Friday the sun beamed lemon yellow and hard in the December sky; we decided on an "easy" lunchtime run and quick gym workout - maybe just abs? We would run up to the gym - a short run - and do a quick workout, then turn around and come home. The gym is only 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) away from home for us, and it's a super easy, downhill run back to the house. That means, of course, that the way there is purely uphill.
The hill to the gym is steep and unrelenting - I have to look down at the sidewalk cracks and concentrate, pumping my arms hard to make it to the top without puking in that nice elderly lady's maincured garden.
Friday, for whatever reason, it was particularly difficult. Spit kept frothing in my mouth, my side hurt, my heart ached. Corey was running easily, a little ahead, which irritated me for no good reason except wtf why does he always make it look so damned easy?
I wanted to stop. I was hating it. I wondered: why do I keep torturing the high holy hell out of myself when my body is going to eventually fade, sag, and get eaten by worms anyway?
The good news is, the angst it was short lived. I hated the run but I got to the gym and did situps next to Corey, noticing the veins in his arms and the contours of his middle and I grit my teeth to push myself through the burn. I want veins and contoured abs, too. The familiar feeling of accomplishment flooded through me sometime during the gym workout and I was good to go in the December sun. The run down the hill was much easier.
Motivation wanes. It perks and elevates and pauses and sometimes disappears altogether. I've been running and working out steadily for about 9 months now and I've noticed a few things that keep me going. Here are my favorites.
1. Reward Yourself
Corey and I have one "free day" a week. This means we can loll in bed, snarf tiramisu, and eat sharp-cheddar drowned nachos and sour cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we want to. We can go out for a nice dinner and not worry about balancing protein with carbs, and I look forward to this day every week. It makes all the cottage cheese and protein shakes worth it.
Also: if you've lost some inches? You have total permission to buy those atrociously expensive Paige jeans just because they make your perkier ass look awesome.
2. Take Before, During and After Pictures (you don't have to show anyone.)
I mentioned before that it freaked me out to see the scale numbers going UP rather than down when I started seriously working out and eating right.
I wanted to huck myself into a cesspool filled with wine and cheesecake and inhale it all through a giant straw because who the hell cares I was gaining weight while pecking at lettuce and running 3 million miles a day.
But then Corey said something about noticing positive changes in my body and yeah, maybe my jeans were a little looser and then I looked at a before picture I'd taken in early spring (when I thought I was looking all right) -- and compared it to a picture i'd taken a few days before. The differences were subtle but they were there and wow, they make me feel a whole lot better about those extra pounds I gained (12 so far, for the record. I know.)
I'm going to do something here that I may live to regret, but I want to show you. The first picture was taken in March 2009, about 10 months ago. I'd been running but eating whatever I wanted and not going to the gym,. The pic beside it is right now - not my "after" but my midpoint picture. I weigh 12 pounds more in the midpoint picture than in the before. This motivates the hell out of me. Take a picture, hide it, look at it later and feel good about what you're doing for your body. And be stoked about where you're going.
3. Work with a Partner
It can be frustrating as all hell working out with Corey, who routinely pushes the hell out of himself and seems to have no problem lifting weights the size of cars with his pinky. And it's irritating how quickly his running stamina has improved, how suddenly he is faster than me. But he pushes me when I don't feel like doing anything, and sometimes I drag him out for a run in the rain when really he'd rather be doing geeky things on his computer. We're a team, abd I think it benefits us both.
4. Track your Distance and Improvement
I run with a Nike plus and Corey wears a Garmin watch, and the first thing we do when we get back from a run is plug our devices into our computers and see what our split pace was, how much elevation we gained in our run, just how heavily we tortured ourself compared to the last run, how much faster we're getting. The data makes it easy to track improvement and there's something motivating about knowing that omg I've run almost 1000 kilometers this year. Wicked.
5. Adorn your fridge
I have a picture of Jaime Pressly on my fridge. She makes it a little easier to resist the caramel ice cream syrup in there. I'm currently trying to find a good magazine pic of Gabrielle Reece, who is much closer to my height and bone structure because really, no matter how much I exercise, I'll never look like Jaime Pressly - she's mini. But Gabrielle Reece is a 6 footer with substantial bones. Not a totally insane goal. Insane goals suck, because I'll never achieve them.
6. Get nice gear
I feel like going for a run when I have nice gear - lululemon running tights, a cute toque, snappy little gloves, whatever. I feel more ready to roll in nice gear than I would in holey sweatpants and mismatched socks. I don't know why.
7. Change up your tunes
The same old tunes get boring. I switch up my running mix once a week so a new tune pops up during my long runs. Current shiny new faves on my iPod? Feel It In my Bones (Tiesto featuring Tegan and Sara) and One Pure Thought (Pure Chip). Girl and the Sea by the Presets too, I'm digging them.
8. Read
I just finished reading Born to Run, recommended by Linda, and man, I couldn't put it down. It's about a culture of hard, long, fast runners. It's about the natural joy we have as children, running for sheer joy. It's about feeling your sole on the earth and understanding our spirits through running and a million other things and man. It made me want to run, big time. I recommend this hugely, and I'm scouring for my next inspirational read.
I also pick up Women's Health from time to time, and check out various fitness related web sites. Fresh, new and informative keeps me on my toes and away from the couch and Dorito bag.
Did I miss anything? What do you do to keep yourself motivated?
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