10/12/2023
⭐️Burnout!
At this point, I’ve been running for 20 years. In 2 decades, my relationship with running has been inconsistent, but one item that came up a TON for me (and still does occasionally) is burn out. Sometimes, you just exhaust the desire to run and that intrinsic motivation that supersedes the drive to chase PRs and achievements can flare out. I’ve come to look at running as a ‘seasonal’ sport in the sense that, for longevity in the sport, it’s important to respect the season you’re in, both mentally and physically. This can be challenging, particularly for competitive runners. As I’ve grown in the sport, some ways I’ve been able to stay engaged include:
👉 Pregnancy 😂 but for real, being pregnant taught me to respect my body cues, and months of non serious running/maintenance fitness at best, can be a good thing mentally AND physically
👉Stepping back: I ran for 3 years in college. My 4th year I had an opportunity to study abroad and I took it; at that point, running held very little joy for me so it didn’t make sense to miss out on opportunities on the off chance a switch would flip. I started back up very slowly after college…that said, my first race back with limited training ended up being the fastest 5 mile race I had run.
👉 Allow myself to feel good. I’m a lazy runner on easy days, and that mostly stems from having gone years with every run feeling like an effort because I was just going too fast all the time. Some people can do that and see success, but I’ve been much happier (and faster) with MAJORLY polarized training.
👉Run what you enjoy. I have big goals in the marathon, but I just have zero desire to be marathon training year round. It’s a lot of long, tempo style workouts. I usually flip over to track through the summer, which works well because speedy short intervals are more my jam. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer racing long distances, but the workouts for short distances really fill my cup!
In general, the point is, you need to do what YOU enjoy….you need to enjoy it enough to be ok with hating the process every once in a while (because sometimes running sucks!)