What am I doing here, who told me to do this, thoughts that many of us have had during training, even in competition, and that have led to a greater sense of fatigue and discouragement. But how can we stay motivated in running? We have to have good arguments: strong, personal and weighty, to be able to maintain that motivation when our head throws us messages of abandonment or discouragement," says Vicky Cervera, sports psychologist.
It is true that practicing sport is not always rewarding because it involves effort and sacrifice, however, there are many reasons that encourage us to put on our Running shoes and go for a run. Once again, we turn to the expert advice of our sports psychologist, Vicky Cervera, who will give us some key guidelines to better tolerate frustration and maintain high motivation in running .
Motivation is the engine that moves us to do something, to take action with our purposes; but it is not only that, it is also what makes us keep those behaviors or activities. So, this motivation is like the fire that must always be lit for us to do what we do and also keep doing it. This fire will sometimes be more alive and other times, the flames will go down.
What happens is that motivation is a continuum and we move in it according to the moment of our life and according to the activity we practice.
We must have good arguments: strong, personal and weighty, to be able to maintain that motivation when we need it most.
Well, in running, as in any other sport, motivation must be based on good reasons. Since practicing sport is not always rewarding, as it involves sacrifices and effort, we must know why we do what we do. To be able to answer with a good argument to the eternal question: "what am I doing here", is the key to continue.
We must learn to differentiate between our thoughts and our motivation. The feelings we have during training are nothing more than discomfort and lack of coherence, perceived by our brain. That is to say, our brain interprets that it does not need to make that great effort to cover any basic need.
Then, when perceiving this increase in energy expenditure, it launches thoughts like: what am I doing here, who told me to do this, wouldn't I be better off resting now, with the hard day I've had, I don't understand how it can be that now I have to train.
If we allow ourselves to be carried away by these thoughts, this will translate into certain emotions: a greater feeling of fatigue, discouragement, apathy.... But what if we interpret them for what they are: thoughts? Everything we think does not have to be true; we have many throughout the day, but not all of them are true.
We know perfectly well why we are training, what our reasons are for being there, for continuing. In fact, if we let those ideas go, we will immediately notice how we overcome them. Because in that little head there are plenty of reasons to run: "since I started running I am calmer", "I feel that I am more agile", "I can play with my children for longer", "I feel fitter, I like my body more", "the feeling of improvement that I have in sport is incomparable".
So, the key is to have good reasons and at the moment our head throws us messages of abandonment or discouragement, interpret it as simple content. Know that by overcoming that moment, satisfaction will be guaranteed. If I take for granted that I will receive that call to abandonment and I know that I can overcome it, I will look stronger, I will have more self-confidence and I will know that I am still motivated, despite having those thoughts.
In competition we add the ingredient of feeling in a situation of evaluation. Normally the amount of thoughts will increase and with it the activation. Here we have another task: to control activation.
Do we always need an incentive, a new challenge, a competitive goal to keep our running motivation high?
Having goals helps us to maintain our motivation better. This is because we give our head more reasons to continue.
If we add a goal to the "disinterested" sports practice, we are giving a favorable turn for our motivation, because we add: a date, milestones to meet, either pace, distance or need to practice new skills, a planning, a challenge...
As for needing it, I think it depends on individuals. There are different types of running depending on the type of person. There are people who merely enjoy the practice, which is very favorable to feel "the flow" in the sport. There are other people who only enjoy something, if there is a subsequent recognition; a bit dangerous for our self-esteem. And then there are the people, who are the vast majority, who enjoy a mixture of the two: the path and the achievement of the goal are the perfect combination.
This is what psychologists call: frustration tolerance. Just as in day-to-day life, there are things that go as expected and things that don't; it's the same in sports life.
Our emotional state is sometimes the driver/stopper of our performance: it plays a crucial role in our sporting life.
We generate expectations, we train according to them, and then we either perform or we don't. To manage it, we just need to analyze our emotional state. To manage it, we just have to analyze what happened, see where I can improve, accept what has not been related to me and the next opportunity to apply those changes that I have seen necessary.
This will be much easier with the help of your coach. Communication with him/her is essential. Because surely, what happens to you, has happened to many runners before; and your coach can give you an answer.
If this doesn't work, maybe you need to look a bit more at the emotional level. Our emotional state is sometimes the driver/stopper of our performance: it plays a crucial role in our sporting life.
That feeling of frustration, of not having given "everything", how important is it to speak to ourselves well?
It is an element that we should all take into account. There is a direct relationship between our thoughts, emotions and what we do (behaviors). If we find that relationship and observe how it is, we have an added power to our physical power.
For example: if I tell myself "today you are like a bull", the emotion that will derive from this will be joy and even euphoria, this at physiological level will translate into more blood pumping and slight elevation of heart rate; therefore, feeling more power and strength when training. The result will be: a better workout. It is an element without which, we will never be able to reach our best fitness point.
Feeling that you're not progressing doesn't feel good to anyone. That's why we don't just have to go out and run, that's all. We also have to know ourselves as athletes, be reflective, not want things fast and respect the times of progress... Learning in sport is great, because fortunately, with our body there is no device that can accelerate the processes.
In this field we have to have the calm to see how we are progressing slowly, take the necessary time. This helps us to be patient and to see that not everything in life can be done quickly. It also helps us to enjoy each workout.
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