How To Get Your MOJO Back???

I don't know about you, but I have a daily battle with motivation. The motivation to get up from a nice, warm, comfortable bed to going out into the cold, dark morning and running or swimming. Or maybe it is the motivation to hop on the trainer at night, watch a TV show, but you fall victim to that nice comfortable bed...again.

Well if you read this blog, then you know I battle motivation constantly. Ever since I did Ironman (have I told you about that?) things have been different. I still that the desire, but not the "physical want to" like before, so how do I motivate myself? Let me share...

Blog About it!  Nothing motivates me more than to write on this blog about my workouts. This entire blog was designed to be an accountability piece for me long before I published it and thought anyone would read it. After writing a good blog piece, many time I realize that everything I say is keeping from getting out there is just an excuse (and that I can be a weenie sometimes), so talking it out on here will motivate me to get out there.

Shaving!!

I know, self explanatory right?

Yes, the unspoken part of triathlons. Sometimes...ok, a lot of times I will go ahead and shave to get me back in the right track of mind. (I don't think I have ever blogged about shaving before). Something about it makes me feel like an athlete, makes me feel fast and awesome. I will cut my hair short, shave my legs and body and then I am ready. Does it make me faster? Heck no, but I feeeeellll faster and that is the important thing!

and finally...

New Gear!

Who doesn't like new stuff? New shoes, new running shorts, new watch, anything, it doesn't matter! Luckily, I had a Sports Academy gift-card from Christmas and I went and got new compression sleeves and new goggles!  I love swimming in new goggles! I like to go out and purchase motivation when I can. It doesn't have to be expensive, but it has to be something related to the sport.

So those are my "get out of a funk" tips. Tell me yours, what do you do to get yourself going again??

No Excuses Here.

I am really getting sick of blogging about lack of motivation and piling the excuses on, so hopefully this post will be different. I have decided to give myself a grade over the first 2 months of 2014. It is not going to be pretty either. I am going to break it down into 5 areas. 1. Strength 2. Rest 3. Swimming 4. Biking 5. Diet  and 6. Running. So here we go...

1. Strength- A

• Normally I do not do strength workouts except for maybe some crunches, but this year I signed up to workout with a trainer, and I have been for the last 5 weeks. The workouts have been tough and more focused on balance, core and triathlon related exercises, so I have loved it. I have loved it so much that I am looking at doing an additional 7 weeks! The only downside that I can see is that I am not dropping weight like I hoped. I think I am adding muscle tough and my grades on the other categories will have something to do with the weight.

2. Rest- A

• Nailing it! I think I have been in bed before 10 more this year than ever before. I have enjoyed the Saturdays where I do not have to get up at 6 to ride or run. It has been great!

3. Swimming- B

• It really has not taken me long to get back into the swing of things. 2,000 yards is pretty easy right now and my pace is about where I want it. I know I could focus on my swim and drop my pace down even more, but I am solid, and can come out of the water not winded.

4.Biking- B

• Today was the first day I got my bike out on the road and I loved it, all other times have been on the trainer/drainer. My longest ride has only been 18 miles, but again, I have felt good afterwards. I finally removed all the Redman stickers off my bike today, which was kind of sad in a weird kind of way. It felt great hitting 26 mph on the road though, for real!

5. Diet- C

• Shocker huh? I went on a 3 week kick without Cokes awhile back, but other than that, I have not really focused on my diet. I think I eat smart, but I know I can eat better. Really not a whole lot to say, other than I just haven't been hitting it coach.

6. Running-F

• My relationship with running is so bad right now that I do not even want to type about it! The treadmill sucks. The weather sucks. I am not sure what I need, but it just does not interest me at all. Two of my good friends are running their first marathon this month, and while I love to talk shop with them about it, I can't get the excitement to transfer over to me. So I am looking for answers, or suggestions. I am thinking of ditching my training plan (that I haven't really been following) and making this next week a run focus week. The next race (which I have yet to sign up for) is an Olympic, so it is only a 6 mile run, so I have plenty of time to prepare for it right?

