WORTH THE SACRIFICE
Want to run faster but not sure how disciplined you need to be? Christina Macdonald asks the experts whether improving means changing your habits and lifestyle
You’ve decided to get more serious about your running and push your performance to the next level. You’re happy to train hard, but you’re not sure how strict you need to be with lifestyle factors like diet, sleep and alcohol. Do you have to constantly live like an athlete, get to bed early every night and ditch the occasional takeaway and glass of wine if you want to start nailing those personal bests?
“There will definitely have to be some sacrifices and lifestyle adjustments along the way,” says Jennifer Irvine, founder of healthy food company Pure Package (purepackage. com). “It’s all part of the process of making your body healthier and stronger. It really depends on each individual and how seriously you are taking your training regime and how much you want to achieve your goal.”
“Addressing all of these things would yield the best results,” says ultrarunner and Herbalife ambassador Martin Kelly (herbalifeactive.co.uk/martinkelly).
Most of us know we could improve our lifestyle. We aren’t athletes and we can’t devote all our time to running. So, let’s look at the significance of changing or improving various elements of our lives and see which ones will make the most difference to our ability to run well.