What gets you motivated?

visualizing how awesome your gonna look at the end of your goal weight

The fear of going back to 200 lbs and feeling like crap all the time.

I keep a binder with all my workout info.

The cover of it is a list of handwritten quotes I found that speak the most to me. I decorated it and put it in the clear part of the binder cover. Something nice to look at but also inspirational at the same time

The first thing attached in the binder is a mini calender that I hole punched and inserted in. (Its a kitten calender my boyfriends mother gave me ) That calender is where I keep track of my fastest mile (since at the moment I'm working on that) and also any 5k races I would like to do for each month. I also mark my BFs days off so I know which days we can do the races together.

Next comes a sheet of paper with my goal, goal deadline, starting stats, and starting date.

Then comes something related to my goal. So it makes sense to everyone, my goal is to run as close as possible to a 6 minute mile for a 5k race in October 2013. I want to place high in my age and gender group so I did some research. I listed the top 5 runner speeds (that are in my age group) in the races for the previous 4 years. While I know that there will be different competition each year, I now have an average of what the top speeds are.

After that comes my actual progress. I have a sheet for each day that I work on my running. I made it on my computer, printed it out, then made tons of copies. They are stored on the inside slots of my binder. Each day I log when I woke up, if I did morning, afternoon, or evening work outs (or a combo) , the date, my weight (which I leave blank except for once a week when I weigh myself), what time I weighed myself, and what time I went to bed. I also have a spot called 'notes' which is where I write anything else important for that day.

At the end of each week I write a review on myself. I write how I think I did in the previous week, any improvements that I had, and disappointments, etc. Nothing specific, just whatever comes to mind. Then I also write down short term goals to achieve by the end of the upcoming week.

I also keep sticky notes on my binder so that when I achieve those weekly goals I write it down then attach it proudly on the page lol

I'm a dork, and maybe OCD, but it truly helps me enjoy my workouts and keeps me motivated. It's so exciting to fill out and add in a new sheet that even if I'm feeling lazy it makes me want to go run just to see my binder grow