Have you ever felt yourself losing motivation to run? Maybe you got burned out, injured, or the extreme weather this year has been keeping you sheltered indoors (in the span of a few months in London, we went from blizzards to heatwaves!).
Whatever the cause, it’s happened to all of us at one point along our running journey. While motivation is easy to lose, it can sometimes be very difficult to get back. Here are five suggestions to help you return to your love affair with running:
1. MAKE A DATE
Sometimes, it can be easier to get yourself out the door when you know that someone is counting on you to turn up. Also, chatting as you run helps make the miles fly by! No friends who run? Turn up to your local club and make some! The encouragement and support you get from others can help running feel like a more positive experience.
2. LISTEN TO MUSIC…OR NOT
If you’re normally someone who heads out on a run sans headphones, try spicing up your routine by listening to your favorite workout jams to motivate you. If you’re always listening to Spotify, why not try ditching the tunes for a session or two, and see what new things you notice about your surroundings?
3. FIND A NEW ROUTE
If you’re always pounding the pavement, try hitting the trails instead! For the sake of convenience, most of us will just head out the door for a run around the neighborhood or busy city streets. In the week, this works better with our hectic schedules, but on the weekend, it’s worth the effort of seeking out your local trails. Nature helps to reinvigorate us, especially those who live in busy cities, and your eyes will be too busy feasting on gorgeous scenery to notice how far you’re actually running.
4. TAKE IT SLOW
If you treat every run like a race, no wonder you’re not feeling motivated! Doing each run as hard as you can will inevitably drain you and you’ll be so exhausted that the only thing you want to do is to curl up on the couch. Ditch the GPS watch and the stats, or try point 3 above – you’ll want to run slowly enough to take in the sights!