you know, change who you are at your core. I’m the kind of person who. Um, eats clean all the time. I train smart all the time. I stay lean all the time when that is your identity, the behavior. Comes automatically when you’re the kind of person who, uh, if you’re an athlete and you eat like an athlete, you live like an athlete, you train like an athlete, then making a decision about whether you should eat, uh, a whole sleeve of Oreos.
It’s a no brainer. Like you’re not gonna do that because that’s not who you are at your core. So identity drives behavior. I want you to remember this one, ’cause this is a big one. Stop trying to change the behavior. Start trying to, and instead, change who you are at your core. That’s going to, that’s gonna dictate the behavior.
Um, it’s gonna be a, a, an automatic, that identity shift is the big domino where everything else falls after that. Okay. Okay. That was 13 number 14, stop negotiating with yourself. Every time you argue with yourself about whether you should do this workout, or do this run, or whether you should stick to the food plan that you put together for yourself.
You are just sabotaging yourself. Make decisions ahead of time and then stick to those decisions. Stop doing this. Negotiating with yourself where you’re like, well, let’s see. I. You know, I, I ran 10 miles this week and, you know, I’ve been really good. Like you, you try to, um, justify bad behavior. Have you ever done that before?
We all have. We all do this. But just stop doing that. Stop doing this negotiating thing where you’re trying to justify, uh, terrible behaviors, and instead just stick to the plan. You make a plan for yourself. You’ve made a decision. Don’t question the decision. Don’t question that plan. Stick to it. Follow through with it.
If you wanted a cookie on your plan, put it on your plan. Which is fine. If you wanna put a glass of wine on your plan for Friday night, put it on your plan. I would much rather you did that than just drink because other people were drinking and you felt compelled to do it, or you felt like there was pressure on you to do it.
I want you to be in charge of your decisions. I want you to be in charge of, um, the, the decisions that you make around food and around training. Um. And around your own health, you know? And so when you make decisions about what you wanna do, stick to those decisions, right? Don’t question the decision once you make it.
Decide ahead of time and then follow through, decide ahead of time, and then follow through. Just keep doing that on repeat, and I promise you you’re gonna be so much happier. You build trust and confidence in yourself. When you do this. You make tons of progress. Yeah. You’re just, you’re gonna be a completely different person.
So stop negotiating and, and stop questioning your decisions. Um, do what you say you’re gonna do. Be a person of integrity. Okay? Uh, number 15, self-compassion without excuses. So. Beating yourself up does not help. Okay. But neither does letting yourself off the hook. So true. Compassion is really accountability, uh, with love.
That means that you let, let’s say you, you binged and you ate all those Oreos, okay? Do not beat yourself up about that because the, the damage is done right. You ate a bunch of Oreos, they’re not good for you. You’re probably not gonna feel good. It might affect your sleep, it might affect your running the next day.
I don’t know, you’re just, you’re probably not gonna feel good. You’re probably gonna gain a couple of pounds of weight since you, you know, all those carbs, all that sugar comes with a lot of water weight as well. Don’t beat yourself up then, because then all you’re doing is just, you know, making it even worse.
You’re taking this al you’re already gonna feel bad. Um, and then you beat yourself up because you did something you didn’t want to do. Um, but also don’t just let yourself off the hook and go, well, you know, that’s just who I am. I just do that sometimes. Now, be accountable to yourself. Be a person of integrity.
Have some compassion with yourself, but don’t make excuses for yourself when you fall off the wagon. Acknowledge that. Accept it. Learn from it and then move on. Do not dwell in it. Do not go down that rabbit hole of just, I’m a terrible person. I can’t do this. Look, I just keep blowing it. You’re gonna fail.
You’re gonna fail a lot of times, and that’s okay. This is part of the process. There’s no such thing as success without failure. You gotta fail your way to succeed. And it sounds counterintuitive, but it is true. So accept the fact that you’re gonna fail. Be okay with that. Fail, learn from it and move on.
Don’t beat yourself up, doesn’t do you any good. Uh, number 16, we’re, we’re training for the long game, not just the next race. So the goal isn’t to crush one race, it’s to be a strong, healthy runner. For decades to come. So think bigger. Okay? This isn’t about just, oh, I, I just need to get, you know, uh, do some strength training until after this race.
Or I just need to eat right until I’m done with this race. No, think bigger. This is about the long game. This is about, you know, being healthy, being fit, uh, being lean, being strong for good. You know, and it’s just not about, you know, running a race. I can’t tell you how many people come to me because they want help getting leaner and getting stronger because they have a race coming up.
