Running without motivation sucks!
I knew it was going to happen, but I feel really disappointed that It happened after less than three months.
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No guys, don’t worry, I didn’t quit!
But if one day I will, please, please, make me feel worse than guilty and a horrible person without backbone!
Anyway, this is what happened –> phone conversation:
“Hello?”
“I lost it”
“What did you lose?”
“My motivation” (very sad voice)
“What are you talking about?”
“Running! I lost my motivation to run! You never understand me!” (Oopss!)
“Baby, it’s ok. You didn’t lose your motivation. Everybody has bad days. It’s ok, tomorrow will be better”
But it wasn’t.
That day I went running, and finished my work out with lots of struggle, but I told myself: “If I did it today I can do it always”. Still, it didn’t work.
I found myself two days later at my desk at work thinking: “Today I have to go running, che palle! ” (typical Italian expression you say when something sucks!).
I don’t know why, I’m just not feeling right, or.. I’m just not feeling it anymore! That’s my fear.
I don’t like to start something I can not finish, and I do not commit easily to something. But it looks to me that all the enthusiasm is gone – like happens for everything that is just new, and not new new anymore!
It’s bad! Even if I’m still following my work out schedule, I find myself in the treadmill telling myself : “Wow! This sucks! I should blog about it!”.
Can you guys actually help me? Because I think it’s just me….I’m just…. maybe a bad week!
Does it happen to you at all?
19 Responses to “Running without motivation sucks!”
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I don’t run (I’m not the running type) but I hope you find your motivation soon again!
Thanks!
Yes it happens to all of us. I sometimes lack of motivation before going to the gym, but when I arrive there,I got motivated & say its better than sitting home,nibbling on some unhealthy snacks. And every morning when still in bed, and Obliged to get up and go to a boring,ambition-killer, monotonous job, I lack alot of motivation and its worse than the gym one’s, because it makes me feel, down, tired, physically & emotionaly, puts me in a bad mood even before the day starts. What a bad, annoying everyday-feeling! Waitin for the time when I’ll have my dream-job.
It will happen!
Ok girl, let’s do this: let’s be more positive and find motivation in small things everyday!
Are you in? I will feel much better if we do it together!
“Does it happen happen to you at all?”, you ask.
Dear lady: I am 68 years old and I’ll leave it to your imagination to guess how often it has happened. It might not have been about running, perhaps because my knees told me not to ever try it again after only the first few days of “jogging”, back in the days…
But it certainly has with many other activities that, at one time or another, I felt were something that I should be disciplining myself to do with a certain regularity.
Perhaps I am mistaken, but it could be that the lack of motivation of which you accuse yourself, is instead a very intense dislike for anything that is repetitive, unimaginative and, (diciamo pane al pane) downright boring.
It is quite obvious to anyone who follow your blog, that you are a very creative person with an enormous zest for life. You already have at least a family, a household and a job. These can be very beautiful and rewarding things, but, because of their very nature, they are quite structured, predictable, invariable. Why saddle yourself with yet another “routine”, repetitive activity? I perfectly understand that running and going to the gym is perfectly satisfying, even rewarding, for many people. But perhaps it’s not for you. Perhaps you might be better off finding some wooded hills to run or walk briskly or some rocks to climb or…whatever. I’m sure you get the gist.
Be as it may, it might also help you to listen to this:
http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2011/opening-to-our-lives/
if you don’t have the time to spend listening to the whole thing, at least take the time to read this short poem by Nobel laureate Dereck Walcott:
“LOVE AFTER LOVE
The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.”
Then, if you still do not feel motivated to run with your legs, let your mind and heart do the running.
Go girl! Go!
Gianni, this is great insight and advice. Really.
Elena, I understand you, I would not want to run on a treadmill either. I also get bored with gym classes on a regular basis. I think you should definitely continue running, but maybe outside, in town or nature. For me this is much more fun because I can look at the world around me, take in smells and light and fresh air, not the sweaty air conditioned one of the gym.
But admittedly even there I have to kick myself to do it regularly… The variation thing that Gianni mentions might do the trick, go walking as a variation to running, or even try (indoor or outdoor) climbing if you are not afraid of heights.
The only thing I really was into sportswise has been Wing Chun – self defense without and with weapons, combined with a great deal of fitness and proper fun. But one has to go like 3 times a week in order to progress, and where I live now there is no school. So I left that since a few years and like you try to keep up with running since it is simple, fun enough, and I can do it in my time
. I actually registered for a 10 km run in August, so that is my training goal now.
I have my first 10Km in August too!!!!
That’s why I have to train, and I will! I feel much better already!
Thank you!
Really? When? Mine is on the 13th of August, the traditional 10km Midnight Run in Stockholm. It will be on for the 30th time! http://www.midnattsloppet.com/start/content.cfm?Sec_ID=43&Eve_ID=1
WOW! This is great! I think I just got my motivation back!
That’s way I love blogging and even more I love you guys!
Thank you so much Gianni!
The same happend to me with kickboxing…
Think about punching somebody you really don’t like! It will work!
I love running (I do it since years) because it brings all the stress off from my mind. Yes, sometimes I’ve to fight against the “force” to stay quite at home, but as soon as I move, everything disappear.
However I understand your feelings; it can happen.
Try to look inside you in order to understand if it’s really a moment or, maybe, you really prefer to do something else (don’t feel guilty at all. We are free to decide). It’s normal to take time to “make the point”.
I’m sure you will find the right answers.
Until then, don’t give up!
Alex
Elena, it’s happens to me too and it used to happen much more frequently.
Some of this can be an effect of LSD (long slow endurance) running. The first year months even years produce some nice results, but the body adapts.
Though it was a bit of a learning curve (five to six months), cross training in general and CrossFit / CrossFit Endurance/ Triathlon training in particular has helped with my motivation quite a bit over the last year. Being able to mix it up, with slow but increasing proficiency is a lot of fun!
I run 3-5 times a week (versus 5-6 times a week on average from 1994-2009). Since my pillar/core body strength has improved quite a bit since late 2009 and I’m mixing the aerobic miles around, I can hit each run with an intensity I haven’t enjoyed since 1994-97. Strength/speed have replaced slow grinding runs (so 7-mid 8 minute clip versus upper 9 to mid 10 minute clip).
When I run now it’s a fun treat… sure there’s still some mental toughness involved. I’ll venture out for a short run with my dogs later in the day — in minus 20 windchill..
Ok, that motivates me! I mean… the fact that I’m indoor!!!
Do take care not to over-train yourself! Can happen when you are pushing yourself too hard. If you find yourself losing it, take it easy, do light and easy pace. Or even take a day off and don’t think about running.
For me, I lose my motivation the easiest after an illness, still finding to find back, but slowly and surely.
Keep running and stay healthy!
Maybe you need a couple days off.
You might be too cold, too. It feels horrible when you’re hot from running and your skin is cold!
Days off, I like that!!! But it scare me: I just hope it’s not going to be worse when I start training again!