Time to let you in on a little secret…contrary to what you may have read or may have been led to believe…I do not always feel like doing my workouts…more specifically, parts of my body don’t always feel like doing a workout…but in the last 3 years, I’ve missed only 3 workouts…that’s not to say that’s normal or that I haven’t wanted to miss more, my point here is not about missing an occasional workout…it’s more about how or why I feel I am able to get out there even when I may not feel like it (rare as that may be).
When I ran first thing in the morning (4:30 or 5:00 was the norm about a year and a half ago), I had one simple rule, when the alarm rang I got up! If I hit snooze, I knew the workout wouldn’t happen, similarly, when the appointment reminder went off at lunch, I went to the gym…for exactly the same reason. It’s always been easy for me to come up with an excuse, reason, justification for missing a workout in the past, but ultimately I felt worse after missing it…it took me the first year of training to figure this out…hence the reference to 3 years above…and not the full 4 that I have been running…sly huh?
The major motivator for me over the last 3 years has been my plan… at the beginning of every year my coach (a.k.a. my brother-in-law) and I sit down, set some goals, schedule my races for the year and figure out which will be A races, and every month, my coach puts together a plan for me based on the previous month’s results and the upcoming races. I send him weekly training reports that not only record the time & distance of each workout, but other details like weather, terrain, perceived effort, observations and any information that may be relevant in helping him determine how the plan is going, or how I am adjusting to the plan. He is always interested in knowing my energy level, if there are any specific concerns and especially if there is any pain, soreness or other issues. Based on my feedback, adjustments are made…and he has made it clear, that missing or moving an occasional workout is perfectly acceptable, he reminds me that I am not a professional athlete (as if my times didn’t make that painfully clear), but his point is that these workouts are not my main focus, they are a means to an end, that missing out on life for a workout just doesn’t make sense, that sticking to the plan and ending up injured does not help me get any closer to my goals and so being flexible is also and important strategy in achieving success.
There are two other things that help motivate me to get out the door, or to keep going in the middle of a workout when my motivation or willpower may not be at their strongest…I think back to a few years ago when I couldn’t complete a 2K with my son and how far I’ve come since then, I remember that it took a lot of tough workouts that I didn’t always feel like doing to get to this point and that 1 missed workout…could lead to a series of them and eventually to being that couch potato again…and that thought scares the crap out of me…so I choose to stay in motion.
The other thought I draw on when my energy starts to wane is of my friend Derek and other survivors I have met through Team in Training who have battled cancer, I recall that sign, or maybe it was a shirt that says “If you think running a marathon is hard, try Chemotherapy” and all of a sudden, getting out the door in rain or snow, finishing that next hill, interval, or km doesn’t seem quite so hard, perspective is everything.
So whether your motivation is your plan/coach, a memory of your unfit self or maybe a vision of your new fit self, whether you draw your strength from within or externally, the point is, there will be times when you just don’t feel like it, when your daily life is making it near impossible to find the time or energy, that’s when you need to remember why you’re doing this, what is your reason? You also have to allow yourself to change the plan (a little), to allow yourself some flexibility and to forgive yourself (yup sometimes missing a workout can feel that bad) so that you don’t miss the next one because you still feel bad about missing the last one…it seems silly, but it happens all too often.
I may not be able to help you with the memory bit (then again I’ve know some of you a very long time, so maybe I could), but if you’re looking for a coach, I have met some excellent coaches at various events here in Ottawa and would be happy to introduce you, all of them are great people and are great at what they do and if you’re looking to train with purpose and for a worthy cause, well I just can’t speak highly enough of Team in Training and the people involved, and if you haven’t figured it out from my FB status updates or blogs…I simply love to talk about running, cycling, training and being active…so if you’re looking to get started or searching for your motivation…I hope this helped…and if I can help in anyway…let’s do coffee and chat!
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