I’m baaaack!!!
I know…. I know… It’s been so long since my last post, and I really can’t believe how much time has past since I last wrote a blog. Truth is, life has a funny way of taking up your time if you aren’t intentional about MAKING the time for what you want to do most.
Well… it’s a NEW YEAR!! And as you can imagine being more consistent with my blogs is way up on my list of things to do this year. I’ve committed to writing a blog weekly and seeing as it is the end of the 1st week of the year… HERE I AM!!!
So this weeks’ post will be on a topic I shared on this week at a running clinic. As you may remember from previous posts I recently completed my first FULL Marathon on October 14, 2012. I joined the running room and followed their training for 18 weeks in preparation for my race. After the race was complete I was asked if I would be interested in coming to a half marathon clinic to talk on ‘motivation’.
I realize that while information related to ‘staying motivated with running’ may not be relevant to everyone reading this post, I do believe that the basic points can apply to staying motivated with just about anything.
Ok… so the 5 main points to staying motivated (keeping it short and sweet)
- Knowing the benefits of running
- Knowing your inhibitors
- Devising a plan to avoid things that stop you from running
- Rewarding your progress
- Looking to the future (as it relates to running)
Number one… the benefits of running are countless: helps you stay in shape, it’s easy to do, it’s fairly inexpensive, helps reduce stress, gives you time to yourself, it boosts your energy, allows you to meet new people, and you can also run for a cause … (the list really can go on and on)
Number two… well everyone’s inhibitors are different so you’ve got to familiarize yourself with what it is that gets in YOUR way. For me it’s things like: not enough time in my day, weather, feeling tired/ lazy, childcare when my husband is out of town, running late…
Number three… for me this one seems pretty simple: PLAN AHEAD… and just stick to my plan (period!!)… For others it may require more creativity, but I can usually work around just about anything if I plan ahead (as I thankfully have an amazing support system), but when I get lazy and just ‘wing it’… things typically don’t get done.
Number four (my favourite!!!) oh there are sooooo many ways to reward yourself. Once you know what makes you happy/smile then you can figure out ways to incorporate it in your regime. Examples of ways you can reward your hard work: shopping, allowing yourself a special treat (for all the calories you’ve worked off running 🙂 ), a massage, the medal you get at the end of your race 🙂 etc.
Number five…. Well especially when you’re preparing for a particular race, it’s important to think about what comes next because as I mentioned earlier about my blogging, if you don’t plan for your next goal then life is likely going to just suck up your time doing something else. So let’s say you’ve accomplished a 5K run, next it can be a 10K, then a half-marathon, or maybe it can be something like improving your running time. Whatever the goal, having the ‘next step’ in mind is always helpful in keeping you focused on running and moving forward.
Well those are a few of my thoughts as it relates to staying motivated with your running.
Hope that’s helpful and happy goal completing for 2013 🙂