No Races on the Horizon: Tips to Stay Fit and Motivated!

by Daphne | Dec 11, 2012 | Event News, Training

Training is hard, and sometimes can even be brutal. Even when you are truly a passion lover of endurance athletics, sometimes you have to picture yourself nudging your way past that personal rival just in the nick of time on race day to give you the motivation to lace ‘em up on a cold, wet morning. But what about when you’re not training for a particular event? Where do you find your motivation? How DOES one keep fit?

Luckily for you, here at iDaph we have a few tips to share for training without upcoming races.
1.)           Don’t Go Too Fast: When your training for a race, intervals, tempos, and fartleks are necessary to prepare yourself for racing conditions. Doing it year-round, however, can increase the likelihood of mental and physical burnout, not to mention injuries. Easy “just running” bouts go a long way for keeping you fit without wearing you down in your off-season.
2.)           Don’t Go Too Slow: Don’t take tip #1 TOO seriously. Occasionally throw some strides or hard kicks in to top off easy runs. It will break up the monotony and keep you in touch with the realm of harder training and racing paces when that time comes back around.
3.)           Take Time for Work on Form: Whether a runner, cyclist, or swimmer, good form equates to better efficiency. Here are some great form workouts and technique advice for runners, swimmers, and cyclists.
4.)           Consider a TRUE Break: Sometimes we need a rest. If you are banged up from a hard racing season, life in general, or both, consider taking it easy for a week or two, or maybe even resting completely.
5.)           Try Something New: Cross-train, bowl, play hoops, play scrabble, try shuffleboard, take your kids to an aquarium, join a book club… anything stimulating or social that rounds you out as a better person will likely round you out as a athlete as well.
6.)           Just Have Fun!: That’s right. Don’t take it too serious. Focus more on the scenery and less on the Garmin. Go for a relaxed, chatty run with friends, kids, parents, coworkers, strangers, etc. who may not be “up to speed” in terms of your abilities. Maybe try some photo jogging? Maybe even run an UNscheduled race you just heard about the day before. Every race doesn’t have to be laying it all out for a P.R., ya know?
That’s a short list folks, but it will guide you well on your way in staying fit and healthy, mentally and physically, without any races in sight. It’s great to be competitive, but if running is your passion, don’t let the details water down the enjoyment. If you wanna enjoy your running, approach it as part of a larger, more zen existence! (Kinda like our friends over at Chi Running).

If YOU have any wisdom on this topic that you’d like to share with fellow runners, please impart it in the comments section. We’d love to hear from ya.