Every four years, the best athletes in the world convene at the Olympic Games to test themselves and determine the ultimate champions.
The motto of the games, “faster, stronger, higher – together,” perfectly sums up what it takes to end up on that podium with a gold medal around your neck.
But not everyone can be an Olympic champion. Few of us can even dream of competing in the Summer Games – and many people harbor no severe intentions of trying to represent their country on the highest stage.
You may never feature on the sports pages or have people bet online on your events, but being the best you can be is something you can identify with.
Whatever your level of running, wanting to better your personal best and push yourself to the limit is a common ideal, and training will help you with that.
But what if you tried to train like an Olympian? We are not saying you will ever get anywhere near the games, but training as if you were would surely help.
Every discipline requires different training methods, of course. But here are a few general ideas to consider.
Set Your Own Clear Goals
It may initially sound a little defeatist, but your goals should, more than anything, be attainable. Olympic athletes will set goals to make it to the games or to win a medal. Yours should probably be a little lower. But they should be complicated enough to push you on to succeed.
Beating a personal best is the apparent goal to set. It can work for just about any event or discipline; achieving that goal will mean getting better at what you do.
These goals motivate you to push harder and put the work in when you least want to and when you want to quit. Even at your lowest, you should think about not letting yourself down.
Performance Not Physique
All runners will know that building muscle mass will not help you on the track, road, or cross-country trail.
However, weight work should be part of your training regime to build strength and endurance. But, in this age of social media photos, just don’t get carried away with achieving an Instagram body.
Olympic athletes don’t care about whether they look good when lifting weights as part of their training. They are lifting weights knowing that it will help them with their discipline.
Focusing on your training, rather than how your body looks, will set you apart from most of the people at the gym and improve your times.
Make it Tough
Deliberately making your training routine harder than it needs to be is a good way of pushing yourself and improving.
Olympians might train with weights in bags to make what is probably already a punishing run into even more of an ordeal. The idea is that the distance will feel easier to complete without the weights when the race comes along.
Giving yourself extra work to do – and the stress and exhaustion that comes with that – needs to be closely monitored.
But intentionally making your training even more complex and challenging is one way to improve without realizing it.
Do it Again
To make it to the Olympics, you will need some innate talent. But talent alone will not do it. You also need to put in the hard work – and if that means doing double training sessions or working for twice as long, then that is what needs to be done. You may not be going to the Olympics, but this is another excellent way to push yourself as if you were.
Having a varied training routine in the first place, including strength work and non-running exercises, will give you an all-round fitness level.
So, doubling the reps in each sub-section of the routine will have some positive effects. Give it everything you’ve got – and then do it again.
Want It
There are two elements of wanting it when it comes to running and training – and one of them is arguably more difficult for us average runners than Olympians.
Their goal is simple and ends at the Summer Games. But you must find your own goals and work towards achieving them.
But the other aspect of wanting it is enjoying what you are doing. You have to want to get up in the morning and go on that run.
You must enjoy working out and conditioning your body to keep it up. Goals are all excellent, but you must enjoy the journey toward them.
Focus on the Long Term
When we talk about goals, we don’t mean something that you could quickly achieve in a matter of weeks. Olympic hopefuls have a four-year cycle to focus on. But everyday runners also need to think about what they want to happen down the track – not the short term.
Having a set of goals that can be checked off on the way is a good idea. But think long term, and you will find that you are in it for the long haul. If it is good enough for Olympic athletes, it should be good enough for you.
