The Monday following a long holiday weekend is never easy. I’m so very glad I ran a treadmill workout yesterday so that I don’t have to consider finding the motivation to run this morning. The weather is stormy, I’m certainly not in the mood to get moving so early, and well, workout motivation is simply going to be a struggle for me these next few months.
It’s not like I’ll actually fall out of routine or anything. No way. It’s just a struggle some days because I can’t stand the cold weather. Never even mind snow, sleet, or ice! Simply cold temps and dark mornings are enough to get me.
Sometimes I wonder if I really liked running all those miles in the cold temperatures for years before I stopped that almost two years ago? I don’t recall not liking it yet I can’t imagine doing that now.
Anyway.
This past Saturday, without question, was a really tough morning for me motivation wise when it came to running. Not only did I not feel like running or getting sweaty (this is a thing for me now, I wake up and know I don’t feel like getting sweaty), I couldn’t even go out for a walk because it was too darn cold. I’m currently at the point where anything below 35 degrees is just too cold for me.
I was in such a mood over this, you have no idea. Even when I don’t feel like running, I always like a morning walk outdoors but who can walk outdoors in such cold temps? I guess not me anymore.
I tried to walk outside but changed my mind after five minutes, choosing to walk indoors on the treadmill instead. An indoor walk was better than no walk at all. This legitimately put me in a mood though, a mood where I realized it’s not even winter for real yet and I have a few months to get through before spring is here to save me.
Now, during my treadmill walk, I did realize that I would likely wake up the next morning eager to run and get sweaty. This is just how I roll, you know? Sometimes it takes a day or even two away from running and getting sweaty for me to find that motivating feeling and desire, regardless of the weather.
A really important thing to note here is that as unhappy as I was to not be able to run or walk outdoors over the weekend, I would have been so much more miserable had I tried to stay outside or forced an indoor run that I was not in the mood to complete. I’m happy that I am not a slave to my workout routine and can adjust things as needed, especially in the winter.
Monday – 3 mile run/30 min walk
I switched to walking because I didn’t feel like running beyond the 3 miles.
Tuesday – 60 min walk/5 Min Pure Barre (arms)
Wednesday – 30 Min Walk
Thursday – 6 Miles
They said it would get windy around the start time of the parade and they were right — my run was fairly calm until around 9:00 am when the winds suddenly started gusting. Glad I was almost done!
In case you missed my Thanksgiving post from Black Friday, here’s the link and my plate again.:)
Friday – 40 Min Pure Barre
I tried to go for a walk but only made it 20 minutes – 32 degrees is clearly too cold for me right now.
Saturday – 45 Min Walk on Treadmill
Another try at walking outdoors which only led me to walk inside to find the treadmill. This was not a happy morning although once I finished my treadmill walk (where I did complete 3 miles in those 45 minutes which I think is actually pretty fast – plus inclines!), I did feel better.
Sunday – 45 Min Treadmill Workout (5.25 miles)
I woke up ready to run today! Here’s what my treadmill workout looked like – you will notice that I ran this workout mostly by time but did switch things over to mile markers (and then back to by time during cooldown).
5 min easy/5 min 30 seconds hard/30 seconds easy/
10 – 20: 1 min hard/1 min easy
20 – 4-mile mark: 2 min hard/1 min easy
last mile: 3 min hard/2 min easy plus cool down to 45 minutes
I’m likely going to choose a Pure Barre workout this morning so that I don’t have to go outside! It’s rainy, going to snow,…and cold.
