“YOU MUST DO WHEN YOU DON’T WANT TO DO”
- Greg
- Jan 25, 2024
- 6 min read
This will take approximately 6 mins to read. If you would rather skip to a section, click on the relevant link below to jump to that section:
RUNNING WHEN YOU DON'T WANT TO
Carrying on from my article about consistency, I wanted to write about focusing specifically on staying mentally strong & resilient to battle through those times when you don’t feel like training. All of us experience those moments where we don’t want to go out and train or run hard that day, but it’s important to find a way to “do” even when you don’t want to.
The difference between those who succeed and those who don’t, is that the successful people in any area, get the work done, even when not feeling like it. From listening to interviews from the sporting greats for example, and seeing how they perform, it’s no surprise that hard work is one of the key factors in their success.
Photo by Aleeza Goggins, from trailrunnermag.com (then edited using Canva)
If you are looking for ways to improve then this is a really important area you can make progress. This is especially true if you are feeling frustrated by a lack of improvement with your running. Below are some reasons that can prevent us from getting the run done and why you should try your hardest to get through that.
THE WEATHER
Living in Manchester myself, this is always a big one to handle during the Winter as it’s so often cold, windy and rainy. It’s very easy to be demotivated just by looking outside, especially on those dark winter nights. I often find that once I’m out of the house though, it’s not as bad as I imagined, and if you wear appropriate clothing then you should be fine. It’s a big mental barrier to overcome at times, but it’s worth it to get the run done.
Above photo taken by Alistair Hitchen (Running on junk)
The poor weather conditions usually last for a good 6 months and if you find yourself skipping training because it’s cold, it is going to be a bad trend that sets in over that period. Every week adds up in the long run and you want to be training as well as possible, as often as possible. Take every opportunity to do this while you can because injuries or illness may restrict you at various times of the year as well.
LETTING PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES OR SETBACKS INFLUENCE YOUR CURRENT TRAINING
With this one, I found this happened to me in 2017 after being quite badly ill over the Christmas period of 2016. It took me a couple of weeks to feel 100% again, and I felt low on energy and demotivated. As a result, following that period, I was half hearted with some of my training and I stopped logging my mileage until mid-February. That was a large chunk of my winter training where I had trained at a below par level and I paid for it in the summer and for the rest of that year with all of my times.
I found the lack of progress frustrating and I initially blamed the bad luck of the illness, but in reality, it was my own lack of focus after returning to good health again that hindered me. It’s important to not allow previous setbacks to influence your motivation at the current time or for the future.
It’s natural that we will have bad training weeks, increased stress or other factors affecting us, but once through that tough spell, it’s vital to then refocus and get back to training properly and not allowing the past to affect the future with your running. By contrast, after my general mindset had changed around mid 2018, I suffered a few setbacks outside of running, including redundancy, but this time, I remained focused and didn’t use it as an excuse going forward with my training. As a result I made a lot of progress in 2019.
LAZINESS
This is another one that we will all likely experience from time to time, but like with the weather, I often find that once I am out there on the run, or in the gym, it isn’t as hard as I imagined. There are days though that you just don’t feel in the mood, even when you are out there running. The key in these moments, is to not give up.
You may feel like you can’t give 100%, but if you give as much as you can then you will still see results down the line. For example, you may set out for a 10K run, but decide you will drop down to 8K. If you still go at a relatively similar pace to what you set out to originally, then although you didn’t manage 100% (10K total distance), you have still done the same effort as intended for 80% (8K). Personally, I won’t allow myself to back out of a run these days through laziness, but even getting the majority of the run done is better than completely missing it.
MAKING EXCUSES
I touched on this earlier in the setback section, but a lot of times we make excuses. One of the excuses I used to come up with was that the wind would affect my ability to run properly. I still get frustrated by the wind even now, but it’s just a part of running that everyone has to deal with at various times so there is no point in letting it stop you.
There are loads of other excuses I hear people make though such as they don’t have time, they don’t have anyone to run with that day, or they will do it another day instead. Obviously sometimes the time restriction is a legitimate excuse, but rarely. Many of the other reasons are just ways of shirking a run. If you want to improve, you have to ignore these excuses or you simply won’t progress.
Recently when training for a Half Marathon, I had done my 8 hour day at work and was feeling tired and went for a half an hour sleep, knowing I was due to do 18K that evening (7K before, 4K solo session and 7K after). When I woke up I really didn’t feel like training that evening – it was dark, cold and windy outside. I could have happily done one of the 3 following things:
Not ran at all
Gone out for my run but reduced the total distance
Gone out and done some or all of the run but at a more comfortable pace
None of the above would have helped me to improve to my maximum potential though. So I thought of the Goggins quote, and made sure I went out and did the 18K at the standard I had set out to do all day, because one of my main motivations with my running is to improve.
If you are also motivated to improve to the best of your ability then try and avoid taking one of the above 3 easy options when you are not feeling in the mood for your run. However, as I said in the previous section, it is better to do option 2 and 3 than option 1 and completely miss out doing the run.
In the last article about consistency I mentioned a session I did where I set out to do a more comfortable session due to having a Half Marathon in 2 days time. I still ran the session how I set out to but at a more relaxed pace. The point is that this can be used effectively occasionally, but should not be used as an option regularly.
FIND SOMEONE TO LOOK UP TO AND LEARN FROM
I would seriously recommend finding someone on YouTube or from a podcast that you find inspirational or to be a great motivator for you. There are several that I personally have, but the main one for me has been David Goggins. He openly admits that his message “isn’t for everybody” but a lot of his views on training are ideas that I agree with – working hard to gain results being a significant one.
Photo from media.ppai.org
Regarding his quote about “doing when you don’t want to”, these words and the messages in his videos online have pushed me to get out of my comfort zone and train harder even when I don’t feel in the mood to. Since coming across Goggins online a few years ago, I have used his ideas as motivation to make me a far better runner than I was before. Once you have found someone who inspires you, it will make things a lot easier when questioning whether to get out and train.
During the COVID-19 “lockdown” period, I initially found it very difficult to motivate myself to do a weights session at home, given that I had limited equipment and space. In order to make sure I did each session in the early period of COVID, I went on youtube and found a motivational video. Everyone will have ways that work for them, but this helped me when I wasn’t in the mood to train.
I’ve also found that when my motivation has been waning, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic for example, with lack of running events etc, reading books from successful people or listening to youtube enabled me to refocus and reignite my motivation.
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