break woes

i've been there. in fact, i was there just last week. but then i realized how much of a PUSSY i was being and just ran. there is no book or song or movie that will pump you up for more than 5 minutes. heres a tip though, if you are having trouble running as long as you would like, dont do a run where you can take a short cut or sidestreet and loop back around sooner than planned. try to find a good long trail system or SOMETHING and run an out and back, and dont turn around until you feel like you want the run to be over. then, turn around and convince yourself you are just starting on a new run. i know this is sort of lame, but a lame problem (such as not being motivated) sometimes calls for a lame answer.

Make your runs fun!

If you need to go long, take the time and go somewhere beautiful to run. Or, get someone to drop you off far away from home and run back. Do things so you look forward to running.

If your schedule or whatever you're plans are call for track work, just look forward to it. Do everything at a manageable pace, at least starting, and push more and more as you get in to the workout and realize you have the juice in your legs to run so and so times. If not, bag it and do it later. Don't be a slave to any schedule you're on--if your body says no, listen.

Sometimes motivation is low, lower than what you'd want to get the necessary work done. Just think of the future. Running through the cold alone may suck, but think of april, may, june when you're reaping the benefits of getting your ass out the door when no one's watching.

This is all really easy to say, harder to apply. But, books and movies can help. Rent the Pre movies, Chariots of Fire, Endurance. Read books like Once A Runner (good luck finding it!), Life at these speeds, the four-minute mile--or anything that gets you pumped up. Sometimes i'll read something, or just get that feeling where I want to run, really badly. It's a fleeting feeling, a lot of the times. If you get that inspred feeling, drop what you're doing, get out the door and run.

Good luck.

Me and a friend have been experiencing this problem that you call a lack of motivation, although it is easier to deal with when you have somebody to run with each day. Here's what we did... and I would highly suggest it.

We went for an easy training run a few nights ago after a big snow (like 7" - a lot for Indiana) at around midnite and we added dicks to all the snowmen that we passed. Sure, it made the run choppy, but it was fun. Now, for the past few days we have run past as many of these snowmen as we can just to see if they are still erect. I look forward to my runs now because of this. Out of 20 snowmen that we excited, 4 of them are still turned on after three days. I'm very surprised that any of them still have their junk, but hey, I guess their creators have gone out of town. I wish I could see their faces when they return to a horny snowman.

WTF, is this becoming the new jogger's world forum? We have cross training advice, now wome guy can't get motivated to go jogging! AAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!

Just get out the door, man!

Motivation was never a problem for me. Repeating the old adage \"while you\'re sleeping someone else is out training\" seemed to work quite well.

What break? Some of us work for a living, you know. We don't get breaks. Quit crying about having nothing to do all day (but run) and get out there and run.

Take your goals out of your wallet and re-read them.

Have someone drop you off in the car outside of town. Then,

its either run, walk or freeze.