I’ve really been winning at life recently, regularly running and practicing yoga consistently. I’m generally being an all round overachiever; a motivated superhero if you will.
Do you think that could work as a mantra? Because the reality is that I have been the complete opposite. My mind-set NEEDS to change…. something has to change. It’s mid-April and since the half marathon that I dragged myself around on 10th March I have been to 8 yoga classes, done 2 short home practices and run 4 times totalling 19.25Km. Well, when I first started writing this blog on Monday that was how things stood.
I suppose that is better than having done nothing, but I am not doing as much as I need to, and I’ve been sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo unmotivated.
I need an action plan…..
Last year the things that kept me motivated were:
- Seeing my achievements; I had a chart on which I marked each run and yoga class I completed and rewarded myself with stickers (think 5 year old child reward system)
- Races booked in; so that I had something to aim for and a goal in sight
- A training plan; a specific running plan so that for each run I know what my aim is
- A decent paper diary in which I could plan out my runs
- Variety in my runs; finding new routes, doing intervals at the gym, running at different times of day
- A minimum of yoga classes a week and a minimum number per month to achieve
At the moment I seem to have a good week worked out with a plan and some consistency and then the next week I slack it all off and am ‘too busy’, but really I could definitely do more than I do.
My brother is getting married in 15 weeks time, and so I do have a goal in mind. I want to feel confident and happy at his wedding and although my happiness is not packaged up in my appearance, I do feel better when I am feeling more strong, fit and healthy.
I normally find it really beneficial to start the week well, but this Monday I literally wore my gym kit ALL DAY, and yet still managed to not run, not go to yoga and not meet my 10000 step count. I bumped into one of my yoga friends on Sunday after Yin and after saying about how infrequent my practice has been she commented that ‘once you set your mind to it you seem very dedicated’, and she is right; for me it is ALL mind-set. I need to work out what will change my mind for the better.
Recently I’ve been listening to Fearne Cotton’s podcast ‘Happy Place’. Each episode she interviews someone different and although the topic of discussion varies slightly each time the theme is generally positive but contemplative. I listened to one the other day with Zephyr Wildman, a friend of Fearne’s, a yoga instructor and someone who prematurely experienced the loss of her husband.
During their conversation they talked about the importace of being dedicated to your practice. I guess for me I need to keep in the front of my mind that running and yoga are my healers, and I should dedicate some time to either every day. Kind of whether so want to or not; because that’s what dedicated practice is. Once you start doing some everyday it becomes routine and there is scientific evidence that you need to do your routine practice everyday for 66 days for it to become habit.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0908/09080401
I’ve been adding to this blog everyday this week, too disjointed in my thought processes to write it all in one sitting, but things have been evolving since I started writing it.
On Tuesday I committed to run, and I managed 5Km in a fairly slow 31:49. I was in France from Tuesday evening until late on Thursday so I haven’t made it to the yoga studio yet this week, but did some sun salutations on Wednesday and this morning (Saturday).
Yesterday I was working from home in the morning so was aiming to run and it was a beautiful and hot sunny day. So I ran down to the Thames embankment, over Wandsworth Bridge and back which was 40 minutes of running (6.28Km). I actually really enjoyed the run, didn’t find it too hard and so I am aiming to also run tomorrow so I can complete 3 runs this week. I’ll be pleased with that.
I have bought a good paper diary to chart my running, found a running plan online to get me up to a faster half marathon pace, booked a 10Km for next weekend and am aiming get another half marathon in before the end of June.
5 years ago today I ran the London Marathon in 4 hours, 58 minutes and 9 seconds. I think tonight I’ll write out my training plan, create a vision board and make my sticker reward chart. I can already feel my mindset changing.
My 66 day challenge is to start the day with sun salutations then over the course of the day to either run or yoga or gym or meditate. But everyday for 66 days I will do something for me, my mental health and happiness. During this time I will also blog everyday to see how I am progressing.
Onwards and upwards.
