So, I was walking my dog this morning and introduced myself to micro learning books, and in particular the short summary of books it recommends to take you off social media. You know what I am talking about right?
Anyway, within one of these books gave me the inspiration for my next blog title. It wasn’t specifically talking about running of course, but it mentioned how the first part of achieving personal success and motivation to succeed comes from the body. I agreed with it, and I do think that my own personal health and wellbeing has improved greatly since I started running. My general motivation improved, my work improved, and my general ability to focus has improved.
It got me thinking, what happens when you lose motivation to run? What do we do then. Well, we are all only human, and its perfectly normal not to feel like going for a run, but what should you do when it happens? I can give you some tips 🙂
So, normally I am of course very eager to run, but on Tuesday just gone I was in the office all day. It wasn’t a particularly nice day weather wise and by the time I got home it was already dark and wet. I had scheduled my easy run for that evening as I had some other commitments to look after on Monday. I was completely not in the mood and it was a scheduled 9k run also just to make the dread even worse.
Luckily, I am an experienced enough runner to know that the endorphin release I would get from doing the run would kill all the negative energy I had built up beforehand. I had to visualize that feeling however, and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I focused on the aspect of unwinding and listening to my music. I put on my gear and just left the house, simple as that. I didn’t sit, I tried not to dwell too much and I just got out there. I made myself feel guilty for even contemplating not going and knew that if I didn’t go I would feel even more guilty. I just treated it like having a shower, or a shave, it just had to be done.
The key thing to remember on evenings like this is to take it very slow at the start of the run. You don’t want to burn out quickly when you are already not feeling up to it. Its ok to go slower than your normal pace, and the idea is to make sure you don’t pull a muscle or injure yourself. Nice and calm, nice and slow. Ease your way into the run with some nice relaxing music or a podcast. Think about different things, it might something you need to do tomorrow or at the weekend. Before you know it you will be a few kilometres in and you will be heading towards the home stretch. You might even feel like getting that heart rate up and moving faster.
The feeling you get from completing these runs are up there with my personal best to be honest. The feeling that you accomplished something when you were not in the mood, tired, hungry, and just feeling a little negative. The extra push for motivation shows real character and mental strength. This is the motivation and drive you can take with you elsewhere. You can use it in other areas of your life to help motivate you to do something. Its the same principle and process.
Remember it.