Motivation

I took a long good draw on the cold beer and savored the taste.  It was Spring Break.  It had been a very long day at the end of a very long week and this was my own personal Happy Hour. It was one that had been a long time in coming and capped a day that had been both difficult and mentally trying.  I was tired and had a lot of difficultly getting motivated to address the workout my coach had planned for me that day.

In my post race analysis of that workout I wrote, “This was about exercising the demons between my ears.  I was more motivated to go to Happy Hour than I was to go run, and yes, I have only myself to blame because I know today was supposed to originally be a rest day.  I made my bed and I ran in it.  It wasn’t about my body being fatigued. It was about my mind wanting to stop for a beer or a margarita.  I needed to push through this.”

I should confess that when my original training week was given to me I had a recover day set for that very day.  Because I wanted to have Sunday available for recovery I requested that Jaime switch workouts around.  Additionally, he and I had not been able to swim together for some time so there was a lot of creative shuffling going on so we could meet prior to him leaving with his family on an extended Spring Break trip.  The old adage ‘be careful what you wish for’ certainly seemed appropriate. 

I have found training while I work full-time to be an interesting balancing act.  There is the time element, the need to keep my nutrition up throughout the day, the family responsibilities, and then there is the whole issue of motivation.  As a teacher I spend a lot of time during my day motivating my students to give their best effort.  The majority of my training happens immediately after school.  Some days it’s pretty easy to go out and hit things because the training ends up being a great stress release.  This in turn allows me the chance to get home, relax, and focus on my family duties.  Of course there are other days that prove to be more challenging.  One such day was the day I describe above, the Friday before our school district shut down for Spring Break.

Prior to locking up my room on that Friday afternoon before Spring Break I declined an offer from a colleague to go have a beer.  I had a swim session and an hour long run ahead of me before I could officially even begin to think about Spring Break.  I arrived at the pool to find it almost completely deserted and got to work.  It was kind of therapeutic to swim, stretch out the body, and crank out the laps.  An hour went by and I had the pool pretty much all to myself.  2100 meters in the bag, it was time to head home.

It was a clear, sunny, and pleasant day.  The snowcapped mountains were beautiful against the clear blue sky.  On my way home I passed 10 Barrel Brewpub.  The patio was full of folks enjoying a microbrew and the sun.  I drove past LaRosa and thought about how good one of their Bahia Margaritas would taste right about now.  My motivation from a good swim was waning and I needed to get home and get my run started.

I arrived home to find an empty house.  My wife was not yet home from work.  My son was attending a robotics competition in California.  My daughter was enjoying the beginning of Spring Break by hanging out over at a friend’s house.  My coach was in Hawai’i.  The dogs greeted me at the door with wagging tails but their motivation had mainly to do with wanting to be fed.  Clearly if I wanted any kind of motivation it would need to come from within myself.  These are the moments when your goal or your reason for doing something like this has to come from deep down in your heart.  If you are doing this for someone other than yourself then this would be an opportune time to simply give up, throw in the towel, and say to heck with this.

Since I had decided to dress for my run at the pool all I had to do was dr a few things off and hit the road.  I was thankful for my foresight.  I headed out toward and through Tetherow, on up to Phil’s Trail, and into the Deschutes National Forest.  The first couple of miles were numbing and slow.  I didn’t pass anyone and, like at the pool, I pretty much had the forest to myself.  It was as if everyone in Bend was out at Happy Hour.  As the initial sluggishness of my run wore off I began to feel my legs and my body wake up.  My pace quickened and I fell into a comfortable rhythm.  I began to loosen up, relax, and enjoy the run.  All too soon I got home from my run.  I was pretty content in what I accomplished.  Yes, perhaps Happy Hour would have been fun but all being said I really didn’t miss that much and I enjoyed my time outdoors.  Sometime taking those first couple of steps is all the motivation you need in order to keep going.