It’s snowing. It’s raining. It’s too hot. I’m tired. All excuses we all as runners have used before. Lately in my city, it’s been so snowy, and guess who doesn’t plow the sidewalks? The city. They are markers for ankle sprains and sore hips.
I have been missing more runs than I’d like and the reasons have been two fold: I’ve been lacking motivation to put my layers and hit the road and its hella snowy here and they don’t plow. I have been doing more HIIT workouts at home, going to the gym etc, and maybe running 2 days a week and at that shorter recovery runs. I have done a few above 5K.
However, I am starting half marathon training next month (pray for me folks) and I want to try and do as much running as possible.
My first tip: adjust your expectations for the length of your runs. Especially if you live in a city where they don’t plow anything. Even if you just get in 2km tempo run or 4km, it’s still a run, it’s still exercise and it’s still training.
My second tip: adjust your speed. I know, as so many runners know, when you are going slower than usual this is mentally tasking. Its hard, its not easy, I don’t care what anyone says, asthmatic or not, running is difficult. When the terrain is rough you have to slow it down so you don’t injure yourself, yes it’s frustrating if a 5K takes you 5 mins longer than usual but that’s the nature of the beast.
My third tip: enjoy the slight break from running. Add in more HIIT workouts to get cardio and keep your lungs going. Do cardio at the end of your strength workouts. YES none of these replace the feeling your lungs get when running. Also you can hit up the treadmill, but the treadmill is just not my cup of tea. I’d rather hit the storm outside! (and yes I have done this multiple times this winter).
Remember, sometimes not having motivation as a runner can be your body saying slow it down. Maybe that’s not true, but with this terrain my muscles, shins and knees are a lot more sore then when my terrain is smooth and I think it’s good to shorten distance when you are lacking motivation as to not get even more discouraged.
What do you do when you find yourself unmotivated?
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