And then after the race, you know, maybe we stop working together and they kind of go back to what they were doing before. Not everybody, but some people do this. I don’t think this is healthy for you. I think it’s better to just maintain what you got rather than. Stopping and starting, you know, during race season, you, you eat one way, you train one way, and then, uh, in the off season you go completely off the rails.
Don’t do that, okay? Think about the bigger picture here. Number 17, mindset is everything. Your thoughts really do create your results. If you don’t believe you can do something, you will not be able to do that thing. You gotta master your mind and your body will follow whatever you’re thinking is going to become true for you.
If you think that you can’t do it, you won’t. If you think it is too hard, it will be. If you think you’re super slow and you’ll never get. Faster. You won’t. If you think you can’t lose weight, you won’t. I promise you. You have to believe in yourself. You have to believe in your ability to change because we can all change.
Change is one of those things that is sounds funny, but change is constant. You know, the one thing that is constant is the universe, is that everything is changing. So understand that you may have been doing the same things for the last. Few decades, but that doesn’t mean you have to continue doing those things going forward.
And so changing your mindset around that. Well, it’s not like turning off a, a light switch where you can’t just flip it off and then now, oh, I’m good. You know, now my mindset is much better. No, you gotta practice this. But start working on it today. Start work working on mastering your mindset and your body, your results, your weight, your running performance will follow in kind.
Um, your most prevalent thoughts become your reality. And if you’re constantly thinking negative thoughts, especially about yourself, how do you think? Your reality is going to be, it’s not gonna be good, I promise you. Number 18, data instead of drama. So use facts, not feelings to guide your decisions. The scale, the miles, the amount of of weight you lift, they tell a very clear story rather than, you know, an emotion that you have.
You know, ’cause we get emotional about stuff. We, we do, we all do. We feel like I’m a failure because I can’t do this and this is too hard for me. And, and you get frustrated. Um, all these things are. N normal emotions, and we do feel these things, and that is perfectly fine to feel emotions, but it’s not who you are.
I can’t tell you how many people tell me, we’ll get on a coaching call and they’ll say, oh, I’ve just had the worst week. And very dramatic. Okay. And I say, oh my gosh, I am so sorry. Tell me what happened. And, and we boil it down to, you know, there was this one, one, you know, couple hours of this one day where they were, you know, really busy with work or, you know, maybe something happened to one of their kids or something.
And then there was this one other thing where they didn’t have a very good run. I’m like, oh, okay. So it was like, just those two things. Um, totaling about, you know, an hour and a half out of, you know, however many hours there are in a whole week. Anyway, we, we get dramatic about this stuff. We overdramatize, right?
Just stop doing that. Look at, look at facts, look at data. Um, people will say, this isn’t working, and we’ll look at, you know, where are you today? Oh, I’ve lost all this weight from when we started. Um. They’ve, uh, lost inches. They’ve gained muscle. They’re faster. Their, um, VO two max has gone up. Like we look at data and they’re like, oh, well, maybe I’m doing okay.
Like, yeah, you’re doing okay. I encourage people to do body composition measurements instead of just looking at the scale every day, because sometimes there’s a lot going on under. The covers, so to speak, inside your body that you’re not aware of. You’re burning fat, you’re gaining muscle. Um, and the scale won’t really reflect that.
The scale will just say like, oh, you’re just staying the same. Oh, I’m so frustrated. I’m not losing any weight. Well, you’re losing fat and gaining muscle. Amazing. Okay? But the scale’s gonna say that, you know, you’re just staying the same. Um, but look at the data, right? Let’s not get dramatic about all this stuff.
Fo focus on. You know, are, are you improving your VO two max? Are you improving your endurance? Are you improving your cardiovascular system? You know, are you, are you losing fat? Like these things are important to look at. Okay, where are we at number 19 run, because you get to. Not because you have to.
Running is a privilege. It’s not a punishment. When you approach running with gratitude, everything begins to shift for you. I’ve talked about this before where you know we run because we love. Running and running makes us feel alive and it helps us in so many ways. It helps us to, you know, release endorphins and oxytocin and dopamine and serotonin, and those are all feel good hormones.
And when we feel good, you know, we’re in a better mood. We have less depression. We have less stress in our lives. Um, running is amazing and we get to do it, you know, we’re healthy and we get to run. Isn’t that amazing when you feel like you have to run because you’re trying to, you know, outrun your bad diet?
