4 Ways to Make a Bad Run Good

Sometimes I just can't, no matter how hard I try, get into my run. I know I have to, and I know I want to, but there are those days that nothing seems to feel good, nothing wants to click. My legs feel like huge bags of water and my mind can't get itself to brighten up.

My first thought is to simply do something else. Ride my bike. Go for a swim. Lift. But then the competitor in me kicks in, and I end up chastising myself for even considering backing down from a workout.

Now an entirely different issue happens. Not only is my body not really into the run, but my brain is at odds with itself, one part trying to make the run valuable with the other being upset that I allowed a weakness to almost quit the day's plan.

So, on these types of days, before I let myself become a mental patient destined to end his run in a room with rubber walls, I knew I needed to find ways to trick myself into being good on a bad day. Here's how I do it.

Improvise the run

Normally I have a route set to follow, one of the four or five runs I like to do, ones that have a little something to challenge me. One great hill workout, one long and flat run, etc. But on the days where my legs just won't go and I feel almost entirely disinterested, out there only to fulfill my obligation to run that day instead of actually training with some intensity, I scrap the plan and just go. I run down side streets, head off into a trail -- anything to break the pattern and make myself interested. The newness of the run usually gets me going.

Find one good part

It's so easy to let the stress of feeling less than your best hurt you. You focus on all the parts that hurt, how badly you don't want to get to that hill you know is coming, or why you should've just taken the day off. So, and this takes mental fortitude, I try to not brush this aside but rather keep my mind set on one thing I know I can do well. Maybe it's finding the perfect pace, or possibly it's doing the intervals I like; anything to make my mind believe that the day doesn't stink.

Force yourself to go hard quickly

The longer you let your body feel less energetic, the worse your run will be. I know it's hard, but if I feel lethargic, I try to institute the rule of opposites. When you feel like you should be lazy, instead go hard. I like to plug in a few intervals or pick-ups early on to challenge myself to change and get into it.

Simply change

If I am feeling so bad that there is just no conceivable way I can do a tough session, I modify it to something easier to handle. Rather than giving up and not doing it, I go from something difficult to an easy three miles. I get in some simple work, feel like I accomplished something, and I live to go again the next day.

Obviously I do not employ each of these every time I encounter a bad day. But I try them when I need to, and fortunately I have found some good success. I hope you do too.

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