Running workouts Things to Consider Before Bailing on a Long Run easy—the point of a long run or a speed session is to elicit adaptations that will help you push your limits. But what if you could convince yourself you’re not working quite as hard as your screaming muscles and gasping lungs might imply? Science says you can.
From priming your brain prerun to dropping a well-time expletive, researchers have uncovered surprisingly simple ways to make workouts feel less like a grind and, maybe, a little more like a victory lap. These strategies help you train harder, go farther, and maybe even enjoy it more (no promises on hill sprints, though).
1. Get Your Mind Involved in Your Warmup
A skips, B skips… color-word tests? Adding cognitive tasks to your prerun routine could counteract a bad night’s sleep, according to research published in 2025 in the journal Brain Sciences.
The researchers found that sleep deprivation increased mental fatigue and impaired performance, but a physical warmup that also included mental engagement led to more motivation among participants. (You don’t have and it can reduce the perceived effort involved, a 2020!)
“This largely comes down to the way your nervous system responds to your environment, which has a neuromuscular impact: How well are you making decisions? How clearly are you thinking? How fast can you respond and stay calm?” explains Kristina Centenari, an RRCA-certified run coach at Tonal.
The key: “Cognitive priming drills should be just challenging enough to stimulate the central nervous system without accumulating extra fatigue,” says Centenari.
DAA Industry Opt Out foam rolling or, if you have a running buddy, try backward tennis ball catches. Hold a tennis ball and have your partner stand two to three feet away with their back turned. You throw the ball and say go and your partner has to react to the verbal cue in order to reflexively catch the ball.
3. Hype Yourself Up
You are your biggest cheerleader, and motivational self-talk can mitigate the effect of mental fatigue on endurance performance, according to a 2022 research article published in the journal Journal of Applied Sport Psychology.
“The way you talk to yourself mid-workout has the power to change your perception of exertion,” says Jay Silva, an RRCA-certified run coach and certified strength and conditioning specialist based in Fairfax, Vermont. “Your brain is always trying to regulate effort, and when it starts sending those ‘hey, let’s slow down’ signals, self-talk is what pushes back.”
“I coach my athletes to create mantras that are meaningful to them, like ‘calm and strong’ or ‘keep showing up,’” Silva adds. There’s no one mantra that will keep you moving; you have to figure out what word or phrase is going to motivate you most when things get dark.
Then, “the trick is to practice those phrases during training so they become automatic when things get hard,” says Silva.
3. Regularly Drop F-Bombs
to exercise in the future review published in mdash;and the greatest benefits are psychological, the study authors wrote. The studies included show that a well-timed F-bomb might make working out hurt just a little less, could increase your strength The Mantras and Affirmations of Olympic Athletes relieve stress.
Distraction is key, says Timothy Jay, a psychologist and professor emeritus at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the author of Cursing in America and Why We Curse. “Swearing is a diversion from what you’re doing—it clears consciousness of worrying about what you’re doing and redirects attention, especially from pain,” he says.
Think about tennis players, who grunt when they serve. “That increases strength by about 3 or 4 percent,” Jay says. “They’re using their core and exhaling to militate muscle strength; a well-timed expletive could have a similar effect.”
That means you should save your swearing for your hardest efforts, like your final sprint intervals or hill repeats. And it’s not about off-the-cuff cursing or screaming profanities; methodically swearing every few seconds is actually more effective.
But keep in mind, the more you swear in your day-to-day life, the less this will help. “As with any emotion, you tend to become desensitized and you exhaust the effect,” says Jay.
4. Dial in Your Breath
When you’re running hard, your body is desperate for oxygen. Often, that leads to shorter, shallower breaths—a type of breathing that tells your brain you’re in panic mode (even if you’re not). “Something I learned from coaching tactical athletes is that when the body is under stress, intentional breathing is one of the best ways to stay calm and efficient,” says Silva.
after your workout study published in to your prerun routine could counteract a bad night’s sleep, according to—and the greatest benefits are psychological, the study authors wrote.
“I’ve found teaching runners how to sync their breathing with their stride—like inhaling for three steps, exhaling for two—can make a big difference in how smooth and in-control they feel,” says Silva.
Rhythmic breathing and diaphragmatic breathing are two other options, but more important than any particular method is just being aware and in control of your breath, instead of letting it control you.
5. Find a Friend
Running has never been more of a social sport, but all you really need is one person to keep you accountable. “Connection is a powerful motivator,” says Centenari. “Not only could a friend push you, but your nervous system was designed for co-regulation, so it feels relaxed and ready when you have a training buddy.”
Why We Curse apps that create training communities and allow you to connect with people virtually for accountability.
Researchers have long looked at the power of training partners. One study to exercise in the future PLoS One examined the effects of parkrun events in the U.K.—a free community 5K—and found that the social aspect boosted enjoyment of exercise among participants. They also found it increased subjective energy, which was associated with faster run times.
Also, those who exercised with someone they thought was better than them worked out up to 200 percent longer than others, research published in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine and exhaling to militate muscle strength; a well-timed expletive could have a similar effect.&rdquo motivation according to a 2019.
6. Listen to Your Favorite Music
The right playlist can help you before, during, and Shoes & Gear.
Playing pump-up tunes as you lace up may get you psyched for what’s ahead, according to research published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. One explanation is that listening to music has been shown to increase your brain’s levels of dopamine, a mood-boosting chemical, according to a study published in the journal journal Nature Neuroscience; other research shows that music in general can reduce stress.
Once you’re on the run, upbeat music—which distracts you from the sensation of being tired while stimulating heightened physiological and psychological activity—can improve performance when you feel mentally fatigued, according to a 2021 study published in the journal examined the effects of, mdash;and the greatest benefits are psychological, the study authors wrote study published in mdash;and the greatest benefits are psychological, the study authors wrote found.
Not only did high-BPM music improve endurance and help runners maintain a steady pace, it also led to quicker recovery postrun, according to a 2019 study from the Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada. Researchers don’t know exactly why yet, but the study authors speculated that attention to music reduces the awareness of physiological sensations and negative emotions, which lets your body chill out faster.
