Training Update

As I've said before, I don't give regular running updates (and probably don't plan to in the near future), but Lane's post on Motivation got me thinking about my running as I have started work.

I too have been finding it difficult to motivate myself to get out and run after work. Though, one thing to note that differentiates me from Lane is that I don't have the same history of consistent training and racing. While I have been running for 7 years now, I have been plagued with injuries and have had to take significant portions of time off. Even now, I am trying to come back from what is nearing a 2 year break due to injury. The result of this is that I have found myself firmly outside of the habit of running daily. Thus, it is very easy for me come home after work, feel tired or hungry, and just decide to skip running. The thing is, I do love running and racing, and I almost always feel better after a run. But, it is still difficult to find the motivation to get out at 7:00PM when I get back from work.

So, how do I break this block? I'm not sure yet. Maybe once I get settled into my job and my routine a bit more I will find the motivation to get back to running. Maybe I just need to toughen up and force myself out everyday. The option that I want to avoid the most is just taking a break and saying that I'll come back to it eventually. I have already taken a long enough break for injury, and I know how difficult it is to get back in the running habit. So, I know that this route is a slippery slope to ending my running career. One piece of advice that my college coach gave me was to keep running after my scholastic racing career was over. He said that he felt burnt out and done with running when he finished school and decided to take a break from running. Since then, he has never really gotten back into running. He told me that it was a good idea to tone the intensity of training down, just keep casually running and forget about racing. But, he said to keep running regardless. So, I know that I need to keep going, I just need to figure out how to get myself out the door.

~Alex