That feels like punishment. That feels terrible and it feels like it is just gonna be hard. Yeah. And that, that’s not a good place to be, you know? Um, some sports use running as a punishment. I get that. Like, you know, my kids used to play, you know, whatever PB football and they would make the kids run as a punishment and, um.
It is so funny, especially when you see these little like kindergartners, first graders and they’re full football pads and helmets and they’re running and it’s just hilarious. They hate it so much. Um, but a lot of sports use running as a punishment. We, we do it because we love it. I we’re weird. You know, I, I always talk about running, being.
Uh, like 90% mental, uh, ’cause you gotta be like 90% mental to run the way that we do. You know? But approach running with gratitude. Have gratitude that you can run and that you get to do this and you get to move your body. And doesn’t it feel good to do that? Yeah. And it’s like, you know, uh, instead of taking SSRIs, you know, maybe running is the answer.
You know, for a lot of people, I know a lot of people, um, exercise and they run and, and they don’t need to be on some of those, uh, uh, you know, uh, drugs for, uh, depression and things like that. So enjoy running, be grateful. And then number 20, uh, the pri, you know, with all these principles and everything, kind of the biggest thing here is that we want to keep running lean for life.
Like this isn’t a diet, this isn’t a phase. We’re not on some 12 week plan. All these things I’m talking about, this is a way of living. I want you to adopt a way of living that keeps you lean, that keeps you strong, that keeps you. Thriving. That keeps you feeling good about yourself. And if you adopt this identity, like we talked about before, of, of an athlete, of a healthy human being, of a, uh, running badass, then that’s how you’re going to live your life.
And that’s the most important thing. You know, it’s not just about living long, like I, I I wanna live a long life, but I want. The length of my life, uh, to match the quality of my life. I wanna have a quality of life for as long as I can. Uh, you know, I just don’t want to be like, laid up in some bed with a bunch of tubes connected to me.
Just that’s not quality of life. Quality of life is I can still ambulate, I can still get up and walk around and lift some weights and, you know, uh, exercise and do all the things that I want to do. I don’t wanna be, um, an invalid when I get older, you know, I don’t want to have to like be committed to some old folks’ home or something like that, you know, because I can’t take care of myself.
No, I want, I want my mind to be clear, and I want my body to be strong. That’s what I want for myself, and that’s what I want for you too. I want you to keep on running Lean for Life. Okay. Alright, so that’s my 20 principles and a wrap on episode 300. That’s sort of crazy when I think about it. ’cause I look back on the last almost six years I started this podcast.
In, uh, December of, um, 20 19, 1 thing has been very clear to me that this podcast is not about me. It’s about you. You know, I show up here every week to share ideas. That I want the, these ideas to help you to change your health, to become stronger and, and to improve your fitness, uh, maybe improve your life.
And I get feedback from people all the time that say, just listening to your podcast has changed my life. And I love getting messages like that. From people. So thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting the show and being a part of the Running Lean community. None of this would exist without you.
I do this every week. I show up every week. This is a lot of work to put together a podcast every week. I do it every week because of you. Um, and if there’s one thing you know, I want you to. Take away from, especially from today’s episode, is that these 20 principles aren’t just theory. They are meant to be lived.
So put them into practice. Do these things day after day, I promise you, you’ll become leaner and stronger and faster. You’ll also live a better life, a longer life, a more vibrant life. Okay? That’s what I really want for you, and thank you again for being a part of this. Um, couldn’t do without you. That’s all I got for you today.
Love you all. Keep on running lean and I’ll talk to you soon.
So many runners tell me they want to lose weight, get stronger, or train smarter—but they keep stalling because they’re “not ready yet.” They want the timing to be perfect, their schedule to clear …
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner sports nutritionist, master life coach, and weight loss coach. For runners, I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you, properly fuel your body and your mind so you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster, and run longer than you ever thought.
Possible. This is running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to episode 297 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners, and today stop waiting to feel ready. So many runners tell me that they want to get stronger, train smarter, lose weight, but they keep stalling because they’re quote unquote not ready yet.
They want the timing to be perfect. They want their schedule to clear up. They want their motivation to kick in. But here’s the truth, that day. Rarely ever comes. You don’t suddenly wake up one morning feeling 100% ready to change your diet or run your best marathon. Readiness isn’t something you wait for.
