Fighting It....

Burn out.

Finally... I'm admitting it.  Saturday I met up with a local group run for my recovery run, and while running found myself saying, "yes, I'm sooooooo burned out."  Wait... what??  I am?!?!  Uh yeah.  I've been fighting it for awhile.  February maybe?  And I'm sure everyone knew it before I did.  Or at least before I was willing to admit it.

When my mom and I were driving home from the race last weekend (yes, the race that was so poor and not fun I didn't even bother writing a race report for) she said, "Do you remember after you did the Philly Marathon with your friends?  You said it was the most fun you had ever had running.  Why don't you just run for fun and quit putting so much pressure on yourself??"  And she has a point.  I long for the days when I first started running where every long run was a new personal distance record.  And 99% of the races were PRs because you were still in the green stage of running.

And then I thought about why I love to run:

• I love to be competitive with myself.
• I love to push myself to a point that I see improvements in my race times.
• I love seeing what I am capable of.

So sorry mom, doesn't look like "running for fun" is anywhere on my list.  It's the accomplishments that make it fun for me.  I know everyone is different.  And everyone is motivated differently, so I suppose it's important to come to this realization.  

Instead of ho-hum-woe-is-me'ing it anymore, I've decided to try to de-funkify my running to the best of my abilities.  This is what I've come up with so far.

Run with Friends

I had a great long run with a friend Friday night.  Sometimes I'm too type A with my training paces and HR zones to give up control and run with someone else without being able to dictate and control everything.  For the most part it's impossible to link up my current schedule with my friends.  One busy person + one busy person = no overlap in training.  I definitely need to make it a point to try to run with a friend once a week.  Gives you something to look forward to, and helps to calm the training brain crazies when you have someone to discuss crazies with.

Plan New Goals

One of the things I miss about no longer being a "new" runner is training to complete a crazy endurance goal.  Now when I line up for a race, I know that barring anything catastrophic I will cross the finish line.  Some ideas I've been toying around with are a 100 mile endurance ride, a sprint tri, or possibly an ultra.  An ultra would be fun, and I essentially volunteered Krista to run with me when I finally decide to do one, I know that until I get my injury issues worked out that would be a bad idea.  Also I can't imagine finding time for long runs on both Saturday and Sunday.  But definitely once school is done.  A sprint tri would be fun, Megan almost has me convinced on this one.  And in return, I might have her convinced to join me for that century ride.  Friendship is give and take no?

Run for Fun

On my shakeout run pre-race last Friday night, I took along my phone and snapped some pictures.  I didn't worry about time. I'm not sure if I stopped my watch on my photo ops.  And got to snap some fun pictures.

So tell me, what are your cures for burn out?