OK...so it's February...mild winter, days are getting longer, street are dry and clear, temps are nice. So, why is it like pulling teeth to get my butt outside in my running gear? Even though the collective activity level of the entire country has, ironically, been at a standstill during the Olympics (Yay for the women's hockey team, btw) I am not warming the sofa in front of the TV every night! I get out there! But, I whine incessently before I go, I look for any excuse not to go - "I'm tired", "I don't feel well", "I'll go to the gym tonight", "I'll go to the gym this afternoon", "I went to the gym last night", "I'd rather eat". Adding to the frustration of not going is the lack of desire to go any type of distance - Should go 10 but go 6, should do an hour on the treadmill but do 40 minutes. I guess the most demotivating word is should. The "shoulds" are highly demotivating, by the way!
So, how will I get myself out of this funk? I tried going to Runner's World - they have the monthly trio - shoes, diet and motivation - in the current issue. One of the articles was how Kara Goucher has negative thoughts about her performance and that effects her motivation. You know, I am just not inspired by world class athletes - I don't identify with them - they don't run in my shoes and I certainly do not run in their's. I DO, on the other hand, identify with the experiences of local runners. I follow a blog called the KV Challenger - A Writer with a Running Problem: http://kvchallenger.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-race-schedule.html
Chuck's latest entry lists the 2010 races he intends to run - for the whole year! He also has his targets identified in each race. I read this and it hit me: For the first time in a long time, I have no goals. I've been drifting - using a lot of euphenisms to describe my running. "Running for pleasure" means "I do not want to run hard". "I love running GarminLess" means "I am running really slowly but I don't want to know that I'm running really slowly".
Goal setting will start...hmmm....tomorrow! Naahhhh...maybe tonight..who am I kidding? Tomorrow. Looks like I've made a good start at least.
Accountability - now that's a long blog entry. Won't get into that tonight. (not motivated).
Getting back into the right frame of mind, I hope, will be a short process. I'll keep you posted.
How about you? How do you regain lost motivation?
The Middle Aged Runner
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
