How can I motivate to back to 230 marathon shape after 5 years off

Motivation is overrated and discipline is key.

Can’t blame low T wrote:

I can’t blame chemistry for my complete lack of desire. Had it all checked. I want to feel fast again but have no motivation to get there. I’m psychologically soft and enjoying not having to think about training, etc. But I want to be hard core again . Hard to push yourself when you’re not trying to impress anyone or prove anything anymore.

You won't. Those days are long gone.

It sounds like you don't really want to go back to marathoning yet. Maybe you'd do better, at least for a while, with a new challenge. Maybe that means training for a shorter distance, or for trail races, or for something else.

Would it help if you were part of a group effort, like a relay? Doing something for a community you care about can be a big motivator.

What was it that you liked about running 2:30 marathons? How can you still do that?

What was it that you didn't like? Can you skip that part?

Focus on the 5k for a while and build speed back up first then in a year or two build the endurance back up.

Can’t blame low T wrote:

I can’t blame chemistry for my complete lack of desire. Had it all checked. I want to feel fast again but have no motivation to get there. I’m psychologically soft and enjoying not having to think about training, etc. But I want to be hard core again . Hard to push yourself when you’re not trying to impress anyone or prove anything anymore.

The simple answer is found in your last sentence. You have lost the original reasons you used to motivate yourself. Simply wanting to feel fast/hard core again doesn't work.

Therefore, you absolutely need new reasons. Reasons that are as compelling as the original ones that got you out there every day the first time. Or it's not happening. Ever. It really is that simple.

Source: my own life.

Good advice. Hard to know what else can motivate a person? At some point it even feels childish to train.

I have to say, impressing the opposite sex in body and performance was an eventual benefit that can’t happen anymore and was a strong motivator. As Leonard Cohen said, “You start off irresistible. And, then you become resistible. And then you become transparent – not exactly invisible but as if you are seen through old plastic. Then you actually do become invisible. And then — and this is the most amazing transformation — you become repulsive. But that’s not the end of the story. After repulsive then you become cute – and that’s where I am.”

Can’t blame low T wrote:

Good advice. Hard to know what else can motivate a person? At some point it even feels childish to train.

I have to say, impressing the opposite sex in body and performance was an eventual benefit that can’t happen anymore and was a strong motivator. As Leonard Cohen said, “You start off irresistible. And, then you become resistible. And then you become transparent – not exactly invisible but as if you are seen through old plastic. Then you actually do become invisible. And then — and this is the most amazing transformation — you become repulsive. But that’s not the end of the story. After repulsive then you become cute – and that’s where I am.”

That's funny. I thought only women become invisible beyond a certain age.

But to get to your original question. There is exactly one reason to try to get back to 2:30 marathon shape, and that is because you want to. It doesn't sound like you want to. Find something else that you actually want to do.

Can’t blame low T wrote:

Good advice. Hard to know what else can motivate a person? At some point it even feels childish to train.

I have to say, impressing the opposite sex in body and performance was an eventual benefit that can’t happen anymore and was a strong motivator. As Leonard Cohen said, “You start off irresistible. And, then you become resistible. And then you become transparent – not exactly invisible but as if you are seen through old plastic. Then you actually do become invisible. And then — and this is the most amazing transformation — you become repulsive. But that’s not the end of the story. After repulsive then you become cute – and that’s where I am.”

Thanks, I meant it - you hit a nerve inside me, as I've gone through very similar situations. I learned the advice I told you, and it works. 100%. The only hard part is finding something to be the new motivation. Keep searching. Because it's amazing how much desire you have simply sitting locked inside you, waiting for a reason to use it. So much potential energy. You'd be effortlessly training like before if you could only find that reason, and you know it - so you know it's already there.

Your Cohen quote reminded me a little of a Bowie quote I've always liked: "We live for just these twenty years, why do we have to die for the fifty more."

Good luck, man.

I agree with the other posters saying you need a real reason to train. Maybe the marathon isn't it. Maybe there is another distance or time goal out there. However, I would recommend just getting out the door and running. And read this again:

what I just read today on reddit: wrote:

Motivation is overrated and discipline is key.

I find this is completely true for myself and the people I work with. Set up a time to train, and do it. Within a few weeks (maybe even a few days) you will find the motivation creeping up. If you do this for a month or two and still have motivation, then yeah, take a bigger break and find something else.

Both quotes are pretty depressing. I'm not sure which twenty years Bowie was talking about, but I'm confident that I've passed them. As for Cohen -- well, his songs were depressing enough, even without that observation about stages of aging.

I'm glad that certain things that motivated me when I was younger no longer do -- not, at least, as they did back then. I trained with a sense of desperation, and a deep pessimism about what life held for me. Now, I sometimes tell people that I run to be a good animal. I see more of life's possibilities, and I want to take advantage of them while I'm able.