Most runners have one! The workout that makes you hesitate when you see it on the schedule.

Maybe it's speed work. Maybe it's hills. Maybe it's the long run that feels intimidating before you even start. Whatever it is, most runners have a session they would rather skip, shorten, or push to another day. However, the run you keep avoiding might be the one that helps you grow the most.

Why We Avoid Certain Workouts

Usually, it’s not because we’re lazy or unmotivated. We avoid the runs that challenge us.

Speed workouts can feel intimidating because they force us to run at uncomfortable paces. Intervals require us to push beyond our comfort zone. Long runs demand patience and commitment. Hills test our strength and remind us that running doesn't always get easier.

These workouts expose our weaknesses. And that’s exactly why they are valuable. The areas where we feel the most uncomfortable often reveal the biggest opportunities for improvement.

Find The Run You Avoid

Ask yourself:

1. Which workout do I hope disappears from my training plan?

2. Do you dread seeing mile repeats?

3. Do you suddenly have a scheduling conflict when hills are on the calendar?

4. Do long runs feel like something you have to survive instead of something you get to experience?

Your answer can tell you a lot about where you have room to grow. Avoidance is a clue. It points directly toward the strength or confidence you need to develop.

Turn Weakness Into Strength

The goal isn’t to force yourself through every difficult workout and make training miserable. The goal is to approach those challenging sessions with a different mindset.

1. If you avoid speed, try to remember that speed workouts aren't about proving how fast you are. They’re about teaching your body efficiency, improving your running economy, and becoming more comfortable running at faster paces.

2. If you avoid hills, remind yourself that they build strength and confidence. They improve your ability to handle changes in terrain and teach you how to maintain effort when pace naturally slows. A hill isn't a sign that you're running poorly. It's an opportunity to become a stronger runner.

3. If you avoid the long run, remember it isn’t just about distance. It teaches patience, fueling, pacing, and mental toughness. It builds the confidence that you can handle challenges when they show up on race day. The long run is where many runners discover they are capable of more than they thought.

Don’t Let Fear Make Your Training Decisions

It's normal to feel nervous before a hard workout. Even experienced runners have days where they look at the schedule and think, "Do I really have to do this today?" The difference is that they don't let that feeling decide for them.

Confidence doesn't come from avoiding hard things. It comes from doing hard things and realizing you can handle them. Every challenging workout you complete gives you evidence that you are becoming a stronger runner.

Start Small

If you've been avoiding a certain type of workout, you don't need to suddenly make it the hardest session of your training cycle. Start by changing your approach.

1. Add a few short hills after an easy run.

2. Try shorter intervals before longer ones.

3. Break a long run into smaller milestones.

4. Build confidence through small wins.

The goal isn't to eliminate discomfort. The goal is to become more comfortable being uncomfortable.

The Workout You Avoid Might Be Your Advantage

Your hardest workout is your greatest opportunity. The thing you keep avoiding may be the exact thing that helps you become a more complete runner.

So the next time you see that workout on your schedule, the one you hope gets changed, shortened, or canceled, pay attention. It might not be the workout standing in your way.

It might be the workout that helps you move forward!

If you've been running for any length of time, you've probably asked yourself some version of this question:

"Why am I not getting faster?"

Most runners immediately look for physical reasons. Maybe they need more speed work. Maybe they're not running enough miles. Maybe it's nutrition, sleep, strength training, or the summer heat. Those factors of course matter.

But after coaching runners of all abilities, I've learned that the biggest thing slowing people down often isn't physical at all. It's what they're comparing themselves to. Every runner compares themselves to something: a training partner, a runner they follow online, a recent race result, or perhaps most commonly, the version of themselves from years ago.

The problem isn't comparison itself, it's allowing those comparisons to shape your confidence, your decisions, and even your enjoyment of the sport.

The Comparison Trap

Running is unique because it's so easy to compare. Every run produces data. Pace, distance, heart rate, cadence, elevation, splits. Add social media into the mix, and suddenly you're surrounded by runners posting race medals, workout screenshots, and personal records.

Before long, it's easy to wonder why your progress doesn't look like theirs. Maybe your training partner seems to improve every month. Maybe someone in your local running club just qualified for Boston. Maybe a friend who started running after you is now faster.

It's natural to notice those things. The problem comes when they begin to shape how you feel about your own training. Comparison has a way of making strong, consistent work feel like it isn't enough.

Chasing a Different Version of Yourself

Not all comparisons involve other runners. Some of the toughest ones happen in your own head.

Many runners spend years trying to match a pace they ran years ago. Every workout becomes a comparison to a race result, a season of training, or a version of themselves that felt unstoppable.

But here's the thing: you're not the same runner you were then, and that's not a bad thing.

Maybe you're balancing a demanding career. Maybe you're raising kids, caring for family members, or juggling more responsibilities than you were a decade ago. Maybe you're sleeping less, traveling more, or fitting runs into the margins of a busy schedule.

