How many times have we heard or said "I need a change in my life"? Question that maybe the problem is not what we do, but that the loss of motivation has led us to this approach. So change the premise: Why am I disillusioned with what I do?
Monotony keeps us in a circle with no surprises, no surprises, no changes and before drowning in a negative routine we have to bet on introducing small doses of innovation that keep us enthusiastic about what we do.
From a sporting point of view, we should not allow ourselves to fall into the monotony of training because we become stagnant both physically and emotionally. Our attitude declines if we do not contemplate new goals/purposes and physically our aptitudes stagnate if our metabolism does not contemplate changes.
I would like to cite the case of the brilliant swimmer Mireia Belmonte. Her alarm clock rings at dawn to spend most hours and days training at a high level. That is to say, to push her body to the limit and that translates into suffering in order to surpass herself. Now, how is she able to endure the illusion of knowing that the same demanding routine awaits her every day? There are many factors that both she and her technical team work for it, but now that it comes to the case I would like to highlight a very important one: they try to break the monotony. Mireia trains every day, but faced with the routine that is presented to her every morning, her coach Fred Vergnoux establishes training cycles in different places so as not to allow herself to become demotivated, which is where monotony leads us.
Photograph of the streets of Barcelona "Cúrame la monotonía, empora mi insomnio" (Cure my monotony, cure my insomnia).
Resources
There are plenty of resources to turn to in order to break the monotony in training. I know that the vast majority of you have personal and professional commitments that prevent you from escaping to different cities to train as some of us high-performance athletes do. But nevertheless, you can choose to look for new circuits to go running. I suggest that once a month you take advantage of your light running to discover new circuits. If you succeed in this new bet you can incorporate a new place to your training schedule and if not, you will have mentally disconnected during that session.
I leave you a list of proposals to make a new place in your training plan:
- Search for new circuits.
- Work in the gym your needs but with different exercises. For example, there are different ways to do abs, strengthen quads, glutes, etc.. In my case, this season I am working daily exercises that until recently I did not know and who does not like to do new things?
- Schedule activities that are not a race but at the same time benefit us athletically. My weekly schedule is not lacking in bike, elliptical and swimming sessions. The objective of this other type of work is to increase the volume of training while avoiding impacts and improving the strength of specific areas.
- Establish workouts instead of by kilometers, by times or by references.
- If you usually train alone, try to join a group one day and vice versa. If you are used to training in a group, go out one day alone. Don't make excuses that you can't find anyone because nowadays there are many runners! And if not, go to a frequented place. Whenever the weather and my planning allows me to meet up with my girls to jog for a few minutes or do a different sports plan. I'm lucky that I don't have to convince them, we just have to decide the time and we're ready to go. I forget about the stopwatch, concentration, sensations and all the factors that usually surround me and I just let myself be carried away by the desire to share what I love with those who know best how to make me laugh.
Routine leads us not to expect anything different or exciting, that the same thing always happens from the moment we get up until we go to sleep. But remember, it is up to us to make our routine interesting!
"Cowardice ages us more than time, years only wrinkle the skin but fear wrinkles the soul" Facundo Cabral.
You can follow me on twitter and facebook: @RaquelGlzCampos I facebook.com/RaquelGlzCampos
Read more news about: Running Training
