I don't want to run. Can I just sit here or lie in bed and take a nap? That would be better. I just don't want to put my shoes on, I don't want to go out the door. Maybe you feel like this today, or maybe often. Hopefully not often, maybe it sneaks on you and you feel this way every once in a while and you're not sure what to do, how to deal with it because you know you should be running even when you feel like this. Well, I'm Jesse Funk, an on today's episode of Runner’s High I'm going to give you the number one thing you have to do when you're feeling like I just don't want to run today.
Now, this video is kind of for you if you're consistent, you've been consistent, you stay with running, you've been doing it for a while and you're just feeling like, “man, I just, I don't feel like doing it today. I just don't feel like getting out and going to do it.” Now, if you're starting up running and you haven't been running for a while, then this video may not be for you. I have other videos for you, subscribe to the channel and go check those out.
But if you're here and you've been running for a while and you just don't feel like doing it, then I have my number one suggestion for you and it is a gut check. That's not the suggestion, but it is a gut check. You have to think about how do I feel and why do I feel that way? Taking some time to kind of take a mental inventory, an emotional inventory of what's going on with you in your life is the biggest thing to figure out why you feel that way.
But the thing that you should do is not run. That's the toughest part, right? Is to say, it's okay today to not run. Because as I preach often on this channel, consistency is key to results over time, you have to stay consistent. But that's where that mental inventory comes in, that emotional inventory comes in, where you have to check and say, what's going on with me? Are there other factors happening that are making me feel like I don't want to run? Or is it the running itself?
It could be that you're over-training and your body's telling you, stop it, don't go run.” That's a possibility. If you've been staying really consistent, really consistent with that mileage, building up, building up, pushing yourself, it's a possibility that you're entering into the over-training and you're going to send yourself off of a cliff.
Now, I've been there. I’ve been doing this for 20 years now, I know all of these mental traps that we can fall into as very motivated people, because we want to be better, right? We want to be better than we were yesterday, no matter whether we are young, you're old, you're middle-aged, you want to be better than you were yesterday, you want to stay consistent and produce results because you have fun doing it, it's why we do it.
But we also have the temptation to push ourselves too far. And we don't always account for all of the extra stressors in life that come along with our training plan. We can to say, “Hey, I'm doing so-and-so mileage and that's all I need to take care of.” Well, that isn't all you need to take care of. That is not your entire fatigue load.
I talk about this with my guests on the Smart Athlete Podcast, Claire
Because when you are working out, you're running, that is one kind of stress. But if you were having a tough time at work, having tough time at school going through death of a loved one, just to deem a few, there's all kinds of things that could be going on that affect us.
We are both mental and emotional and physical creatures. There are lots of things that go on that affect our entire system besides just mileage. And Dr. Jordan will tell us that mileage is a poor indicator of your fatigue level. So, if you're feeling like, “Hey, I just don't want to run. I just don't want to do it today.” Don't. Let it go for today. Get back to it tomorrow, feel a little bit better, be a little more rested and then stay consistent. But make sure you take that mental and physical and emotional inventory so that you know what's going on with you.
Sometimes we need to take a step back to be able to take a step forward. As counterintuitive as that may be to you as somebody who's very motivated, you have to be able to do that. So, if that's what's going on with you, you need to unload something, whatever it is, let me know down in the comments below, happy to respond.
I'd been through a lot myself in my number of years training, so I can almost guarantee that we've been through similar kinds of stressors. So, share with me, get it off your chest and then get back to running tomorrow, leave today, take rest, take a nap, and then you'll be better to go there in the future. I'll see you next time on the next episode of Runner’s High.
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