Monday, October 22, 2012

accountability ...

I've never been one to need a push to get things done. If there is a deadline, I am going to make it. If there is a goal, I am going to reach it.

I've also never been one to ask for help. I believe that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. In fact, if I ask for help and the results don't come quick enough, I've been known to step in and pick up the slack. Did I mention I am impatient? (Note to J: I am NEVER going to step in and clean the office. That shit is yours to deal with. Might as well get on it now ...)

Despite theses two traits, I am finding that recently I am struggling with getting my workouts done. I'm not burned out. I'm not unmotivated. I just keep pushing them to the back burner, telling myself that I will get to it later. But, later never comes.

Last week, I took five rest days. Four of them in a row. I only took five rest days all of last month. There is some sort of insanity going on around here. And I know exactly what it is ...

I have zero accountability.

No races scheduled for six months = No training plan

Training 99.9% solo = No one to get your sorry tail moving

Talk about setting up yourself to fail. Honestly, I never considered how much I was relying on external cues to keep myself accountable. I (pompously) assumed that I was just so on top of my game that I didn't need anyone or anything else to keep me moving.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Endurance training is not a solo venture.

Unless you want to fail. And last time I checked, failure is not an option.

12 comments:

Kurt @ Becoming An Ironman said...

It sounds like you need a training plan, even if it's not geared towards any specific event at the moment. You've always seemed a person who can easily follow a schedule once written down and posted. Maybe it could be for the purpose of building base towards an eventual training cycle.

And I hear ya' on the solo training. Endurance sports are tough in that aspect.

Karen said...

I find that the more of these events that I do, the harder it is to self motivate. I guess it because I mostly know what to expect and feel like I can cut corners here and there. It definitely feels like a recipe for disaster. My plan is to mix on more group work this time around and try and change things up just to keep it interesting. We'll see... ha ha.

Kortni said...

I so agree. I found running really hard when I did not have you checking in on me anymore! The good thing for you is your motivation so you know how to fix your "problem"! Come run with me!

Anonymous said...

I understand! I just found out over the weekend, that my last race of the year has been cancelled. My next race isn't until May (I might have to find an earlier one). Getting out for today's run was difficult. Especially with the holidays coming, if I don't have a race lined up, it will be so easy to talk myself out of the workout.

MCM Mama said...

Totally with you on this.

Want to write me a training plan for my five halves in five days insanity? I need someone to kick my a$$...

M said...

While, yes, at some point you should probably start a training plan, there's also absolutely nothing wrong with slowing down for a bit. many of us just GO GO GO for so many months out of the year, but I've learned that giving myself a bit of time without a plan is a-okay. I usually take about October through early December rather light. I do things when I want, but I know that come mid December, I start planning out the next year. It's a nice mix of both. 6 weeks or so of downtime, then right back into it!

Penny said...

My accountablity is my running partners. If they dont run right now I dont run. It's very hard to get motivated. I seem to go through this every year, so I know to depend on my running partners to get me through it. It hard running solo for me anyway.

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

I think you were looking for post material and totally made this up. I can not imagine you not getting done what you want to do. can.not.imagine.it You are a lady who takes her family to Disney and does tris and inventories her entire house! I think you just needed something to post about today. ;-)

Unknown said...

Is April 6 months away? Awwwwww....it sounds so far. Shoot.

I agree with you, I need to find my internal motivation.

Jodi H said...

I could have written this exact post! I need to find some accountability as well. I currently don't have a training plan and it's driving me crazy!! Good luck finding your motivation and when you do, could you please send some my way?

Caroline said...

ah...yes....that is why I sign up for a lot of races and ahead of time.....

(is the office clean?....:)

Unknown said...

I have a hard time with this as well... with nothing on the schedule, it's so much easier to push things off for a while. Just want to send you a hug. I would be more than happy to call/text you every day to make sure you got everything in. I can be a bad cop if you need (it would totally be out of love of course)