Motorvation's Ugly Step-Sibling - Demotorvation

De-Motorvation

When you are talking about motivation, you can't forget about de-motivation. As is the same with any motor, an engine can't run without having the right fuel put in it. If you have a high-performance car engine, putting tomato juice in the gas tank instead of high octane gasoline will most definitely discourage it from performing. So goes the human body. I'm not a doctor, trained health professional, or even an experienced or seasoned runner (YET!). My training around running is really pretty limited. In order for me to be MOTIVATED, sometimes the best thing for me is keeping it simple. What I do know after more than 150 consecutive days running is that my habits and consumption in the day or even days leading up to a run, have a direct affect on how I feel before, during, and after a run. You find a balance for what your priority is. As much as I love running, sometimes other things take precedent.

I may or may not be using this a lot in my posts but....CASE IN POINT: Yesterday I found myself not motivated to run during the day. It was a gorgeous day, sunny all day, mild temperatures here on the mid-peninsula. Great for a few miles on the pavement or trail. For me, just as great a day to couch and nap all day. What did I do the day before? A fair amount of driving, and a steady influx of beer (drinking responsibly, of course). What didn't I do? What did I forget to do that is the most important thing to do when you're drinking? Drink water. Drink more water, then, until you're full, finish with some more water. 

I have some of my best friends in town and was distracted by good company, good conversation and visiting my favorite places. For what it's worth, my food diet was well balanced on Friday, though with a bit more french fries than normal, so that helped. I knew well that the choices I was making on Friday would directly affect what I would do on Saturday. For me, it's not really a question of 'will I run' anymore, it's a question of when and how do I want to feel when I do it, so there you have it.

One thing I learned early on last year in running, probably around the late summer/fall, was that if I planned on running a reasonable distance (or sometimes even any distance at all) I couldn't have a big, heavy lunch. Any food, if over-consumed, is bad for you before you run. Combine this with discovering a gluten allergy a couple of years ago, and suddenly I really had to watch what I ate. Consequently, I eat very healthy most of the time, which makes the times I slip up and eat or drink out of the norm stand out even more. FYI, running with a hangover sucks - dehydration, headache, physical exhaustion. Just not fun. Consequently, starting in November, I cut back on all garbage food and beer. This is where the weight loss really started kicking in, which provided faster running times, which MOTIVATED me to keep going. It was awesome.

De-motivation is not all about eating, and I'm sure I'll cover it more in another post (makes note in blog outline to cover de-motivation more later). It's also about your mental state outside of what is affected by your diet. So many things can happen to us in our daily lives, and after all, we're only human (with the obvious exceptions of Dennis Rodman and possibly Elvis Presley, who may or may not have returned to his home planet after giving us great music and gyrating hips).

Sickness, injury, soreness, family events, work stress, relationship problems, country and world events, even sports team losses. Laugh at the last one if you will, I was crushed after the Ducks lost the national championship game to Auburn. I still call it 'the game of which we do not speak' most of the time. At any rate, people react differently to these things, and it's true that running does help clear your mind. It helps clear your mind if you can get over the hump of emotions to get out and put your feet to the pavement. This is not always easy.

Early in January, I developed some serious pain in my right foot, somewhere between the ball and heel of my foot. Having had a self-diagnosed case of plantar fasciitis that was off and on, I thought it may be related to that, however this pain was more intense and focused in a specific area. I was depressed during the day at work because I thought my streak was over and mentioned it to a co-worker. I learned a lesson that day about people and how they can motivate you. He was athletic but not necessarily a runner and his comment was: "well, I'd be the stubborn one who would just run anyway, if I have to stop then I guess I might". This was apparently all I needed, and here we sit, yesterday was day 157.

When I was thinking about my run yesterday, I was really thinking about two things: my hip was pretty sore from some tweak I managed while playing softball, and I knew I was dehydrated and tired from being up late and drinking the day before.

Consequently, I didn't run until last night, after the Giants game was over. I was running out of time to get my run in and was then motivated by schedule, not really anything else. When it comes down to it, my last gasp of motivation for my daily runs, it seems, will always be time. I decided on a two miler, my daily minimum, to just get it done. I had a hint that my hip might feel better after the run, and truth be told, it felt better during the run. Had I chosen my stability shoes over my minimalist shoes when I was getting ready, I would have added another mile, I felt so good.

All this being said, if you read this blog for my experiences or for motivation, don't forget about motivation's ugly step-sibling, de-motivation. It's the little shadow waiting to pounce when you're not expecting it.