Those circumstances matter. Comparing today's training to a time in your life when you had different routines, different stress levels, or more time to recover isn't an apples-to-apples comparison.

That doesn't mean you can't run just as fast, or even faster. Plenty of runners set personal bests later in life because they're training smarter, fueling better, or simply bringing years of experience and consistency to the sport.

When you shift your focus from recreating the past to maximizing the present, your training becomes far more productive, and way more enjoyable.

When Your Training Partners Become Your Competition

Training with others is one of the great perks of running. Long runs feel shorter, difficult workouts become more manageable, and accountability is built into every meeting. However, group runs only help if you're still running your plan.

One of the most common mistakes I see is runners turning every easy run into an unofficial race. Your schedule calls for an easy effort, but your friends naturally run a minute per mile faster. Rather than backing off, you match them because you don't want to fall behind.

The run feels manageable that day. The problem shows up later. Your legs stay tired longer. Recovery slows. Workout days become harder than they should be. Eventually, fitness stalls, not because you're training too little, but because you're training too hard on the days that were supposed to help you recover.

Sometimes the smartest runner in the group is the one willing to let everyone else disappear down the road.

Don't Let One Bad Run Tell the Whole Story

Every runner has those days. Your legs feel flat.  Your watch shows paces that seem slower than normal. Nothing clicks. It's tempting to assume you've lost fitness overnight.  In reality, running doesn't work that way.

Heat and humidity slow pace. Poor sleep affects recovery. Travel, work stress, and accumulated fatigue all influence how your body responds on any given day. One difficult run rarely tells you much about your overall fitness.

Improvement happens over weeks and months, not from one workout to the next. The runners who continue improving aren't the ones who never have bad days. They're the ones who don't let a bad day define the entire training cycle.

Focus on What You Can Control

There are countless things you can't control, but what you can control is really simple!

Did you complete today's run? Did you keep your easy run easy? Did you fuel well before your long run? Did you prioritize recovery? Will you come back tomorrow?

Those small decisions rarely feel exciting in the moment, but they add up over months of training. Fitness isn't built through big breakthroughs. It's built through consistency.

Success Looks Different in Every Season

Not every training block ends with a personal best. Sometimes success means making it through an entire cycle without getting injured. Sometimes it means rebuilding after illness.

Sometimes it's finding a routine that fits around work, family, and everything else life demands. Those seasons matter just as much.

Progress isn't always measured by the clock. Sometimes it's measured by showing up when motivation is low, finishing healthy, or enjoying the process a little more than you did last season.

Run Your Own Race

If comparison is slowing you down, don’t forget, no one else has your story. No one else has your schedule, your responsibilities, your strengths, or your challenges. Your training doesn't need to look like anyone else's to be successful.

Every summer, it happens.

A runner heads out the door feeling fit, motivated, and ready to crush a workout. The pace that felt comfortable in April suddenly feels impossible. Heart rate climbs. Breathing becomes labored. Frustration follows.

The immediate reaction is often, "I've lost fitness." But in most cases, that's not true at all.

The reality is that heat and humidity place additional stress on the body, making the same pace require more effort. Understanding how to adjust your training during the summer months can help you train more effectively, recover better, and avoid the mental trap of chasing paces that no longer match the conditions.

The Weather Impacts Your Pace

A pace that feels comfortable on a 55-degree morning may feel significantly harder on an 80-degree afternoon. Add humidity, sunlight, and little wind, and the difference becomes even more noticeable.

Your body is working overtime to keep itself cool while also powering your run. That extra workload often means your pace naturally slows down. This doesn't mean you're getting slower. It means you're running in more challenging conditions.

Adjust Your Pace, Not Your Expectations

At Runcoach, we believe pace is one of the most valuable training tools available. Pace helps provide structure to workouts and ensures you're training in the appropriate effort for your goals.

However, pace should always be viewed within the context of the conditions. Think of your training paces as targets, not rigid requirements.

When temperatures climb, experienced runners adjust their expectations rather than forcing splits that no longer match the environment. The goal is still to complete the intended workout. Sometimes that requires making small adjustments to the pace displayed on your watch.

How Much Should You Adjust?

There is no perfect formula because every runner responds differently to heat. Factors such as humidity, sun exposure, fitness level, and heat acclimation all play a role.

As a general guideline:

• Cool conditions (below 60°F): Follow your normal training paces.
• Mildly warm conditions (60-75°F): You may notice little to no adjustment.
• Warm conditions (75-85°F): Expect your pace to slow by roughly 5-10 seconds per mile.
• Hot conditions (85°F and above): Larger adjustments are often necessary.

The key is recognizing that these changes are normal. If you're consistently running slower in July than you were in April, that doesn't automatically mean your fitness has declined.

