I’m not a fan of August, which is kind of amusing since my birthday AND my favorite beer festival both happen in August. But that’s 2 days of awesome surrounded by many days of struggling with summer. I’ve often commented that I get reverse “SAD”. I just don’t like being hot, I’m not a fan of swimming, and I fry (or freckle) in the sun. I’m like the antithesis of the golden brown Sun Goddess.
Add in summer marathon training and I’m admittedly more than a little bit cranky these days. But, I know I just need to stick it out a few more weeks and then the mornings will be cooler and then the kids will go back to school and we will all get back into a routine. (What? Sleeping from 1am-10am is a routine. Maybe not a good one, but it’s a routine…)
- Cut yourself some slack – It’s great to have training goals, but sometimes the heat gets in the way and you need to run a shorter or slower run. Accept it. Move on.
- Shake things up – I try to vary both my speed and where I run and throw in a treadmill run on occasion. (With last week’s heat wave, I may have thrown a treadmill run every other day. Whatever it takes.)
- Phone a friend – When you really just can’t find the motivation, borrow someone else’s. Everyone’s got that one friend who is always up for a run. Find them. Use them.
- Reward yourself – I’m not even going to pretend I’m going to do every run on the training plan. Life happens. Heat waves happen. Oversleeping happens. But when I have a hard run on the schedule, I set mini goals within a run and a big reward at the end. The rewards vary (could be a treat, could be a movie, could be skipping housework for the day), but whatever it is it motivates me to just keep on going. And if you survive that long run, you TOTALLY deserve a massage. Just sayin.
- Just do it – You may not want to and you may not be happy even when you are done, but come marathon day, you’ll be thankful you sucked it up and got out there.
I’ll confess that I’ve been struggling with blogging as much as running this summer. I just needed a bit of a break. We’ve had a lot going on and I’ve been pushing hard in so many areas of life lately that I’ve allowed myself a bit of a breather from writing for the last month. I’ve also been focusing on spending some quality time with my teen while he still likes me. I figure that could end any day now LOL.
Do you build in some “down months” into your schedule? Do you do it just for training or for other areas of life?
Today, I’m linking up for the Friday Five with Courtney, Mar, and Cynthia, even though I got confused and published this on Thursday. Gotta love summer…
Stop by and see what everyone else is up to!
Hope you have been able to take advantage of the cooler weather today and over the past few days. It almost feels like late spring instead of early August!
I could have written this post except I’m not training for a fall marathon. Which has kind of messed with my motivation. But since it is so hot this summer, I’m actually ok with that.
I too have lost my mojo for blogging a bit. I was talking about it with my son and he was like “why would you stop blogging?”. And a few things have come my way, so I guess I’ll ride it out for a while and see what happens…
Wendy@Taking the Long Way Home recently posted…Running Captivated
I’ve really been struggling this year with the heat and having my MRTT friends to rely on has been key for me.
Deborah @ Confessions of a mother runner recently posted…Raise The Barre With The New Platform Class
Norm and I were just talking last night that it would be easier to workout if it wasn’t so hot.
Love this – running in the summer is TOUGH and I’m definitely with you on pining for the cooler mornings of fall. These are great tips. Sometimes you just have to remember that it’s tough for a reason – it’s making you stronger and running slower in heat is better than not running at all!
yup. pretty much since my last race in early June running and blogging have been at a standstill. If I didn’t have the Friday Five I probably wouldn’t even have blogged once a week! But I needed the break and the down time to focus on LIFE. You are so right.
Mar @ Mar on the Run recently posted…5 Olympic Events I’m Looking Forward To
I have been struggling to get my runs in as well. Between my crazy work schedule and the heat, it is not a good combination. Hopefully cooler morning are coming soon. (Well in another mth).
lacey@fairytalesandfitness.com recently posted…Stuff my Dad says during The Bachelorette
Hot & humid definitely makes me cranky, but this past week we finally got a break that didn’t involve torrential downpours.
Winter tends to naturally give us a break, when we’re not shoveling out every other day. It’s generally when I take my running off season.
Judy @ Chocolaterunsjudy recently posted…5 More Ways to Keep Going . . .
Summer is my down season. It’s hot, but just how hot depends on the year. I like using it to keep my base and focus on strength training. I’m with you on August too. I’m cranky already and we have 2 more months of heat to go.
Lesley recently posted…The CU Tradition
I love all these tips and I think spending the summer blogging less also makes sense. I dropped down to two posts a week over the summer and have not regretted it at all! 🙂
Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC recently posted…Five Easy Ways to Make Healthy Choices at Work
Summer training is tough. The heat, the weird schedules, the heat. Ugh. But it’s good you’re doing all you can to stay on top of it. And blogging has definitely taken a back seat for me too. It’s ok! We’ll be back on track soon…I hope! My birthday is in August too! Happy birthday to you!
Jenn @ Run With Sole recently posted…Five Things I’m Most Excited About the Summer Olympics in Rio
Great post, Erica! I am an odd duck, as I have felt out of sorts NOT training for a marathon this summer. Lol! That said, I do appreciate not having to do 20 plus miles in this ickiness. 🙂
Great tips… I totally rewarded myself after my long run last week with some tacos!
vicki recently posted…Summer’s Bounty Salad
Haha just do it is so true. I just get dressed and go out for my run and try not to worry about the heat!
I think August is hard on everyone. It’s just not a great month.
I had to take some forced downtime earlier in the year, and it was tough. I like the busyness so much better. I am training for a half, so I definitely need to be cognizant of getting out there and getting it done.
Jenn recently posted…friday five: why you should run best damn race + discount code
Ah Great tips! I sometimes stress that I don’t show up to the starting line of my fall marathons completely “ready” but your right- life happens, vacations happy, nutrition gets out of life….and you just deal!
Lauren recently posted…Staying Fit During Pregnancy