Motivate me PLEASE!!!

Go to the home page and in the search field type "blahs". Malvey had a good article a couple of weeks ago about the different blahs that sneek up on us.

I like JMC1888's sinature that says "Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever". It's a good reminder for me to keep the inertia of training constantly. There are a number of mornings I get up in the 5:00am hour and think there is no way I'm going to get out of bed today. But I make myself get out and do 1 lap or train for 1 minuite, then I get in the rythym and always push on and have a good workout. Just get out and start the rest will come.

Also commit to post every day this week on the daily thread what you've done or are going to do that day. The fact that you are reporting your actions is sometimes enough to modivate you to do it.

You got it in ya, Just don't keep it there!

Here's what I tell myself

"The workouts you don't want to do are the ones that count."

but

"Training without recovery is suicide, committed poorly"

Hee!

A couple of other thoughts

One thing that helped me when I hit this feeling last week was to look over my old logs. Once I saw how little I used to be able to do, I was motivated to go out and prove again to myself how far I've come.

The other thing I do sometimes is give myself a little reward. For instance, if I stick to my training schedule for the week, I go out and buy a new CD, or take a trip to the Tri store to "window shop", or go out for lunch one day (I am usually a "brown bagger).

Hope this helps!
Karri

Do what you can when you can. If your low days have more activity than in the past you are going forward. Sometimes just an easy session with low goals and expectations can turn into a great session once you are well into it. Take plenty of rest enjoying a day each week and a slower week every fourth or fifth week. And if you rest - rest properly and avoid the guilt associated with not training. If you are still not motivated try something completely different - join some friends for a hike or court game or something else to get you having fun but away from the regular routine. It is meant to be fun - and it is fun! Just relax and enjoy! ;-)

I am a newbie to all this but on my early mornings I roll out at 4:15 am to get my bike ride in my the clock on the other side of the room helps if I could reach the snooze alarm its over........also having everything laid out the night before running gear or swim or bike stuff staring me in the face in the early am is a big motivator it reminds me of my planning so far. IF i have to rummage for anything in the laundry or under the bed its to easy to blow it off

My biggest motivator is training in a spot that I love to be at during sunrise......I ride my bike along a bike trail right along the ocean / estuary and sunrise is spectacular.........I also believe in the work reward theory I set mini goals and reward myself accordingly............since I stopped smoking months ago and dont eat at restaurants hardly at all I have a small sum of cash with noplace to go that I never had before. My better half doesnt mind.

I just had my latest physical and the results were markedly better than 4 mos ago.......and accordingly I am sporting my new gel pad biking gloves..............

Lifes simple pleasures..................start by putting one foot in front of the next regardless of the practice and before you know it you will be way down the road to shaking the blahs...................

We've all been there-Two of the comments people made also help me- One is to take one rest day, then force myself to go to the workout whatever it might be- with the idea that I must do SOMETHING- = it doesn't have to be a killer- sometimes that alone seems to precipitate a oh, hey I can do more- set the low expectation and then 2 minutes more etc etc- and when I am done I say - self see how great you feel and look how much more you did and are capable of then you came here thinkng.
The other is actually to come here to the board like you did and ask for inspiration & a kick- and to review logs and see where I WAS, just a few months ago ...and be proud of my accomplishments.
A nice side effect for me has been the physical changes with the sticking to training for 6 months-significant enough now that others notice.....and comment
Maybe rent a "Rocky" movie ??? LOL
YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

While I feel your pain, and have gone through exactly the same thing, keep this in mind: We are all here for the support and camaraderie, but ultimately only YOU can get your feet moving. Chalk the past couple of days up to an extended rest, and get ready to hit it again, HARD! Your body WANTS to workout! Your lungs CRAVE the burning sensation after a long run, knowing that they'll be stronger. Your legs NEED to burn off that glycogen and taste the lactic acid, as a reminder of how good they'll look. You skin misses the water, the splashing, the chlorine, if only to better appreciate the feel of your clothes.

You COULD sit on the couch, watching tv, drinking beer and eating chips, or you can be a triathlete. There's no middle ground...

(Does that work? Did it sound too drill-sergeant like? 'Cause I can DO drill-sergeant, if you need it!)

I've been in a bit of a slump, myself. So maybe I'm exactly the wrong person to suggest anything. Honest to Pete, I don't know what causes these changes in motivation. But maybe we could motivate each other. I'll get up off the couch if you will. You first

Okay, I did swim and do yoga and a bit of Pilates today -which is more energy than I've had for the past few days combined. I think part of the reason for that is that I spent the rest of the day hanging out with friends. Yes, I played hookey from my other obligations. It was a mental health need. So maybe that's one idea. The other thing that sort of worked was to give myself permission to have a crappy workout. Just have SOME kind of workout. And even so, I didn't want to finish. My goal was to swim a mile, which used to be easy for me. Several times in the workout, I wanted to quit. Actually for most of the workout I wanted to quit. But I kept telling myself, "this next lap is the one that counts. It's the one that separates the athletes from the wannabes." Do NOT ask me why that worked, but it did. I guess it just helped to remind myself that all athletes struggle sometimes. But assuming there's no real injury, the succesful ones work through the blahs.

And, it must be noted, that the previous few days consist of very light yoga as my workouts. Well, one day of hard yoga, but other than that.... definitely easy yoga. Maybe we have to give ourselves permission to do that sometimes. I don't know.....

But I'll exercise tomorrow if you will!

Andrea

Edited by Andrea 2004-06-15 11:26 PM

When I get the blahs and don't feel like training, I go with the 10 minute rule. Do something (even low intensity - like walking) for 10 minutes and if you don't feel good about it after 10 minutes then quit. Usually it's my body telling me I need to rest for a couple of days. But if you feel better after 10 minutes at low intensity, put in a good workout. If the weather is keeping you from going outside, do weight/strength training in your home or find a nearby indoor pool. Just do it! (Apologies to Nike).

I give myself 2 days of rest a week. If on a Monday or Tuesday I'm not feeling very active, I just bargain with myself. If I don't workout today, then that means I'm gonna have to work out on a weekend, etc. In other words, come up with a realistic (yet beneficial) punishment for yourself if you're too lazy to get up and go! Good luck beating those blah's!