Recently I’ve had to diagnose several clients with the same debilitating condition. Sadly, it’s something I see too often in runners often classed as “improvers” (surely that’s everyone?) who are making progress. Runners who are gradually increasing their race PBs, moving towards different goals such as breaking an hour in the 10 km, breaking 2 hours in the half (etc). It affects both men and women equally and across all ages. That condition is something I affectionately term “numberitis”.
Numberitis: explained
Numberitis is when you’re used to seeing a certain number on your watch – potentially a heart rate number but usually a pace – and you panic that you’re going too fast and can’t possibly sustain it even though it feels ok. It’s when your easy run pace has been 12 min/mile pace for six months, but you’ve been training consistently and now your watch is showing 10:30 min/mile on an easy run. When you avoid races, so are technically a 75 min 10km runner, but your watch says your tempo session is 4:50 min/km pace. It’s the quite genuine fear of getting faster. The symptoms can vary from slowing down mid-run to a runner genuinely asking their coach “that’s not my easy pace – are you trying to murder me?”
Breaking out the box
The cause of numberitis arises from a tension between consistent progress and labelling.
Labelling is something we as a running community do lots, we as runners to do ourselves – heck, even us coaches do (see above “improvers”). We pigeonhole ourselves into boxes: “I’m a 12 min/mile runner” “I’m a 75 min 10k-er”.
Practically, we need to work within our pace range to achieve realistic goals. With the greatest will in the world, I don’t run 4:30 min/miles. So I don’t set myself sessions for that pace. So being in a certain box is helpful. The problem is attaching our identity to a particular box and being constrained by it.
When gradual progress happens, through being consistent and doing the right mix of long runs, easy runs, tempo and intervals, we don’t often see that our 11:59 pace has snuck down to 11:35, 11:15 etc. We might find we feel better, can chat more, or are less out of breath. We might casually notice that we had a “good run”. But when 11:10 sneaks down to 10:50, we panic we’re going too fast, it’s not sustainable. That’s when numberitis strikes.
Treating the problem
So what’s the treatment? As so often with running, despite our ever data-led world, it’s listening to your body (and dare I say coach) and switching off that little voice that says you don’t belong. Finding that self-confidence is hard, but let me tell you now, you belong in any box you put yourself in. Sure, it might take time to achieve your goals and sure, you might not get all the way. No-one’s going to promise you’ll achieve 4:30 min/mile pace. But you might do 6s, or 5s or find yourself in a whole new box entirely.
So ditch the labels, trust yourself and understand that the changing numbers on your watch are simply external validation of all the hard work you’ve put in and the progress you’ve achieved. Boxes, frankly, be damned.
