In the beginning of the summer I was in a huge running rut. A mix of extreme heat and extreme stress left me feeling super out of shape, and also sluggishly slow.

Slowly, though, I’ve been able to bounce back. I’ve gotten back together with my garmin (we broke up for a while) and I’ve found that I’m pretty much running faster than I ever have before. (Minus 10th grade cross-country season, but oh well.)  And I’ve realized this: The secret to running faster is similar to the whole ‘stop dieting to lose weight’ theory. Once I stopped trying so hard, things miraculously became easier. Here’s what I did:

Ditched the watch. SERIOUSLY. Getting rid of data, especially when you’re in a rut, is so freeing. Every mile split used to make me feel awesome or awful, depending if I was too fast or too slow. But it also played mind tricks with me — I’d see a faster-than-normal mile split and immediately wait to feel the ‘pain,’ and probably slowed down because of it. 

Did what I wanted. Since I’m not sticking to a strict schedule, I can literally do whatever workout I want. And because of this, exercise has become way less of a ‘thing I gotta do to reach X PR’ and more of a paaaaarty. I remembered how much I love spending mornings on the track running 200’s. And that I missed lifting on a regular basis. And that I haven’t really felt the urge to go on long, long runs, and that this is perfectly okay.

Rested more. I’m admittedly bad at taking breaks. But since there is no big *goal* ahead of me (though I am signing up for an awesome running adventure in November – stay tuned!) I’ve found myself literally stopping on runs if I feel like absolute crap. And slowing down has made my legs less heavy and dates with my foam roller (where I’m on the verge of tears) far less frequent. And then the following day I’m usually super refreshed and ready to nail the next workout. 

Pushed fearlessly. Similar to resting more, when I feel good, I finally am not afraid to push harder. If I can’t finish an interval, a set, or a circuit — so what? Nothing happens. Nobody’s dying. So I try to go after that ‘next level,’ knowing if I ‘fail,’ or if I’m terribly sore the next day, the world probably won’t end. And usually…I’m able to go way faster, or farther, than I think.

as seen on my run – over the williamsburg bridge