A necessary kick up the arse!

So kids, along the way to achieving anything you'll get your motivation from lots of places.

You'll have your self-motivation which is really important, this will be boosted from time to time by inspirations and outside influences. Sometimes money will drive you to accomplish, at work or at school, the promise of financial reward will doubtless spur you on to try harder. And when all else fails, someone (usually me) will be telling you that you have to get on and deal with something, be it homework and chores as a kid, or work and life goals when you're older.

But there comes a time when you have all the support you need, but no one to push you out of the door, and no one but yourself can give you that kick up the backside that you need.

I once wrote a post which said "First they'll ask you why you do it, then they'll ask you How you do it". While this still holds true, once you've reached the latter part and you're capable sometimes the motivation to improve wanes.

And so it was after running the London Marathon in 2013 (I still haven't told that story, it's a good one), I found myself with all the support and ideas in the world but no real drive to complete. In fact I had a 3 year race plan partly filled, but no races booked and no plan to reach them!

Then I read this blog.

I realised that at times we coast, and that's ok as long as you're truly happy with seeing no improvement.

I realised that it's easy to highlight the results we are seeing and be blind ourselves to those we are not. From my twitter feed and blog, you'd think I'm infallible, but like all people that is far from the truth. I focus on my gains in speed and strength and turn a blind eye to my gains in weight.

I say that I'm training to lose weight, be lean and fit, and run fast short races and ultramarathons. Now that's a lot to ask, and if I'm honest I'm not training hard enough and I'm certainly neglecting my diet. I eat healthy food 90% of the time, but I eat way too much of it.

Laura's blog made me realise that only I could make the changes I wanted to see and I motivated myself in the best way I know.

I booked a load of races to keep me focused on the right training, and I started writing up my training plan to achieve goals at each one. A trail half marathon, a local 5k and a 62mile ultramarathon in September will keep my training relevant, my mind focused and my race-bling collection increasing.

But my sticking point is my diet. I'm not sure how I'm going to tackle it yet, but I think that healthy eating is the forgotten discipline of training. Give me cardio or resistance training and I'm a beast. Give me the opportunity to over eat though and self discipline flies out of the window.

As usual I've digressed kids, I guess the point is this. You can seek your motivation and inspiration from wherever you like. You can be driven yourself or driven by others. But when it comes to making changes, only you can take the first step.

Keep an eye on the long game...

Today I ran with one intention. A good run in the trails will always clear my mind, blow away the cobwebs and destress me, but today I wanted some calm. A little peace so i could spend some time focussing on long term goals.

You see kids, it's good to keep an eye on the long game, spend too much time absorbed in the moment and you can end up miles down a path you had no intention of being on.

That analogy fits in nicely with the run I had this morning. I set off in overcast and warm conditions with the aim of running along the Icknield Way trail, a prehistoric footpath which runs right behind our house. 

In total the trail is 110 miles long and finishes near where we live, I've been running on it as long as I've been running. Anyway, I set off along the trail looking for little markers like the one above, after an hour or so I started heading back. My mind was clearing and was starting to work through some possible goals for the next 12-24 months and I was in that nice trance like state that you get on some runs.

My running meditation was broken by an angry man waving his arms at me from about 50 metres away, while I was on a footpath by a farmers field by a derelict farmhouse.

The conversation went like this.

AngryMan. You're running in my garden.

Me. Oh, it's very nice.

AngryMan. Well it's not good enough. You're the wrong side of the hedge.

Me. Ok, sorry I didn't see the sign. I've not run this way before.

AngryMan. You did, you ran up the hill twenty minutes ago.

Me. I've apologised what else do you want.

The conversation was boring and realising from his last comment that I was on for a negative split, I carried on running, but my mind was preoccupied.  I'd taken my eyes off the signs along the way and ended up down a path I shouldn't have been on.

The goal was to run and clear my mind but I'd lost focus and got it wrong.

Goals are like that, you need to know the long ones before you can think medium term. And you need to know these to set and adjust your short term goals.

An injury for a runner doesn't mean the end of long term goals, it means adjusting the short and medium term ones to arrive at the same place. Finding yourself going slower than you'd like just means adjusting the training to find the missing pace.

Now this is important kids, so read this bit slowly. Don't sweat having to change your goals, just keep an eye on the long term ones and go with the flow on the short term ones.

After reflecting on  todays run, I've set some new goals for the next 2 years, they'll affect my short term goals to help me meet them.

I'm going to delay my multi day event to 2015. I'm looking to do the Desert floor race, but I want to prioritise my time with family and have a decent summer holiday next year and finish my personal training course so it'll wait. Instead I'm going to start planning a 110 mile run along the Icknield Way trail next summer, enjoy shorter ultras for the remainder of this year and enjoy trail races locally.

You never regret a run and today's one was great, the pace was off, I was a little hungover and the farmer annoyed me for a while, but it helped me clear my mind and get that bigger view.

Be a dreamer

Kids, it's been a long time since I've sat down and written anything for this blog. I've had other things demanding my attention and for a while there figured I'd learnt all there was to learn from running and written it down for you to read.

But it turns out I was wrong.

I read back through my old posts sometimes and realised I've been holding out on you.

I've alluded to  aspirations, but never cemented them.

I've hinted at inspirations, but stopped one step short of naming them.

I've teased you with my dreams, but never quite said what they are.

But times change and people change. I have become much more receptive to the motivation of others and once you let that influence into your life it's kind of hard not to be inspired.

So whats happened, well I'll summarise.

I put in for the Paris marathon, but as time approached realised it wasn't feasible due to the costs. And on the same day that I made the heartbreaking decision not to attend I won a place on the London Marathon, but more on that later.

I decided not to run ultra marathon events any more, but after running London enjoyed it so much I have two planned this Summer, but more on that later.

But most importantly and the biggest and best change that ever happened to me?
I became comfortable with myself. Now that sounds a little twee perhaps but let me explain.

I've always had a bit of a downer on myself. I felt that my goals weren't as valuable as others, that it was somehow ridiculous for me to get what I want; as though somehow I didn't deserve them or the good things that come from achieving them.

This was embodied for me when I decided to pull out of a run at the end of last year which I was supposed to run with two other guys. It was to be a day long run of 60+ miles and when I got a few niggles and injuries in the run up to the event, I managed to convince myself that it was silly of me to have thought of running that far and I bailed, convincing myself that it was for the best as I would probably have just ruined other peoples days. The others involved remained positive and motivational but I knew that for me it was over.

I'd failed before I had begun because I had never really believed it possible.

However, bit by bit, I have come around to the idea that nothing is impossible, genuinely believing that I can accomplish my dreams. And my motivator for this was your mother. She never reads these things so I know I'm safe to say this, but she believes in me 100%. When I tel her I'm going to do something she has no doubt I'll achieve it and I started to think that if I believed myself that much, what else could I achieve?

The best thing about striving for your dreams is that they continue to grow as your belief and confidence grows. Four years ago I'd never run a race. This year I ran a marathon in under three and a half hours and next year I have something epic planned. Kids, big things are coming and you're going to be a huge part of them.

You're my inspiration to dream and achieve and I want to share this stuff with you now so that when you're old enough to understand it you realise what a huge part you played.

Stick with me guys, we are going places and this time, we are looking to win!