Its the time of year where many people find themselves in a rut. Perhaps Winter has been grinding on you with arctic blasts, or you’ve lost the momentum you charged into 2014 with back on New Years Eve. Fear not, I have a few suggestions and tips that can get you out of your rut and having fun!
Consider signing up last-minute for a local race. Hopping into an event with no expectations but to have fun and see what happens mixes up our routines. You may surprise yourself with your fitness level, and cross the line with a PR! You may also find the company of a couple hundred fellow runners reignites your reasons for running. With weather being unpredictable, signing up last-minute also means you can pick and choose your race with the forecast in mind. If nothing else, a short race is a great speed workout.
Perhaps you don’t want to participate in an event as an athlete but still want to be involved. Volunteering always feels good, and you’ll be greeted and thanked by the warriors on the course. As a volunteer, you’ll see every runner go by – from the speedy leaders to the back of the packers and everyone in between. If seeing folks of all shapes and sizes out there pushing themselves to the best of their abilities doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what will.
I love grocery shopping. I find that if my nutrition habits start slipping, heading to the store and stocking up on healthy options makes me excited to cook and eat yummy things! Looking for new recipes and trying them out is always fun.
Arrange a social event with athletic and fit friends. The social event doesn’t have to be athletic at all. Being around positive, supportive and active people can motivate you to get back to your routine. If fitness and/or training comes up in conversation, reach out and ask for support. Having a running buddy or fellow gym-goer makes the commitment one thousand times easier! I promise that your friends have all gone through training ruts at some point themselves. They won’t view you as weak, but simply as human.
If you have a goal race or fitness goal on your calendar but feel unmotivated to train, force yourself to figure out why. Denial is common, but doesn’t fix anything. Get real. Perhaps this isn’t the time to be committing to a race and you should bag the idea until a later date. Perhaps your diet goals were simply too ambitious but can be tweaked to guarantee success in the big picture. Maybe you need to reconfigure your schedule to make time for training. Sometimes watching a running movie or going to a race website is enough to get your training mojo back. Whatever you do, take an active approach to figuring out why you are in a slump.
We all fall off the wagon now and then. As long as we get back up, we are back in the game.