Don't Chase the Watch

One of the quickest ways to turn a productive run into a miserable one is to force a pace that doesn't match the conditions.

Many runners become so focused on hitting a specific number that they ignore what the weather is asking of them. A better approach is to use your pace target as a guide while allowing for reasonable adjustments when conditions are difficult.

Some days you'll hit every split perfectly. Other days, the smartest decision is backing off slightly and completing the workout successfully.

Consistency beats forcing one workout and needing extra recovery afterward.

Expect an Adjustment Period

The good news is that the body adapts. Heat acclimation typically begins within the first week of consistent exposure and continues to improve over roughly two weeks.

As adaptation occurs, several positive changes take place:

• Improved sweat response
• Better cooling efficiency
• Lower heart rate at a given effort

Many runners notice that workouts begin feeling easier after 10 to 14 days of training in the heat. The key is patience. The first few hot runs of the season are often the most difficult.

Summer Fitness Pays Off Later

Here's the part many runners forget. The work you're doing now is still building fitness.

Even if your watch shows slower paces, your body is adapting to the demands of training in tougher conditions. When cooler temperatures return in the fall, many runners are surprised to see their pace improve almost immediately.

The fitness was there all along. The weather was just hiding it!

This is one reason so many marathoners and half marathoners complete the bulk of their training during the hottest months of the year. The miles you log in June, July, and August often show up as stronger performances in September, October, and November.

A Few Summer Running Tips

To make summer training more manageable:

• Run earlier in the morning whenever possible.
• Hydrate consistently throughout the day.
• Wear lightweight, breathable clothing.
• Slow your pace when conditions call for it.
• Focus on completing the workout rather than chasing perfect splits.
• Take a minute walk break if needed to help bring your body temperature back down.
• Most importantly, be patient with yourself.

The Bottom Line

If your pace is slower this summer, don't panic. Heat and humidity affect every runner, from beginners to elite athletes. Adjusting your pace for the conditions isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of smart training.

Stay consistent, trust the process, and remember that the goal isn't to win a workout in July. The goal is to build the fitness that will help you perform your best when race day arrives.

And when those cool fall mornings finally return, you'll be glad you kept showing up.

This year marks an incredible milestone for Coach Rosie as she celebrates five years with Runcoach.

Over the past five years, Rosie has helped countless runners and walkers achieve goals they once thought were out of reach. From first-time finishers to seasoned marathoners, her thoughtful coaching approach, attention to detail, and genuine passion for helping others have made a lasting impact on the Runcoach community.

To celebrate her five-year anniversary, I sat down with Rosie to reflect on how the running world has evolved, what she's learned along the way, and some of the athletes who have inspired her most.

Q: Looking back over the last five years, what are the biggest changes you've seen in the running world?

Rosie: The two biggest advancements I've seen are definitely carbon-plated shoes and high-carbohydrate fueling strategies.

The impact of carbon-plated footwear on performance is undeniable, but if I'm honest, it's the evolution of fueling that fascinates me most. We're learning so much more about how athletes can properly fuel before and during training and racing, and it's completely changing the marathon experience for many runners.

I love helping athletes work through the trial-and-error process of finding what works best for them. When you see someone successfully execute their fueling plan and avoid hitting the wall in a marathon, it's incredibly rewarding.

Q: What has changed most for you personally during these five years?

Rosie: Last year I became a mom, and that has been the biggest change of all.

The arrival of my son, Leo, has completely transformed my life. It's been an amazing journey, and it's given me a new perspective on both running and coaching. I'm still pursuing my own competitive goals, but now I have the added motivation of seeing him waiting for me at the finish line.

Q: What do you enjoy most about coaching through Runcoach?

Rosie: Without question, it's watching athletes exceed their own expectations.

Many runners start with goals that feel intimidating or even impossible. What I love is seeing them consistently show up, trust the process, and gradually chip away at those goals. Then one day, something that once felt unattainable becomes reality.

Seeing the confidence and satisfaction that comes from achieving a goal you've worked hard for is one of the most rewarding parts of coaching.

Q: Is there a particular athlete story that stands out?

Rosie: There are so many, but one athlete who immediately comes to mind is Paul Nolan.

Paul competes in the 70-74 age group and completed marathons on six different continents last year. That's impressive enough on its own, but what makes his story special is who he is outside of running.

Paul is a devoted father who learned Mandarin after adopting his daughter, and now the two of them often travel together to races around the world. Watching him continue to pursue ambitious goals while sharing those experiences with his family has been incredibly inspiring.

Thank You, Coach Rosie

Five years of coaching means five years of early-morning race nerves, breakthrough workouts, marathon celebrations, setbacks overcome, and countless finish-line moments shared with athletes around the world.

Coach Rosie has been an invaluable part of the Runcoach team, and we're grateful for the expertise, encouragement, and care she brings to every athlete she works with.

Congratulations on five amazing years, Rosie. We can't wait to see what's next.