Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Finding Motivation When it Seems it Can't be Found

The past two days my workouts have been less than stellar and I've been running low on motivation. Here are some possibilities of root causes of this slump:
    This quote rings so true for the winter blues
    Source
    • The weather: I think I get SAD (Seasonal affective disorder) during the winter. I'm not outside nearly as much, some days the sun never comes out, and the daylight hours are way shorter. Add in all of the snow we've gotten this year and it makes a good case for a mood depressor. 
    • I've felt as if my body is just simply exhausted lately. I even took a 3 hour nap yesterday after my workout and then had no trouble sleeping for 9 hours last night. 
    • I ran out of my pre-workout mix this week and didn't have any before Monday or Tuesday's workout. 




I'm hoping that since I've caught up on sleep and eased down my workouts a little that I will be able to refocus before my long run Saturday.

During Monday's run I literally felt like my legs weighed 500 lbs. I was barely picking up my feet during strides and running was taking way more effort than it normally does. I was also not mentally focused at all! I ended up cutting my run short by 15 minutes. I didn't want to risk injury for crappy running form and tired legs. I was ok with this decision and focused on the fact that tomorrow's workout could be way better.

Today's workout started out with me feeling weak and tired again. A little pump up song from my playlist and I flipped that weak feeling into strength. I'm happy to say I finished my workout strongly today!

I wanted to talk a little about where to look for motivation when you can't seem to find any.
  • Other People: I am a follower/reader of many running blogs and they motivate me to stay on top of my game when it comes to training. Blogging holds me accountable for getting my workouts in. During the Disney World Half so many people during the race inspired me just by running by with an encouraging smile. Here are a few blog posts that have inspired me.
  • Music: Songs can be so powerful to your mind. They can motivate you to push yourself further than you could ever have imagined. Sometimes all it takes is a good beat to get you back on pace. 

  • Pinterest: Gotta love finding fitness inspiration/quotes on Pinterest!



Question of the day: What inspires/motivates you most?

That's all for now!

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