There are things we do that may cause us feel less motivated when running each day.
- We always run alone: Social running is a good way to improve our motivation. Although some people like to run alone to allow themselves be with their own thoughts, it is a good idea to try running with friends and family members. Group running could provide us with many benefits. Running could become a weekly social pastime and for the rest of the week, we could run alone, if it is difficult to gather friends and family members. Friends who run with us could actually become cheerleaders who help us through more difficult parts of our daily workout. In fact, some friendly competition could help us improve performance. Friends could also make distance and time pass quicker, as we are talking with them while running. There’s also an added safety in number, when we are running in a group.
- We don’t rehydrate properly: Water is essential our running experience. Many runners don’t bring water with them while running. We constantly lose water through rapid breathing and sweat. This needs to be replaced regularly, so we will stay hydrated. When we are running longer distances, it is important for us to drink enough water. Dehydration often catches us unaware. Our performance could begin to suffer if we fail to replace lost fluid. First sign of dehydration could be indicated by dry mouth. In fact, running for one hour at moderate pace and warm environment could cause us to lose up to 2 pounds of water. At this situation, the overall running performance could be reduced by 6 percent. Over a long distance, our performance could decrease even further. Many runners insist that it is uncomfortable to bring a water bottle with them. In this case, runners could designate stop points along their route where they can purchase small bottle of water in convenience store or drink in a public drinking fountain. We should be aware that it takes some time for our body to absorb fluid, so we could drink about 90 minutes before we start the running session.
- We don’t undergo the recovery phase: Running could place a significant stress and strain on our body. Muscle cells will continuously damaged during training and there would be micro-tears in muscle structures. This is a normal consequence of physical training and constant muscle repairs will make our muscle structure stronger to adapt to physical activities. However, this condition could cause specific symptoms, such as soreness and other discomfort. In general, we should create transitions between zero movements and maximum movements. As an example, we should walk, walk rapidly, run slowly and then run at average pace that can be maintained throughout the running session. Before we stop running, we should walk for the last 5 minutes of our running route. This method should help us reduce lactic acid development. Muscle pain can be inhibited and we will have better rate of recovery.