As I get ready for a 5 hour journey along the Great Ocean Road with Fossil and a few others, and mind you am excited about it, I sit and ponder why the small sessions are always the hardest to get motivated for.
The small 30min run tonight took me forever to drag myself out the door as once I found all my running gear, it took me just about as long to get ready as what it did to get the run done. Once I finally got out the door and got running, it was fine, however just trying to mentally get excited about the small sessions feels tougher than the actual session itself. I find getting ready for a long session, whether be the swim, bike or run very easy and can really get excited about getting the session done, feeling the sense of accomplishment, ticking a big box on the checklist and knowing that I am making progress with my training/Kona preparation.
Getting through a 6 hr ride with efforts or running for 3 hrs in the hills or getting a 5k swimming lesson just gets me more motivation for the following session regardless of how I feel post session. I can get myself mentally prepared for these and get up and get going without much effort.
With the small sessions, I don't get that feeling. I understand the benefits of these sessions however a few years back I thought that they were a total waste of time and never gave them the due respect they deserved. Knocking over these little sessions just add value to the larger sessions and can be of great benefit to the overall training. This I the only thing that makes me drag myself out to complete them, whether on the treadmill or the mag trainer, I just make sure I tick that box.
I would be curious to hear the thoughts of others regarding this and if there are any little tips on how to make the short sessions easier.
For now...
X-Man
mate i completely agree, i'd choose a long ride in the dandenongs or a big brick session over an easy 40 min run or easy swim any day. After the easy run you feel like you haven't worked hard enough or for long enough but they are definately a benefit. when i do an easy run often i will listen to music because i just am not in the mood for it and i find a bit of pumping music helps. When i do my easy rides i'll often do them on the WT and watch a movie which is another good way to tick them off. Swimming is hard but i find an easy swim session with a friend always helps.
ReplyDelete