How's the motivation?

MY BAD · 12-02-2021 11:09am

I've accepted with level 5 restrictions expected to last to at least May there won't be any road races during the summer. I'd have very little hope of anything happening in Autumn/Winter given the seasonality of this virus and now the fear of different variants on top of that. I really miss races but I'm not necessarily motivated by races, although I love the competition and all that goes with racing. I just really enjoy running. I was injured for most of the second half of last year so I'm just building things up again. I've no lack of motivation I'm running 6/7 days and really enjoying getting fit again.

healy1835 · 12-02-2021 11:45am

I'm in the situation where I trained for 2 marathons last year where,I think, I got the desired benefits of the training without the pay-off of the big day at the end. I've built on that fitness since and, more than anything, I'm determined not to let my training go to waste by letting fitness slip and not being ready if marathons return towards the end of the year. The uncertainty surrounding races isn't ideal & I really miss the buzz of races and all that comes with them, but running is my 'out' at the moment and my motivation to train hard is as high as ever.

Turning 40 in a couple of weeks, and that's an extra motivating factor for me too as I hope to keep my curve of improvement going in the right direction for the next decade at least

Josey569 · 12-02-2021 11:46am

Very little motivation these days!

Classic21 · 12-02-2021 12:11pm

Motivation is coming back, work was killing it for a while. I’m just building back up the fitness. I want to use the next couple of months to get to a decent level so if we can have group runs I won’t be the slowest one there. Even if that doesn’t happen it won’t stop me increasing the miles.
I am getting 40/45 miles per week over 4 days running. Two easy sessions (hill repeats, short sprints or longer repeats), a long run (14/15 ml) and another easy run. Once the weather improves and mornings get brighter I can add another day or two.
I might run a solo marathon in May, just to see if I have the head to do it and not worry too much about a time

partyguinness · 12-02-2021 1:09pm

I continued with a remote coach who sets my training schedule for the week every Monday via Training Peaks. I pay the coach monthly and is sheer bloody mindedness getting through it. I thought about suspending it for the winter to save some cash and downtime after marathon PB in November. But the chances of getting out 5 times a week on my own in this weather are absolutely zero so kept it up. The shame of missing a session keeps me going.

This week will tally up to 82km of solo runnning across 5 evenings and it's the coldest spell since 1995 here in this part of England. Day time temp has stayed below zero all week and evenings dropping to -3 or -4 with a 'feels like' around the -7 and -8. This weekend expected to be -10 for my long runs. Not the weather growing up with in Cork. A big rather sad motivation is to keep my weight in check as I have pigged out since Christmas and son's birthday last week.

Reg'stoy · 12-02-2021 2:24pm

I personally run for my own physical and mental health, I compete against myself and set targets which motivate me, and so I would call myself someone who enjoys running rather than label myself a runner in the truest sense of the word.

I can understand how some here miss the races, for me I miss the structure of a training plan and the wagging finger of a scheduled run reminder on my google calendar. So, signing up to do Ray Darcy's marathon challenge for Laura Lynn was a welcome motivation.

I now have daily and weekly targets and I'm seeing the benefits. Finished off last year with a three month 10k Garmin training plan, so I was doing 200+k a month. Now I'm doing 55+k a week and really enjoying it, bad weather and all. The challenge is linked to Strava, so ticked the boxes for doing 100k, 200k in total, a 5k,10k runs and even a half marathon during the month. I'll be honest, the 1/2 was wishful thinking or so I thought, but 31st of January in the rain and cold I did one. That was my longest run in months (since a virtual half race) and yet 10 days later, thinking snow was on the way, off I set on Tues planning to do 11k. It was cold and slippy in spots so I reckoned I should do an extra couple of K to cover any shortfall later on in the week as it got worse. Reckoned I might get close to 16k and so adjusted my pace, I had no drinks and was happy to get close to 10miles. Hit 15k and felt really good and started to add on 1.6k increments in my head thinking could I, at 18k knew I could, so next was, can I break 2hrs. Ending up breaking 2hrs, my last k was my quickest overall (5-15).

So for me my motivation has been so good, I've run two half marathons in the space of 10 days and done a total of 368k for the year so far, only in the latter stages of a marathon training plan would I ever be hitting those targets, yet here I am.

Nidot · 12-02-2021 4:01pm

Reg'stoy wrote: »

I personally run for my own physical and mental health, I compete against myself and set targets which motivate me, and so I would call myself someone who enjoys running rather than label myself a runner in the truest sense of the word.

I can understand how some here miss the races, for me I miss the structure of a training plan and the wagging finger of a scheduled run reminder on my google calendar. So, signing up to do Ray Darcy's marathon challenge for Laura Lynn was a welcome motivation.