Me and Crowie...

Just like a lot of you out there, sometimes I lose my motivation to train. Sometimes I blame the weather, sometimes I blame the aches and pains, and other times I sit here and think, I have plenty of time to train, my race is a couple of months out. A lot of times I will read race reports to get my juices flowing, or I will watch YouTube videos of races, but they main way I get my mojo back is....

I cut my hair.

Guard #1.

Sleek and aero-dy-nam-ic!.

Now you might be thinking, what does this have to do with Crowie. Well, it might be the only thing we have in common. Last year, on the NBC Kona coverage, Crowie was interviewed and he said that one thing he did to prepare for a race was that he got his hair cut. And I can relate.

Maybe that is why triathletes shave their legs, but I know that when I am rocking a shaved cut, I naturally feel faster and I feel more like an athlete. This might sound weird to some of you, but it makes perfect sense to me. So today, I had a great workout, a great swim and I had a new swimsuit! I won a gift certificate to Sports Authority, so I bought a new suit. I felt great in the water and I felt like I was training. All from a simple haircut!

Thanks Crowie!

I Found It! It was right Outside!

I had been in a funk of sorts over the last week. I had a lot going on with work, I had some traveling to do and I was nursing a sore hamstring, so that gave me permission to slack. I had tweaked my hamstring at the last trail run 10K on a Sunday and I self diagnosed that I should rest it for awhile. So I did nothing (except for my crunches) for a couple of days and then the day I went out of town, I did a measly slow 3 miles. The hamstring felt fine by then.

I got back Thursday night and life was still hectic with family obligations and basketball games and play practice and tennis tournaments, it was just one of those days where everything is happening at once. So it took some planning to pull it all off. It also made for a long day. My head told me to ride my bike when I got home, but my body screamed "BEDTIME". My bed won.

Friday is a scheduled rest day every week, so I continued with that and didn't do anything. The kiddos were gone to a Disciple Now weekend at church and Granny was keeping the little guy, so me and my bride took off and grabbed a room at the Memphis Hilton. We slept in till 10:00 the next morning!  HEAVEN!!!!

So anyways, I knew I had to get back on schedule, back to my training plan. My plan called for a 6 mile run that day. I really had no desire to go, but I literally forced my self to go (after I finished watching the Daytona Nationwide series!  Did you see that crash at the end of the race? Crazy!) It probably took me 30 minutes to get ready, cause I was in no hurry. When I say I had no desire to go, I can not emphasize how much I did not want to run that day! 6 miles sounded like a lot to me that day, so I decided to break it up, thinking that would make it easier. We are lucky enough to live near a walking trail that is not used by many. I literally can run 3.2 miles on it without having to hit the road for more than 1/4 mile. It's great! I decided that I would run this twice, rather than trying to run all around the neighborhood trying to hit 6 miles. The main point of this was to trick my brain.

This actually worked for me. The first loop went by fairly quickly, and as I made the turn for the 2nd loop, I started thinking to myself that now is the time to start getting serious. If I want that sub 2:40 Olympic triathlon time, I have to start hitting it. I have to start being more intentional about my workouts. This actually turned out to be a better run than I would have imagined it would have been before I left. And it carried over to Sunday with my bike. I had a good, strong ride while watching the Daytona 500.

I think the spark to my motivation was just getting outside on a beautiful Memphis day and running. I really had zero expectation besides just finishing the run and getting the miles in. Also I understood, that there are going to be days where a run is simply that, just a run. It is not going to be fast, it is not going to be made up of a workout, it is going to to be hard to get motivated to get out there, and I guarantee there will be a race sometime this year where I want to give up and walk it in.That is where this run will come in handy, that run is what will get me to the finish line. It did not take me long to be glad I was out there running.