Motivation or Results... The Chicken or the Egg

If you talk anyone who is beginning (or getting back into) running/working out they will tell you  they find motivation in the results of their efforts. A faster mile time, "x" amount of inches of their waist line or a better physique will provide the "get up and go" they need to get to the gym.

But what do you do when the results are slow to manifest themselves? What if your mile time is stagnant? Or if your weight loss efforts have hit a plateau? Or maybe, even after a month of strength training you still don't look like they guy on the cover of Mens' Health? (not that I am thinking that at all...) Where does the motivation come from then?

One of the many things about exercise I have learned from my brother (you know, the one who is the personal trainer and fitness guru) is that you can't rely on results for motivation, as you need to motivate yourself to achieve your fitness goals. But the question becomes, how do you stay motivated before seeing results?

Runners world has 101 great tips to stay motivated! Give them a read and let me know which ones you liked in the comment section.

Here are are my top five:

1. Make it public- Let EVERYONE know the race you want to run and the goal for the race. The threat of public embarrassment can be great motivation to hit every training run
2. Running partners- If I schedule a run with Chris, I don't want to miss that run and let him down
3. Get a big, active dog- Then you have to answer the question: fun run or destroyed couch?
4. Running calender- runners hate to see blank days and looking back over a great training season can help you stay pumped for your upcoming race
5. Scenery- how could you not be motivated to run with this in your backdrop? 



Bike Trail heading into Telluride

Here's the 411 on today's run!

Consistency

I'm posting a short(er) blog post today and to be honest it's just to brag a little. One of the best ways to keep yourself motivated is to keep track of your workouts on a calendar. Personally I love the Garmin Calendar as it works well with my Garmin Forerunner 205 running watch. Runners (including me) hate to see missing days on the calender- which is a great way to get motivated/force yourself out for a run.

So, on to the bragging. In the month of October I hit every run and every distance I had planned. The strength training was a huge success as well! I set a goal of completing strength training three days a week and I only missed one work out.  Its this type of consistency that will help keep me fit and will make me a better runner.

For October I ran 18 times for a total of 76.07 miles and burned over 8,600 calories! Not only am I super proud of the month, but it has me super excited about what I can do for November!

Here is the 411 from Friday's run!