It does not have to be only times like perhaps we are living today with current health, social and environmental situations. It does not have to be like 2020, or another period of time that things looked like things are not going to get better.  Sometimes the way and the things are, control the thoughts pre-, during, and post- runs we have that sometimes prevents us to take care of ourselves.

We all care about many things and similar to other aspects of life we have a limited set of things we have actually have some or total control over. For example, we can’t necessarily control if an event/race gets postpone or cancel. Similar with group runs or workouts to a lesser extent if you do not own the group communications or your state and local guidelines/mandates that could have an impact on the type or when to go back to the runs. There are many other areas that affect all aspects of your running life. They do not have to be grandiose or huge things.

Limitation and accessibility to food and what you choose to eat is another example of the type of mixed control and mixed influence. The key here is to really have a great understanding of what we can control, our time, our actions, our decisions all of those we should pay attention to closely. Also to have an acknowledgment of all the things that we worry, care about, and concern about. To understand how important are those things from Very High, High, Medium, Low, Very Low. Doing this list and reflecting on it will allow you to rethink some of those that might not necessarily need to be there and some of those that the scope is way too big and need to be adjusted or breakdown to be able to manage it better.

The idea behind this is to try to either reduce your circle/list of concern and/or expand the things you can influence. Considering that an optimal point will always be the influence is larger than the concerns you might have.

For running it is the same, minimize, reduce, or eliminate those items that are getting in between you and your run. Having issues with controlling the weight, current weather conditions that can affect you negatively, a piece of clothing, mileage/cushioning of your running shoes, and others. Think about whether or not is important to the final end goal, for example, the looks of a piece of clothing vs the fit (prevent chafing) You might be concerned about how other might look at you and buy a piece of clothing or running shoes with an emphasis on the looks. Then perhaps sacrificing the feel and comfort that will allow you to perform better and for longer without any issues. You might want to think about how often you actually judge others for their looks versus comparing their performance and how they perform better, their form is better.

Think about all the things you can control, the time to wake up, to go to sleep, what food to buy, prepare, eat, the amounts to eat, maintenance of your clothes, shoes, and equipment. These items/list you have really good control and/or choice that will determine an outcome (positive or negative depending on the choice) Getting that piece of clothing that might just look bland but it does not give you any issues when running long.

Now during a run, break or during the time to reflect spend some time to think about both list, the adjustments, and the kind of investments (Time, resource, learning) and how you can reduce your concerns and increase your influence and work on it.