In an exercise rut? Me too.
via fitsugar
I think it’s official, I’m in another running rut. I just checked my logs, and it seems that I’ve only ran twice in the past two weeks, and I haven’t put in any real miles for the past two months. Yikes, that’s worse than I thought. I wish I could say this was abnormal for me, but it’s not. Luckily, this means I have an established list of techniques for getting back at it. Allow me to share in case you, too, could use a boost.
1. Register for a race – Nothing motivates me quite like the fear of suffering through a race and then having a horrible race time cached on Google forever. The catch here for me is that it has to be a longer race. Even if I’m not running much, I can get my way through a 5K. The other catch is that there are very few races locally that I have any interest in running. In fact, I couldn’t find a single one this year. Hopefully, most people don’t have this problem.
2. Set a goal – For a while now, my goal has been to get back to the pace I was running at before I got injured and pregnant. I wasn’t that much younger at the time, so I see no reason it shouldn’t be possible to get there again. To do so, I’ll need to cut about a minute off my pace. Whoa, did I just announce my goal to the world?! Supposedly, that helps.
3. Mix it up a little – If I have a love-hate relationship with running, I have just a hate relationship with other forms of exercise, so this one is hard for me. But, for whatever reason, I’ve been interested in medicine ball workouts lately. My plan is to work them into my routine for a little variety.
4. Buy a new running outfit/pair of shoes – I love my running shoes in ways that I cannot fully verbalize, and if I could it would probably make people uncomfortable. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone for a run just so I could put on my shoes. When they’re brand new, it’s even better.
5. Stop making excuses – Yes, I’m tired all the time. Yes, I’m super busy. Neither of those things stops me from finding the time and energy to shower every day. It’s just something I do as part of living. I have to think of running the same way or it doesn’t happen.
6. Get addicted to a new TV show – If I were an outdoor runner, I guess this would loosely translate into finding a new route or new running music. As it is, I’m a treadmill runner. Part of the appeal to me is that my treadmill time is really the only time I have to watch all the programs that are inappropriate to have on in front of my toddler and too embarrassing to have on in front of my husband. I can’t tell you how many times in the past 6 months I’ve had the following conversation with my husband.
Him: You running tonight?
Me: I don’t want to….but I really want to watch The Vampire Diaries.
Five minutes later I’m in my running gear. I’d have to look into some things, but I can just about guarantee you that the drop in my miles happened exactly when I ran out of new vampire episodes to watch. Season 4, I need you!
I’m pretty confident that, using a combination of these methods, I can get back at it. Next step: actually sticking with it.
Help a gal out. What works for you when you’ve fallen off the running wagon?
I usually go for the “mix it up” option when I’m in a rut. Maybe I’ll take a new class at the gym, or download a new fitness app or something.