It’s something that you create through action. Every small step you take, even if it’s messy or imperfect. Builds confidence and builds momentum. So in this episode, I’m breaking down why waiting keeps you stuck, why imperfect action is really the key to progress, and how you can finally stop stalling and start moving towards your goals today.
But first, listen, I know what it feels like when running Just doesn’t feel the way you want it to. When you’re putting on all the miles, you’re putting in all the hard work and everything just feels harder than it should. You keep trying to clean up your diet, but nothing really sticks. You’re frustrated because you know that you’re capable of more, but you can’t seem to get there, at least not on your own.
This is exactly why I created my coaching program. It’s not just about logging miles or following a generic training plan. It’s about getting all the pieces working together. Nutrition, strength, mindset, endurance, so that you can finally feel strong, feel confident, and be in control. When you work with me, you get a proven system and the support you need to stay consistent to break through plateaus and actually enjoy the process.
You’re gonna learn how to fuel your body the right way. Build strength that makes running easier and develop the mental toughness to handle anything that comes your way. So if you’re ready to stop struggling and start thriving, just go to my website, running lean coaching.com, click on work with me.
Let’s get you moving in the right direction today. So I talk to runners every single day who want to lose weight, improve their running, who just wanna feel better in their bodies. And one of the biggest reasons why people don’t ever take action, they don’t ever get started. With any of this stuff is because they’re waiting for some magical moment when all the stars are going to align and they’re gonna feel completely ready.
But here’s the thing, that moment it just really doesn’t exist. And in this episode, I’m gonna explain why waiting to feel ready is really just keeping you stuck. And I’m gonna explain how you can start moving forward right now by taking imperfect action. So a lot of runners will tell me that they want to change.
In fact, I talk to people every single day about my coaching program and they say they want to improve, they wanna lose the weight, they want to get stronger, they want to improve their running. Um, but deep down, they don’t feel ready. And what it kind of boils down to is fear. So they’re afraid of starting something and not being able to finish it.
They’re afraid of failing. They’re afraid of trying something that feels uncomfortable, that feels hard, and not being able to, to succeed at it. They’re afraid of looking foolish. They’re afraid of what other people might think of them. So not feeling ready is really just the excuse a lot of people hide behind and listen, I’ve done this in the past as well.
I think we all have done this to some extent because it’s much harder to say to someone, I’m afraid I’m going to fail. I’m afraid that I’m going to try something. I’m going to invest in myself. I’m going to put in a lot of time and effort into this, you know, diet or this, uh, running plan, uh, or into strength training and it’s not gonna work for me, or I’m going to give up or I’m going to, um, be the failure.
That’s very difficult to say out loud. It’s very difficult to admit that we have those fears, but it’s very, very true for pretty much all of us. So instead we just say, okay, I’m not really ready, and all these things have to have. Been in order for me to be ready, in order for me to take action and get started with this thing, we tell ourselves that I’m gonna start tomorrow, or you know, next Monday or after this vacation, or after the holidays, or when things calm down at work, or when the kids are back in school, or when the kids are out of school, or things aren’t so stressful around the house, or when Mercury isn’t in retrograde or whatever.
The truth of the matter is there’s no quote unquote ready. Ready doesn’t exist. That’s not a thing. There’s only right now. Life will always be busy. There’s never going to be a magical 12 week stretch with no work stress, no kids’ activities, no injuries, no holidays, and if you’re waiting for things to calm down, you’re never going to start.
Perfect time. The perfect time to start something. It’s an illusion, it’s procrastination, dressed up as planning. So what really creates being ready? What creates readiness is you taking action. Confidence doesn’t come first. You don’t wake up one day ready to change your nutrition or ready to run a marathon.
Being ready comes from doing the thing. And probably doing it badly at first. And that’s the thing, when you first try something, you may not be very good at it. Like think about when you first try to play the guitar or something like that. You’re gonna kind of suck at it at first. You’re gonna be really terrible until you develop that muscle memory.
And you get better at it. So you’re gonna have a lot of failures. You’re going to have a lot of people wishing you would not practice so loudly all the time. ’cause you’re gonna kind of suck at it. It’s the same with running. It’s the same with trying to lose weight. You’re not gonna be great at it first.
You’re gonna have lots of little failures along the way. It’s okay. It’s part of the process. Every success is built upon a pile of failures. Okay? But. Every time you take action, every time that you create even a little bit of a result or move the needle just a little bit, you build momentum and you start to, uh, build proof and trust in yourself that you can do this.