I now have daily and weekly targets and I'm seeing the benefits. Finished off last year with a three month 10k Garmin training plan, so I was doing 200+k a month. Now I'm doing 55+k a week and really enjoying it, bad weather and all. The challenge is linked to Strava, so ticked the boxes for doing 100k, 200k in total, a 5k,10k runs and even a half marathon during the month. I'll be honest, the 1/2 was wishful thinking or so I thought, but 31st of January in the rain and cold I did one. That was my longest run in months (since a virtual half race) and yet 10 days later, thinking snow was on the way, off I set on Tues planning to do 11k. It was cold and slippy in spots so I reckoned I should do an extra couple of K to cover any shortfall later on in the week as it got worse. Reckoned I might get close to 16k and so adjusted my pace, I had no drinks and was happy to get close to 10miles. Hit 15k and felt really good and started to add on 1.6k increments in my head thinking could I, at 18k knew I could, so next was, can I break 2hrs. Ending up breaking 2hrs, my last k was my quickest overall (5-15).

So for me my motivation has been so good, I've run two half marathons in the space of 10 days and done a total of 368k for the year so far, only in the latter stages of a marathon training plan would I ever be hitting those targets, yet here I am.

That's a great story of personal motivation and fulfilment.

It'd motivate others to put the runners on and head out.

I myself am training away for a hoped for few Tris this year with a few run races thrown in for good measure. As the calendar isn't set in stone I'm training to build up a strong base and then have shorter focus training spells when races get firm date - I'm not expecting any races really until August at the earliest.

I must say tho that overall I'm enjoying the process and maybe that's where I am - enjoying the getting fit and feeling fit rather than the end goal of completing a race.

py · 13-02-2021 5:37pm

Zero motivation after virtual DCM up until mid January. That goes for work/college/running, just trudged through a few months. Feel lucky that it's picked up a lot since then and have been running much more regularly. The allowance of exercising with 1 person outside of your household has been great. That in person social interaction has been great to have at the end of a long day of work/parenting.

The lack of races is not something that bothers me but I do understand that it's key for others to maintaining focus and motivation. Can only suggest people take it one day/week at a ttime and avoid as much of the news/social media as possible. It can drag you down quite quickly.

Chivito550 · 14-02-2021 1:00pm

py wrote: »

Can only suggest people take it one day/week at a ttime and avoid as much of the news/social media as possible. It can drag you down quite quickly.

100%.

Haven't watched the news since before Christmas. I can't face seeing the face of Tony Holohan, George Lee and the rest of them anymore. Claire Byrne too is an awful pest.

My mood has still been awful at times, despite the fact I don't watch the news anymore. The doom and gloom still makes it to you so quickly. I've deleted the Twitter app as it is so toxic, but I fall back into it every now and again. Facebook is pretty awful too.

The Covid forum on boards is by far the worst though. It doesn't get more sceptic than that place. I'm my own worst enemy going in there and occasionally engaging with the muppets in there spreading their "5 to 7 years" hysteria!

average_runner · 14-02-2021 1:59pm

Chivito550 wrote: »

100%.

Haven't watched the news since before Christmas. I can't face seeing the face of Tony Holohan, George Lee and the rest of them anymore. Claire Byrne too is an awful pest.

My mood has still been awful at times, despite the fact I don't watch the news anymore. The doom and gloom still makes it to you so quickly. I've deleted the Twitter app as it is so toxic, but I fall back into it every now and again. Facebook is pretty awful too.

The Covid forum on boards is by far the worst though. It doesn't get more sceptic than that place. I'm my own worst enemy going in there and occasionally engaging with the muppets in there spreading their "5 to 7 years" hysteria!

Only watch sport on normal TV, otherwise netflix for me.

Chivito550 · 14-02-2021 2:02pm

average_runner wrote: »

Only watch sport on normal TV, otherwise netflix for me.

Have built a pretty nice music collection over the last year. Lots of vinyl, DVDs and box sets.

The empty stands and masks at sport is still a reminder of this sh1t show. It's so hard to get away from it. It's in our faces everywhere.

Music is a nice escape. Give me Rumours by Fleetwood Mac over rumours of further restrictions and misery any day of the week.

rovers_runner · 14-02-2021 2:16pm

Motivation is fine at the moment, always found just keeping ticking over on dark winter nights ok.
Will be tough come early summer if races don't appear but we will see on that front.

For sport and TV, avoid the news mainly, prime time for satire as if you watch it from that point of view its funny, Claire Byrne will be judged on her cheerleading in years to come, will never be taken seriously for big jobs now but I think she prefers the puff pieces anyhow.

Schitts Creek, NBA and PGA tour starting to pick back up now too. Some good running content on Amazon Prime too.

14-02-2021 7:20pm

Had a running partner yesterday and today, so did 22km with 700m ascent yesterday and 30km with 1,000m ascent today. Legs a little sore now, but figured I had to make running with company count, midweek it's back to slogging it out alone on dark roads...

How's the motivation?

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