Two lessons on motivation

Written Monday 5th April 2010

I got a good short run in today although it was different from what I expected ....

I’m still on Easter holidays visiting family and friends in NSW. Yesterday was Show Day which is another way of saying ‘a 6 hour walk around a country show in the city surrounded by city people trying to figure out the country, and looking to spend lots of dollars and eat an amazing array of deep fried junk food’. lol. Anyway when we got back to our host’s place we hopped into a few glasses of wine and any chance of formal exercise went out the window. Show Day became a ‘no exercise day’.

This unexpected ‘day off’ combined with Saturday’s excellent log run/hike meant I headed off to bed determined to hit the road early to maintain my fitness. I was ready for a short, fast run around the suburbs first thing in the morning. I thought about my commitment during the night and was looking forward to it – right up until it was time to get up.

Then I suddenly became tired, sore, stiff, thought about how I would disturb Shirl if I got up, didn’t want to disturb our friend’s house, maybe this afternoon would be better..... etc etc. Basically, any excuse to stay in bed.

Eventually I got myself out of bed only to discover I actually was a quite stiff and sore. I was feeling the effects of Saturday’s Long Hike and yesterday’s show activities. I hobbled out the door and started on a slow, stiff jog.

This reminded me of a story I’d seen on TV last night about a woman attempting to run around Australia. She told the reporter the first 5-10 minutes of any run is the hardest, it gets easier after that. That seemed like a good tip so I decided I’d run for 5 minutes to loosen up, then walk 15 minutes from home then turn around and run home, approximately 15 minutes. I committed to not stopping on the way home. Run, no matter how I felt.

Guess what! I did and it worked brilliantly. The first 20 minutes run/walk loosened up all the muscles and the run home was strong, really strong. I felt great and I wanted more. It seemed I could have run much further. Quite a surprise after my hard-to-get-going start.

What a strange mental journey- I went to bed looking forward to a good run, woke up not wanting to get out of bed, and finished with a really really strong run. What a great lesson about motivation.- 1) The best sessions often happen when least expected – so just get out of bed and get going, and 2) They ALWAYS happen when the head/ my thinking is set right - The lady runner’s advise changed my perspective totally.

More later, journey on
James





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