A Change of Perspective

I can't believe that less than 2 weeks from today I'll be running my 10th half marathon.  In some ways, I'm having trouble caring.  After my unexpectedly spectacular performance at the Full Moon Half Marathon, I've been suffering from an extreme lack of motivation.  For the entire month of August I logged a total of 58.40 running miles, which is pretty low.  I did put in another 29.45 miles on the bike, but those workouts were mostly for fun.

I think my motivation problem is actually two problems.  First, I've already met my goal: To Take Down My Old PR of 2:21:49.  I intended for that to happen at the Fox Cities race, but it happened at Full Moon. While I'm beyond elated by the new PR, it tanked my desire to run, much less my desire to push myself to run faster.  Second, I've been in training mode almost non-stop since January 1st. I'm burned out both physically and mentally.  Running has stopped being fun.  It's become a chore.


I've really been struggling with what to do about these problems and today, while out for a 10 mile run with The Husband, I think I finally came to a conclusion.  I need to shift my perspective on the Fox Cities Race.  I know that there's very little chance, given my lack of training in the last couple of weeks, that I'm going to run anywhere close to my new PR and I'm okay with that.  I love the half marathon distance, so I'm going to do the race and try to have fun with it.  My new goal is to run the best race that I'm capable of that day, rather than to push to the point of misery while chasing a PR. The second conclusion that I came to is that I need a break.  After Fox Cities I will continue to run, but I'm limiting myself to lower mileage runs and giving myself permission to slow the hell down and enjoy it!  I'm want to incorporate more trail running, more cycling and possibly some hiking into my fitness routine as well.  Hopefully that will alleviate some of the boredom and burnout I've been experiencing.

What do you do when the things you usually love to do stop being fun?