I previously put a post out about motivation and its a topic that remains close to the top of the pile when it comes to reasons for struggling with training.
These last few weeks have been tough and motivation has been at the forefront of my mind. This is a post I put onto my Facebook page.
Motivation to get out and run is an odd one at times. Yesterday being Mother’s Day was a perfectly good reason to sack it off. Trying to make sure I did the morning period when the kids got up and covering the meals etc meant daytime running was a no go. Putting in 18 miles then would have been tricky. I wasn’t really motivated to go out and run those miles. Doing 10 pre-dawn treadmill miles then 8 post kids bedtime treadmill miles to make the 18 was not something I felt motivated to do. But I got them done. I do find that having that end goal; be it a race, a personal best distance or time trial, or building up so you can run some special place – is what motivates me! In my case my ambition to tackle a 100 mile race and feel I have brought the best I can to it is what motivates me to put the miles in. A little under 4 years ago I did no exercise outside of going to work and having a family – which does keep you busy! But I did no running, little walking and certainly none of this stretching or yoga moves etc. Fast forward to now and I’ve done some marathons, some ultras and have clocked over 670 miles so far this year. Almost all of those done before 10am!What does this all mean?Well to me it shows that sometimes it can help to look at the bigger picture when it comes to motivation.
As well as that I think the reason for writing this is to remind us all that you never quite know what you can do until you have really tried to find out. I may still not achieve my 100 mile race goal. But I know it’s not impossible. I don’t know if I can achieve it, but equally I don’t know that I can’t.
That’s a goal that motivates me!
Whatever you aim is just remember why you do what you do and where you have come from. Day to day can be hard to see the motivation and reason in something but look up at the bigger situation and suddenly the reason for all the training/work becomes clearer.
Ridgeway Runner 