I’m at the peak of marathon and in big trouble, I lost motivation! I am not feeling too hot and deal with fatigue and bad headaches lately. Last week was a down week and my long run was “only” 13 miles. This should be easy compared to all the other long runs. This was my plan:
Plan A: 10 mile race
The local race series offered a 10 mile race on Sunday, so I decided to sign up and run a few miles before and after in order to make it 13 miles. A week or so before the race I found out my friend who currently lives in Kenya will be in town with her 2 year old daughter and they will be able to see visit me this weekend. No question, I had to reschedule. Instead of running a race, I spent time with them. LOVE!
My friends 2 year old daughter and my dog
Plan B: Long run on Saturday
Should not be a problem, I usually do my long runs on Saturday anyway. I started with one lady from my running group and we ran almost 6 miles together. I was supposed to run a second loop of 6 miles, but felt blah and tired and had a hard time breathing. Finishing with her and sit down for a cup of coffee with her sounded so much better!
Plan C: Long Run on Sunday afternoon
My friend was planning to stay with me Saturday night to Sunday lunch time, so I was planning on running my long run on the treadmill in the afternoon. Around 3pm I got all ready and then the treadmill didn’t start! The display was on but no button responded, after several on restarts and calling my BF for technical support, I gave up.
-> Long run FAIL! And I feel guilty and even less motivated.
HEP! How do you motivate yourself in the middle of marathon training?
My weekend was kind of like that too. I was supposed to run 16 and only ended up doing 10. I added some new songs to my ipod hoping that will help motivate me this week. Do you listen to music when you run? That may help? I hope this week goes better for you. We all have off weeks. Hang in there.
I am going through the same thing.. I have been dealing with migraines and I took two weeks off! Yes, that’s right folks, two weeks, no injury could do that to me but the gripping cluster migraine can take me down. I have resumed today with 6 miles and honestly I don’t really care, I might need to adjust my goal time a little or maybe just run the damn thing and not care about time, PR etc. I’m rambling, yes, I know. Hope you are feeling better and get back out there. I find a good slow trail run usually does the trick for me.
it’s hard to stay motivated. not going to lie about that. especially in the summer heat! i think having someone to meet for long runs is helpful-it holds you accountable. but don’t beat yourself up over this weekend. you will still do great at wineglass!
As you know lack of motivation…been there and done that recently. My answer? You and my husband were my motivation. From the queen of beating yourself up I’m here to say don’t do it and don’t feel guilty. Easier said than done but it doesn’t do any good and once you start it’s hard to get out of that vicious cycle. Ugh!
Hang in there Christine. This is temporary.
I certainly wouldn’t give it a second thought. Instead, just adjust so that the long run this coming weekend happens, and start planning it out in your head and rehearsing how well its going to go. Instead of reflecting on it as a failed long run, think of it as a planned step-back week, with full plans on making this one great.
I blame the summer heat as a motivation killer. I say just look forward with a game plan and you’ll be fine! Or you can bribe yourself with some new gear (that’s what I do) if you hit all your long runs here on out.
I seem to have this problem every day this summer, I am just in a running funk! hope you get motivated to get out and run!