What to do when you fall out of love with running?

People tell me all the time

Oh you must love running

To which I respond

No, I F**King hate it

Which often gets a laugh, but it’s true…well at least partly.

So to clarify…

  • I love what running has taught me about myself
  • I love the friends I have made
  • I love how it has allowed me to travel the world
  • I love the feeling of achieving a specific running goal

But…

The actual running?

Well, I have to admit that sometimes I don’t like it very much. I find it hard most of the time, often it is beyond frustrating, and at times I even find it boring.

Now that running in the evenings and at the weekends is more difficult than ever, I never seem to get any momentum.

And even though I have been running for more than 15 years…I have whole periods where I avoid it like the plague or do it because I have to.

Today, I found myself wanting to post on social media,

Hi I am Julie Creffield and it has been 8 days since my last run

And it had been 10 days between that and the one before, and possibly even more between that and the one prior.

It is not that I am not exercising, it’s just I am swimming and cycling more, plus fitting in CrossFit where I can and I have kinda lost my running mojo.

I know I am not alone in this, and many of my women go through dry spells when it comes to their running…so in an attempt to support them, and perhaps give myself a healthy kick up the backside here are my top 5 tips for rekindling your love with running.

Tip 1 – Sign up for a Race

This always works…if I am not training for something I never train, which is why I ALWAYS have races in the diary. But you have to go further than this. You have to keep the race front of mind and have specific performance related goals, otherwise it is still easy to slack off. I am running the New York London Marathon in November…so I need to get my finger out. Creating your own bespoke training plan can help you get excited (or frighten yourself into action)

Tip 2 – Run somewhere different

I get bored running the same routes, so go on a sightseeing run. Plan a route which you haven’t done in a while. Drive to a route, or get a train. Make it as part of a day out, run while on holiday even. I’m off to Reykjavik in a few weeks to celebrate my 40th with some friends…someone suggested we go for a run while there, so now I’m thinking I’d better be in good form otherwise I won’t want to do it.

Tip 3 – Wear your best kit

A new piece of kit is always a great incentive to get out the front door. Even organising your kit so you can see what you have can do the trick. It doesn’t even have to be brand new it can be new to you, there are some great second hand selling sites for running kit, and I always keep an eye out in the low-cost supermarkets for running week. Seriously even a new pair of running socks can do the trick for me.

Tip 4 – Run with others

For accountability let your running friends know you are in a slump. Ask them for some moral support, or even some practical support by running with you. Join a local running club, or get involved in parkrun…remind yourself about the social aspect of running. Even if the idea of getting out of bed early at the weekend doesn’t fill you with glee, having a post-run cuppa with friendly people might.

And finally

Tip 5 – Be kind to yourself

Often when we haven’t been running for a while we get into a bit of a slump. We compare our performances of past months to where we are now, we realise how much fitness we have lost, we lose our confidence to be visible again and think “What’s the point?”, the point is running is like having a husband…you don’t have to like him all of the time, things are not going to be plain sailing, sometimes you need a bit of a break (Maybe this is why I’m not married). Be kind to yourself. Take things slowly, and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You will fall back in love eventually.

So for the purposes of accountability, I am going to head out for a little run with my friend on Sunday, and the following week I am going to commit to 2 runs. 

I am currently training for the Paris Triathlon, and need to be able to run 10K off the back of a 1500 meter swim, and a 40K cycle…so there is no avoiding it anymore.

Have you lost your running mojo? Fallen out of love with running? Never loved it in the first place, but would like to at least try? Why not join our online running club The Clubhouse? It is a great time to join, we are just about to start recruiting some regional coordinators to help with meetups and training days across the UK and wider afield and soon there will be the opportunity for you to train as a Too Fat to Run coach.

Memberships start from just £5 per month 

What you get is

  1. Accountability
  2. Support
  3. Friendship
  4. A Safe Space
  5. Running Opportunities
  6. Coaching
  7. A place to celebrate
  8. Laughter
  9. A place to offload
  10. Laughter
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