Apr12 4/12/2010 11:47 AM
Incentives
Have you built-in incentives for yourself along your training process, and if so, what are they? Continuing to work on the behaviors needed to train for the Marathon is difficult. One trap that prevents your appropriate and consistent training that we discussed last week was “all or nothing” thinking. One support that you might use to improve the consistency in your training is incorporating incentives.
For some, positive incentives work. Rewarding yourself with a massage after that 20-mile training run, or buying yourself a new training shirt helps some people push through those difficult times.
The challenge with positive incentives is that at times, especially in those moments of significant stress when you are at your limit, you are bordering on a survival instinct, and a positive incentive might not be enough to overcome such a barrier. That is probably why much of the data on positive incentives shows that people are more interested and participate more when an incentive is present, but they usually do not have differences in long term outcomes (like weight loss or stopping smoking). So positive incentives can be helpful, but try to know yourself before relying on this to get you through. Will the incentive be enough of a reward to help you in that time of stress?
For others, avoiding a negative incentive might be helpful to keep you on track. Some runners have great success when they set specific targets during training (It’s getting close to the 20+ training mile run, have you achieved that target yet?), and then set themselves up to have to pay out if they do not achieve their goal. One way that seems especially useful is to find a charitable organization who does good work, but whom you disagree with (perhaps NRA or PETA or ACLU or…) and pledge to give the charity a specific amount of money if you do not achieve the target you have set. Again, for this to be successful you need to know yourself. Will the disincentive be enough for you to push you through those difficult times?
Finally, for some those small incentives at seemingly random times can be supportive. If you have a running partner or a running group, if you know someone is training and might need support, or if you are part of the Relay, you might want to consider awarding this kind of incentive. It might not help you get through that difficult training run, but it might help someone else to know they have support and appreciation for what they are doing.
Good luck in your continued training.
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