When Your Get Up and Go Has Got Up and Went - How to Restart

Apr 11, 2019

I didn’t want to run this morning. I wanted and needed the benefits of the run, but just didn’t want to get out there and do it. So, I didn’t. I took a bubble bath instead. Then, I decided I would do yoga, so that I would have done something and I knew it would make me feel better. I stopped the yoga session early and went to make the coffee and take care of the dogs. I just didn’t have it in me this morning because, sometimes, I just don’t feel like it.

Sometimes, I wonder why I do it. Why do I feel like I must? Why do I feel like I have to keep running? Sometimes, the early mornings just stink. I would rather just roll over or get up, sip my coffee and read. Sometimes, I would like to release the pressure and the schedule of training. Who would care if I ran or not? I do it for me. If I don’t want to do it anymore, the answer is easy; don’t do it anymore. So I didn’t run. I didn’t get out there and the morning has passed as usual. The earth did not fall off of its axis. It did not stop turning and no one noticed. And I didn’t miss it.

I also left my yoga session incomplete. I didn’t feel like finishing it, so I didn’t. And everything was ok. The house didn’t shake. The ground didn’t rumble and I am still breathing, moving through my day with no problem. I let it go. Now, I’m taking a deep breath and letting it go again, because, in writing this, apparently, I picked it back up again. We do that with things, don’t we?

Letting go is a continual thing, sometimes. In fact, most of the time, it is an ongoing process. Then one day you realize that you haven’t been carrying it and have said your final good bye.

Every now and then, I go through this with running. Sometimes, I just want to stop, to quit, to move on. But then, and here’s the “but”. But then, I remember what running gives me. I think about what it does for me mentally, physically and spiritually. I remind myself, like I am doing now, that I am the only one creating the pressure that I’m feeling about getting up and going for a run. It is just me applying the pressure to myself. Honestly, who really cares whether or not I run (other than my running buddies)?

With all of this in mind, I declare the pressure released and move forward, beyond this bad attitude that, somehow, appeared or crept into my psyche. I’ll run when I feel like it this week and not worry about what does or doesn’t get done. I don’t run to create stress in my life, I run to relieve stress. If stress in mounting because of running, it is time to take a step back, literally and figuratively, and reassess, breathe.

Do you ever lose your love for what you are doing and wonder why you are doing it still? My advice to you is to take a step back, look at the situation, breathe and ask yourself some questions:

• Are my emotions an accurate depiction of how I really feel about __________?
• Am I dealing with stress in another area of my life and letting the stress from that situation infiltrate this?
• Am I training too hard?
• Is my goal realistic?
• Do I need a rest day (or two)?
• How is my diet/hydration?
• Am I getting enough sleep?

These are the questions I ask myself when I hit a rough patch. They may work for you, helping you to pinpoint the obstacle, allowing you to reset and start fresh.

One last thing – a little bit of magic - I recommend to people who are feeling stressed about their training and have lost their love or enjoyment for it is this:  stop tracking for a week or two and just get out there and move. Don’t worry about your time or pace. Just get out there and enjoy the world. Appreciate your ability, your surroundings – anything and everything. Rediscover the beauty of your neighborhood, your trails, or wherever you walk or run. Get out there for the pure enjoyment of being out there, without the stress of a time or distance goal. Let that be enough, because it is.

Then, you can begin again.

Breathe in, breathe out, keep on keepin’ on.

Robin