Staying motivated

KathleenKP

My trainer told me that we always need to have goals we are working towards. I have another 5K planned two months after my first so that I can (hopefully) improve my time. Even still, yesterday I felt like " not running". I know from my other physical activities, that I have to get past the warm-up, so I pushed through and ran anyway. But, as much as I've loved running so far, and as much as I realize days like this will come, it's still another thing to actually deal with it. I appreciated the words of my trainer yesterday.

So...what do you do to stay motivated?

(At the end of my run, I went down a new road that had a stunning view...and the weather was perfect...it's what has stayed in my mind from that run...and keeps me positive instead of focusing on the negative feelings I started the run with. I can't wait to go down that road again.)

likitisplit

I have my run schedule on my wall calendar and check off the runs in red ink. That way I can see that I've done all the runs before today and can easily see where I expect to be a couple of weeks from now if I commit today.

And, actually, it's so hard to work the runs into my schedule that the effort of finding the time recommits me each week.

KathleenKP

Thanks, Varda. I really like that idea of the workout calendar. I haven't down-loaded a B210K app yet, so I don't have something to look at like I did with the c25k plan sitting on my phone. It was something I really liked having (the workout plan), a goal to work towards...but I didn't think of putting one on a calendar for now. I do need to get going on the b210k app, I think, but I'm working with my trainers/coaches, so kind of following what they have been loosely telling me to do (the trainer is for weight lifting, the coaches are swimming). And my first goal was to improve my speed, before focusing on distance that comes with the b210k plan.

rduhlir

You just need to keep going. Eventually, your body will go out on a run on its own....half way through you will be like, "OMG, what just happened!" Until then you have to just keep going. Look around on the web. there are all sorts of different trainings sets you can do. You can do speed play, work on increasing weekly mileage (that is what I am doing), work towards B210K.

Just like in C25K, the biggest motivator is going to be yourself.