A Really Bad Week.

Working out can be hard when you don't have the motivation. Sometimes you just don't feel like it. It happens to everbody at some point. The inspiration of this blog comes from an off week I had last week.

I felt awful. I was swamped with homework, I was overwhelmed, stressed and tired. I wasn't eating the best which only made things worse. I had a terrible race in which I physically couldn't even finish as a result of the toll the week took on my body.
It all started 2 weeks ago on a Thursday. I ran a very hilly course and had a hard time recovering. It was a decent race, I finished in 29th place out of a little over 200 girls. I was fine with my results because I know it was a really tough course. I went to homecoming on that Saturday night and danced for almost 3 hours straight which probably didn't help my legs recover at all. Sunday it was a struggle to even get out of bed. My calves felt so sore I could barely even walk! That's super rare for me. I'm not one to get sore muscles very easily. Monday at practice we did a tough track workout that usually wasn't too difficult for me. My coach cut my workout down by 1,000 meters when he realized how tough of a time I was having. The next day I still wasn't running my best so the rest of the week he altered my workouts. My legs felt sore, heavy and tired. It was extremely hard for me to run what I call my normal pace. I had no motivation, I was so overwhelmed and upset with myself. How did I find the motivation again?
Be nice to yourself. Understand yourself. Let yourself "slack" (taking it easy in other words. I call it slacking because it was so unusual of me to be struggling like this that it made me look lazy) Understand that everybody can have weeks where they struggle. Make sure you know that you couldn't have prevented it. Tell yourself you'll take it a day at a time. I was proactive last weekend with homework. I got organized. I planned. I made sure I was prepared for my meet this week. I slept a lot, I ate well. Guess how Monday's practice went? A lot better than last Monday's. I felt refreshed. Still not back up to 100% better but I know that if I keep doing these things, I'll recover soon.
As far as motivation goes, I reminded myself why I feel so passionate about running and racing. I got on Pinterest and looked through the running tabs, I downloaded a few new songs to listen to when I warm up at meets.
Just unerstand yourself and listen to your body. Take a break and ease up when you feel like you need to, I promise it won't make you a slacker or a bad runner. Fitness improves over time. Life isn't instant results.