Get out of your comfort zone

Endurance athletes spend a lot of time training.  We all try to get comfortable doing our workouts.  Whether we are going long, short or somewhere in between, we spend a lot of time finding a pace and effort level that we can be comfortable with.  It’s human nature to adapt and be comfortable with the task at hand.

Our first long workout is stressful.  We reach a new level of fatigue.  We search for fueling techniques that will keep us going strong.  We work on our technique and strength so that we are less fatigued at the end of each of our workouts.

That’s what training is all about – getting fitter and stronger, so that we can do the distance with less effort.

But, if we want to improve we need to search for the boundary.  We need to continually challenge ourselves, by increasing our mileage and by increasing our speed. 

The physiology of endurance training is a simple process.  Stress your body.  Allow it time to recovery, and there by get fitter.  Then stress it again. 

The problem comes as we gain fitness.  Our usual workouts no longer provide sufficient stress to our body so that we continue to improve.  We need to get out of our comfort zone in order to continue improvement. 

Next time you are training check your self, are you feeling comfortable – no more than the usual fatigue and stress of training?  If you are you need to push yourself a bit more.  Go an extra mile.  Do an extra hill repeat.  Run faster for a minute or two.  Get out of your comfort zone.