Many situations may have transpired during your last marathon that can affect your motivation to train for another one. Maybe you did not have a great race. You feel upset about your results and don’t know why you did not run the time you wanted. Maybe you had a great race but, with the excitement, you came back too soon. You did not take the needed recovery and now you feel fatigued and burned out. Maybe you rested too long after your marathon. You told yourself you would start back soon but find yourself not working out at all. Your fitness level dropped and when you have worked out it has not been as fast as before.

If any of these situations sound familiar, don’t worry; you are not alone. You should expect to have anti-climatic feelings after running a marathon, whether you ran your best race or slowest. Many people, even elite athletes, go through these feelings. With the right approach, you will soon be back out on your runs, feeling excited and motivated.
First however, before training for another marathon, you need to properly recover from your last program. Remember, you completed a marathon of 26.2 miles. Even if you did not accomplish your goals, you trained hard for many months. That in itself is a great accomplishment. The length of your recovery depends primarily on how long it took you to complete your marathon, or your fitness level. A rule of thumb is to take a week of recovery for every hour it took you to complete your marathon. If you did not complete your marathon, use the same formula based on the predicted time to complete your marathon. So if your marathon took you 4 hours (or you were predicted to do so), you should take 4 weeks in a recovery phase. During the recovery phase you should minimize the volume and intensity of your training. Taking this time allows your body and mind to recover. So, you will start your next training cycle feeling mentally and physically stronger than the previous one.

Here are 10 tips to help to motivate you.

1. Train with a friend or with a group of friends. If your friend is a little slower than you, it is fine for now; it will prevent you from pushing your pace and allow you to talk more during the run.
2. Change where you train to add new scenery. This will infuse freshness into your workouts and prevents you from comparing your new running times with your previous ones.
3. Add a new type of cross training for your easy workout days. For example, you may try swimming instead of cycling. Changing your routine will help build different muscle groups and will be beneficial to your overall fitness.
4. If you have always trained during the morning hours try some evening runs, or vice versa. Sunset is just as spiritually moving as sunrise.
5. Write down your short and long term goals. Display them in a place that you can view them every day.
6. Acknowledge your accomplishments. Put a smiley face beside the goals you have accomplished. It is great to look at, especially when the smiles continue to grow in numbers.
7. Wear a different color each workouts. You will be surprised at how a color can make a difference in your effort.
8. Have a friend or family member drop you off at a given distance and then run home. A point to point course has real purpose, you have a destination to get to and someone special knows you are on the way home.
9. Race in shorter distances like a 5k or 10k road race. This will give you more experience in preparing for competitions and improve your speed.
10. Take a hike instead of a run on your favorite trails. See them in a different light then you have been when you were running. It will make a big difference on how you view it when you get back out running the trails again.

By making a few changes in how you go about exercising, you will increase your desire to do more. Be patient with yourself and most of all enjoy what you are doing.

Happy running,

Coach Murphy

MBS Fitness offers programs to keep you motivated. Try joining Murphy’s Track Club. The workouts are held at a track in a group setting on a weekly basis. It’s a great way to stay in shape before starting marathon training once again. You will be encouraged and motivated by a coach and other members in the club. Come out and check it out. The Track Club meets every Thursday night from 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm at the Santa Monica High School located at 4th and Pico in Santa Monica. For more information on Murphy’s Track Club, click here.