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Why you should choose to be proactive versus reactive.

Writer's picture: Dylan BellesDylan Belles

If you've ever missed a workout, you have two choices: to be proactive or reactive.


Real-life training means that you have to be prepared for the unexpected and have a plan to adapt your training when life "happens."

We don't all live in a perfect bubble where we're not affected by the outside circumstances. And we're not professional athletes whose lives revolve 100% around training and recovering from that training.

Because of this, we have to be masters at approaching unexpected situations with clarity and strategic ready-thinking.

Unfortunately, runners don't always have a plan in place and aren't ready to make intelligent adaptions to their training.


Runners often revert to baseline instincts when missing a training day or when there's no energy to give to the workout.


When we fail the day, we inherently feel we've failed ourselves.

I know this because I, too, experience the same feelings when I have a day that gets the best of me.


Fortunately, I've grown to see through this and recognize that these thoughts are intrusive, untrue, and reactive versus proactive.

Reacting impulsively as a runner hinders our success and can lead to making worse decisions down the road.

Reactive runners commonly make errors such as:


Compensating Workouts and Mileage.

When a day goes off the rails, these runners double down and attempt to repeat the same workout hours later. That, or they will try to add in extra miles to later runs in the week to make up for lost numbers.

Intensifying Efforts. Sometimes runners get so angry and determined over a missed workout that they choose to take the path of punishment, making their workouts harder, driving themselves further into the ground, and forming bad habits.


Combine sessions.

This is when a runner will do two hard workouts on the same day or back-to-back days, completely ignoring the role of a workout, recovery, and how important it is to have the correct ratio of stress and rest.

Quitting.

Runners can get so upset and let a bad day or week affect them so heavily that they form such a strong mental block that they quit altogether. They walk away from the sport. They give up on their dreams. When the going gets tough, these runners shy away from being resilient and adaptive. Failing is something that we must get used to. Failing drives growth and can be an incredible motivator to be better.


Give in to self-doubt and lose self-confidence.

Once a seed of negative thought gets going, it grows until we dig it out of there and discard it. If allowed, this will consume you, and no matter how well something is going, you will always find a way to be hard on yourself and never feel as though you're ready for your goals.


Part Ways with Your Coach.

My worst nightmare. But, as a coach, and for anyone who has ever coached, you will wake up one morning to a message saying they are moving on from you, or if you're not as lucky, you won't even get that luxury, you'll get a cancellation message or hear nothing back at all.


The proper way of approaching a bad day is to:

Move on and let it go.

Not every day needs to carry weight. Not every day needs to become a catastrophe. One workout/day never equals the whole, and more often than not those days are just a one-off. Having short-term memory is a skill worth learning in this endeavor.


Prioritize Recovery.

Bad days take a toll on your mind and body. You're better off dialing in your recovery and hitting reset and be ready for the next one. In my time training as an athlete, taking this route almost always nets a higher level of readiness for the following workout.

Grant Yourself Time.

Give yourself 24 hours, probably 48 hours before you make any major decisions. You need to take time to process what happened and what's going on. The smartest decisions don't usually come off the cuff. After a day that cuts deep, take time to think about it, write it down, and let it soak in. It's almost always better to let yourself calm down and gather your thoughts before doing anything drastic.


Talk with your coach/support team.

Your team is your team for a reason. They care about you and only want the best for you. Having a conversation with someone on the outside can help you gain a better perspective and help you see that your thoughts may be clouded.


If you're the 99.9% of runners who fit your running and personal goals into a busy home and work life, you're likely to have a bad day, maybe even a bad week, now and again.


The last thing you want to do to help move your needle forward is to choose destruction over construction or be reactive versus proactive.


Next time you have a bad day (and you will) take time to think through what happens next, and do your best to choose proactivity versus reactivity.

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