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Lost my mojo

I have found lately that i have lost almost all motivation to get my ar*e out the door and do any serious training. I really don't know what the hell is wrong with me. I have another tri this month and then a half mara in October, so it isn't like i have no goal to aim for 0 i was hoping to run the half in about 95mins, but based on my lack of training and having done no speed work i would add about 5 to 10 mins on that now. Which i think is making me even less motivated...

Anyone got any suggestions on how i can find the love for training again?

Comments

  • DanteDante Posts: 22
    Happens to us all - usually when the 'best' events of the season are behind us.

    I usually find mixing things up helps - and training with some friends. Try mountain biking, running off road, a sea swim - anything at all that gets you out in the fresh air and enjoying it again.

    You could try training at different times of day - taking different routes?

    If the worst comes to it - buy yourself some new kit! Works every time.
  • ZacniciZacnici Posts: 1,385
    You could follow Eddie Izzards example and do something completely insane 43 marathons in 51 days! Crikey and I thought we were mad
  • I actually saw Eddie Izzard running earlier this year... Cycling back from Battersea along embankment and I spot this guy running with an England flag and think "That guy looks just like Eddie Izzard".

    Anyway, onto losing your mojo... I'm having a similar patch. Hasn't helped having a holiday, then a cold, then a stag do followed by another cold. Got my 'A' race on Sunday, my first OD, then got an IM to look forward to next year *gulp*

    As suggested above, I've been looking at new training plans, mixing up my swim sessions, finding new routes to cycle/run. Hoping this kickstarts me again until my mojo goes missing again.
  • md6md6 Posts: 969
    Maybe I should just put up 'missing' posters round my neighbourhood and see if anyone returns my mojo?

    I like the new kit idea, but I can't at the mo as i have a bit of a budget deficit this month with booking flights and accom for IMCH, plus going on holiday in a few weeks and it is my neice's birthday and the gf's brother was over visiting so had to eat out a few times more than normal...god I sound like a moany git...

    OK, new plan - is train trough the lack of mojo and see how it goes - see if i can't reduce my (best) mile to sub 6 minutes...only 24 seconds to loose
  • That's the spirit man!
    md6 wrote:
    is train trough the lack of mojo and see how it goes - see if i can't reduce my (best) mile to sub 6 minutes...only 24 seconds to loose
    Thats the spirit! You'll have your mojo back in no time.
  • I've got some Black Jacks and Fruit Salads if that helps!
  • Isn't lack of motivation one of the first signs of overtraining? Do you have time to take a couple of days off and let your body recover?

    Just a thought - feel free to shoot me down......
  • 45CDO45CDO Posts: 44
    New Bike should do it!
  • 45CDO45CDO Posts: 44
    Sorry, just re-read and saw the budget constraints - was just joking anyway!
  • huwdhuwd Posts: 228
    find yourself a new training route - always makes a huge difference with me
  • jacjac Posts: 452
    Think xyzee might have hit the nail on the head..lost motivation/mojo is a classic sign of overtraining.
    Take some time off, re-evaluate goals etc then get going again.
    If a race has no purpose it ain't worth doing.
  • try something different, or with some different people - go to a running club (think you're in greenwich so kent ac at ladywell) on tues nights and run against some new people to get fired up i say! always works for me to get back to a group and be a bit more social about it all, rather than plodding along on my own.
  • md6md6 Posts: 969
    Cheers, I don't think it's over training, as i have been really lax since my bike crash 7 or 8 weeks ago. Since then my training has halved pretty much, and i've been finding excuses not to bother.

    I may have to join a club the serpies train on the river by the o2 so I may join them. I just had a quick speed session at lunchtime today and beat my 'new' goal of a sub 6 mile bu running a 5'49. I guess 5'30 is the next target. Or of course i could do something useful like trying to increase the distance i can ran at that speed... maybe...
  • MowfMowf Posts: 272
    Totally with you. Just can't get it on at the mo - and the less i do the less i seem to want to do...
  • +1
    I've ducked out of 2 swims this week, mentally I'm there ready to go but I just can't get out the door. I don't remember missing a pre planned training session ever, before. Rather unfortunate timing really as I've got my first od next week, I've convinced myself I'm tapering. :roll:

    I'm hoping it's just the whole Autumn Winter time of year thing, I've got 2 more tris and the great south run left, after that I'm taking a month off "proper" training and getting the mountain bike out again, which I love.
  • Don't beat yourself up over it; its just end of season blues. Have a few weeks off then restart with base rate training for your winter curve, loooonnnnggg sllllooooow stuff and come spring you will be so ready to go again you'll be like a bullet out of a gun!
  • Here are some things that help me to keep focussed...

    COACHING
    The coaching means I feel obliged to do the training because I paid for the coaching, so I don't want to waste money, and I don't want to have to tell my coach I didn't manage to do all the sessions he planned for me (and I don't want to lie either )...

    TRAINING DIARY
    The training diary is not for future consultation, though believe me it'[ s good for that. It's so that you have the satisfaction of jotting in what you've done. Nothing beats the sense of pride you get from flicking through a diary with 1 (or more!) sessions for each day!

    INJURY
    Another great incentive for training is injury. Sounds strange, so let me explain: when I get injured, I find myself really missing being out on the bike, or going for a hard run. So I use that when I'm not injured, and remind myself how much I want to do it.

    TRICKERY
    Another idea: like in a long race, you can block out thinking about the whole thing, and just think of the session in small chunks. Only think of one session at a time. And only think of small parts within a session. Ex.: I go to the pool, so I only think about kitting up. Then I just think of the warm-up (I say to myself "if you want to leave after the WU, you can..!"), and so on, so I trick myself into doing the whole thing.

    BUILDING MOMENTUM
    Last but not least: I find missing 1 session leads to more missed sessions... And the less sessions I miss, the less sessions I want to miss...
  • GoatHerd wrote:

    TRICKERY
    Another idea: like in a long race, you can block out thinking about the whole thing, and just think of the session in small chunks. Only think of one session at a time. And only think of small parts within a session. Ex.: I go to the pool, so I only think about kitting up. Then I just think of the warm-up (I say to myself "if you want to leave after the WU, you can..!"), and so on, so I trick myself into doing the whole thing.
    I do that too!

    Funny how it works. Towards the end of a full on interval I "promise" myself that I won't do anymore: "Let's make this the last one, so make it a good one!". But then halfway through the recovery I say to myself "That wasn't so bad now, was it, would be a pity not to do another one". And like a fool I fall for my weasel words every time.
  • md6md6 Posts: 969
    you guys are way too tricksy! although i do some of that too...

    I seem to be getting some of the motivation back - coubld be to do with having had a great (for me) run the other week and that i want to beat the mile split i did, but also because i have my last tri of season this weekend and then a half mara which i want to smash.
    That and the tips from here have worked wonders so thanks all.
  • Jack Hughes wrote:

    Funny how it works. Towards the end of a full on interval I "promise" myself that I won't do anymore: "Let's make this the last one, so make it a good one!". But then halfway through the recovery I say to myself "That wasn't so bad now, was it, would be a pity not to do another one". And like a fool I fall for my weasel words every time.
    If my running intervals/recovery are correctly set up, I usually try to chicken out of the last 2, and find myself wishing I had a good excuse to stop. Then I usually tell myself that If I do the before-last one I can miss the last one. But then I do the recovery, the countdown timer beeps again and I manage to do the last one! I wish I wasn`t such a wimp!

    Actually I think every time you chicken out in a training session, you`re setting yourself up to wimping out in a race...
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