Staying Motivated After the Marathon

I ran my first marathon in the fall of 2008 and my attitude afterward was, "I just ran a marathon! I never have to exercise ever again! And I didn't.

Until 2009 when I ran my second marathon and then got married two weeks later. I deserved to not workout anymore, right?

In 2010 I spent hundreds (yikes, that's embarrassing) on entry fees for races I did not run because I was injured.  I think you know what I wasn't doing in my spare time (ok, to be fair I did do a lot of biking that year...)

On Christmas Eve 2010, I decided I was going to run a spring marathon and 2011 would be the year I REALLY, like FOR REALS YALL made exercising a habit, not just part of a training plan.

I ran two marathons this year, and while I took a break (ie, I focused on 10k and 5k races for about 8 weeks in the summer), I never really exited training mode.

After the Richmond marathon, I was really happy about my time, I was really confident I could probably train for a spring race and go sub-four, but my heart wasn't in it. I didn't feel any excitement about signing up for another race. I felt content with what I learned in 2011, my race performance, and what my potential to get faster, and I felt good about moving on to other things.*

One of those "other things" is exercising with no goals in mind. It's really freeing now to go to the gym and literally be able to do WHATEVER I WANT because I don't have the voice in the back of my head saying, "don't lift too much, you don't want those squats making you sore for you 18 miler" or "you should really be out running 8 miles at tempo, not here doing ab work."  Over the last couple weeks I've been enjoying short runs of 3-6 miles, lifting as heavy a weight as my little muscles desire and feeling good about a work out even if it was only a speedy 20 minute circuit sesh.

I've managed to be pretty consistent, doing something or moving for at least 20-30 minutes every other day. But I've still been searching for something, a mantra or a little workout fairy dust to keep the momentum going.  And I think I finally hit on it: "Choose to be a runner today."

I have long loved (since I discovered it six months ago anyway) the Bart Yasso quote, "I often hear someone say I'm not a real runner. We are all runners, some just run faster than others. I never met a fake runner," We are all runners. Anyone can be a runner. I am a runner, and it's something I take a lot of pride in and gives me a lot of confidence. 


So lately I've been telling myself, "Choose to be a runner today."  And asking, "What will you do to be a runner today?"


It's very much along the lines of Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point's "Healthy Intentions." I don't need to worry about tomorrow, I don't need to worry about last week or last night. I'm not staring down a 16 week training plan, I just need to choose today what I will do. 


Someday it's a 60 minute run, sometimes it's choosing to drink extra water. Other days it's a really ambitious treadmill interval workout with circuit training mixed in or just an extra lap around the block with the dog.


I don't know if exercising will ever become the kind of habit I wish it would be -- I don't think it's ever going to be something that's such a habit, I don't even notice it like, uh, breathing...oh well-- but the right choices aren't always the easy ones, right?  But I think this perspective, how did I choose to be a runner, really just to be myself and be good to myself today, helps make it easier.


*Not to say I won't run another marathon, I will just probably not in 2012.