Well I didn't do the 3 hours of swimming and running workouts I was supposed to do today. But it's all good because I went on a cleaning rampage and cleaned the house..folded the laundry, did the dishes, vaccumed and mopped the floors. Wtf am I doing?? Somehow I do not think that is a suitable replacement. Yeah, it's not.
This past week, I hit an entirely new low for training motivation. Odd, because normally I am just training for runs...marathons....and doing a whole lot of running. Now I'm swimming, biking and running each 3 times/week. More variety, but the workouts don't change a whole lot from week to week. I understand the monotony of the workouts....they pretty much stay the same but increase in duration/intensity/etc. each week....basic training progression principles. I felt like I was doing awesome for the first 6 or so weeks. Then BAM. I just got super bored. I took a random rest day on Wednesday (normally on Saturdays). And then today....well, I cleaned the house.
And did self-massage with the Aveda blue oil. Ever since yesterday, I've had this nagging dull pain on the back left side of my head. It felt like stress.....but in my head, not my upper back, shoulder and neck (like usual). Dave gave me a nice massage last night, but today the pain had just moved to where it normally is (neck). So annoying. I actually need a massage. I miss you Jaime!
I've always found motivation from within to get it done. And it's never been that difficult, to be honest. Because I seriously really enjoy working out. But the enjoyment factor is what seemed to have changed, so I was kind of at a loss when it happened. Someone telling me to just "go do it" was not going to help. Actually, that doesn't work for most people (reference coaching principles). So naturally, I turned to the internet....google...triathlon training forums. I found some good feedback, info and advice for getting through something like this. Turns out, I'm not the first one who this has happened to.....crazy.
One post recommended affirmations. And an inspiration wall. I'm starting there. That's right, I'm going to print out a bunch of pictures of me being awesome, and inspirational quotes...and hang a poster on my wall. Also, taking a break from structured training. One could argue my non-scheduled rest days count for this....but from now on, if I feel unmotivated to complete the workout of the day, I will still do something that doesn't seem as boring. Until I can get back to where I was, enjoying each swim, bike and run.
What really felt good was accepting this as a new challange in a training program. Not a reason to get discouraged. To be quite honest, this was the one thing I felt I had control of in this phase of my life and I refuse to let this get the best of me. It felt good to accept that I can just pick back up tomorrow and (although it might hurt a tiny bit since I've been a SLACKER) it's ok and I'll get back on track. I have been spending time with wonderful friends recently, and cleaning up the house and making dinner for my husband today felt like a little needed balance/organization to everything.
It feels good to keep the control. As best as I can, anyway. I'm looking forward to this week and pushing myself through this rut. I know there are some other factors playing into this struggle, like some depression. But that is probably for another post. Because that is a whole separate topic that I'd rather blog about than discuss. Why? Well, stay tuned. To my blog.
So my point here is......just keep on keeping on :)
Keep on keeping on ~ how true it is! And in some ways I think as you get older (I'm twice as old as you this year!!), the motivation thing presents itself a little more often, since it gets harder to deny that you're older than you feel or you think you are. I do a lot of the little positive reinforcement things in order to stay motivated in all my activites (eating too), and I feel they work pretty well. I have a bulletin board with pictures, quotes, cards, articles. It's just not always easy to workout, walk, bike, hike, or dance for hours at a time when the bod says physically and emotionally "and why are you doing this?" and the answer "because I like it and it's certainly good for me" just doesn't cut it! So I think it matters not our age nor what areas of our lives we choose to push, we are all going to run into the "slumpy" times, and we each have to figure out our personal magic that pulls us back on track and smoothes out the slump. Sometimes I even play one thing against the other for encouragement (snowballing the motiviation!) and then there are just times that giving into the "happy hormones", wine and chocolate, does wonders for the soul!!! Keep on keeping on - love ya!
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