That you can overcome these little failures along the way and that you can stick with it, and that you can continue to make process, uh, progress. You build trust in yourself, you build confidence and you get results. And they may be small. Sometimes you may take a few steps forward and then a few steps back.
That’s okay. The more you stick with it, the more, the more progress you’re going to make, the more ready you’re going to feel. So you see how this works? Like you gotta take the action and start to build a little bit of momentum in order for you to feel ready, not the other way around. So action creates readiness.
You don’t have to feel ready in order to take action. So that is the, the biggest takeaway I want you to, uh, grab onto from this episode is that you need to take action despite not feeling ready. And there’s a lot of power in that imperfect action. We shouldn’t be aiming for perfection. I think perfection is the killer of good, you know?
Um, perfection is also the, the enemy of progress. You know, we’re, we’re aiming for progress, not perfection. Did you stick with your nutrition plan 100% this week? Probably not. Did you learn something in the process? Probably. Um, how are your running, uh, run? How’s your run training going? Like, how are your runs?
Uh, did you have a rough, long run last week? Okay, well guess what? You learned a lesson from that. Maybe next time you need to hydrate more fuel differently, but you showed up, you did the work, despite not feeling. Ready despite not feeling like you, you know, a hundred percent or despite not doing it perfectly.
So one of the things that I, I think is very important for a lot of us who are kind of type A personalities, we want to do everything perfect. If we can’t do it perfect, why do it at all? I think we need to. Put that idea to bed because that idea is going to keep you stuck. I can’t tell you how many people will not take action because they don’t feel like they can do whatever they’re gonna do perfectly.
You know, if you’re not going to be able to stick to your food plan a hundred percent, then why bother? If you’re not gonna be able to stick to a strength training routine and do every workout perfectly, every single time, why bother? And I think that. Imperfect action is always going to beat. Perfect intentions.
So instead of trying to be perfect, let’s aim for good enough. I had a coach who used to tell me that, um, this is a business coach, so we were talking about, you know, creating content for business and creating programs and things like that. And she said, aim for like B minus work, you know, and I’ve taken that to heart.
I’m like, yeah. I’m a a plus person, like I want everything to be perfect, but I really had to work hard to grasp this idea that good enough is good enough, like BB plus B minus something in that range is great. You know, it’s not, it’s it’s above average. It’s not terrible. Um, but it’s not gonna be perfect because you know what?
Perfect just doesn’t exist. It really doesn’t. Imperfect action will always beat perfect intentions. Take the action. Do something today. Do you feel ready? No, probably not. That’s okay. Start anyway. You are not gonna make progress by thinking about it or waiting. It’s just a form of procrastination. It’s a form of fear showing up for you.
It’s fear, man, manifesting as you know, preparation, and it’s just keeping you stuck where you are. So I want you to think about this this week. Um, I want you to pick something. Today I want you to pick some small step that you can take, some tiny little action that you can take today and, um, do that one thing even though you don’t feel ready.
And even though you probably won’t do it perfectly, so maybe it’s, you know, doing 10 minutes of strength training. Or signing up for some race that you’ve been thinking about or swapping out, um, you know, a healthy protein snack for your typical, um, you know, cookies or something like that. Just one little thing that you can do today that you may not do perfectly, that you don’t feel really ready to do, but just take some imperfect action.
And then do it again tomorrow. Make the commitment to yourself every single day to take imperfect action. ’cause this is what’s going to move the needle for you. This is what’s going to create progress and create results for you. This is what’s going to help you to believe in yourself. You’re going to start to feel more confident.
You’re, you’re gonna start to feel like you can do this and you’re gonna start to feel ready, but you don’t get ready until you start taking action. Trust the fact that readiness is going to follow, taking action, and then your golden, okay, so your big takeaway today. If you’re waiting until you feel ready, you’ll be waiting forever.
The way you become ready is by taking action first, messy, imperfect, uncomfortable action. That’s where the growth really happens. That’s how you build that confidence. That’s how you stop stalling. That’s how you start finally becoming that most badass version of yourself. And if you’re ready. Or maybe even if you’re not ready and you wanna, you want some help taking action towards your weight loss goals, towards your running goals, I’d love to be your coach.
Just go to my website, running lean coaching.com, click on work with me. I know it was a little bit of a shorter episode, but I really wanted to get this information out there to today. I thought it was really important to share this. There’s so many people that are, that are feeling stuck because they’re not ready to take action.
Okay, that’s all I got for you today. Love you all. Keep on running Lean. And I’ll talk to you soon.
