[00:00:00] Bertrand Newson:
Understanding how live stress can directly impact energy motivation, especially with work stress.

I mean, we all have a lot going on, but if we allow that to consume us and the level of self doubt starts to creep in, it can give us even more reason to say, you know what? I got so much going on.

I don't want to get to the gym. I don't want to get on the Peloton. Stress can really stifle your energy.

Hello and welcome to the RaceMob podcast. This is episode number 84.

I'm Bertrand head coach of RaceMob and founder of Too Legit Fitness, and I'm joined by my good friend, entrepreneur technology and fitness nerd and founder of RaceMob, Kevin Chang.

In this episode I'll share 15 tips and tools to help you get your running mojo back on track.

For those of us who've been at it for a while, inevitably, there's a point when we hit a rut, you feel like you've lost, you're running mojo. We've plateaued hit a wall and you know what you feel like you're just not improving in the ability to chase down those PRs. Here are several tips and ways to help you reignite your passion and find your groove again.

Number one: remember when you first started in the first place, determining what is your why.

So take a moment and think, when did you start running? And what was the motivation? What got you? Enthusiastic. What got you happy? What got you up early in the morning? What had you thinking about running all the time.

And now think of present day. Why have we lost that feeling? As we get further down our list, some of those things will probably appear, but right now, remember what was it that got you motivated, enthusiastic and fired up about running and see if you can take some of those feelings and memories now to help you get over the hump.

Number two, don't overthink it worrying too much about being in a bit of a funk or rut could only make things worse.

Take a deep shake it off and know that time is your best friend. And as we get further down on the calendar and we navigate a couple of days, turn the weeks, weeks, turn into months, you will feel better.

Number three. Be patient, which is

something that a lot of us have and many of us don't have.

So being able to trust the process and realizing that, time is going to be on your side. Being patient will help you.

Number four: how's your recovery? How's your sleep. If we are working out too frequently and not giving ourselves the opportunity to recover or taking some shortcuts by not doing the dynamic warmups or doing cooldowns, which will aid to our fatigue, aid to aches and pains.

If we're not getting enough sleep. Those key items will cause us to be a bit more stressed, feel a bit more sore, potentially put us at risk for injury.

So being able to do those little things, to get in the warmup, to get in the cool-down, to spend time on the foam roller, to jump into an ice bath periodically, preferably after your long runs, getting quality sleep.

As all going to help you in the bigger picture. Number five, mix it up, change up your route, speed up the pace, or slow down the pace, change up the distance, mixing it up, changing up your routine can help make things a little bit more enjoyable. And if we've been in a routine of feeling a bit down, mixing it up can potentially cause us to feel better.

Number six. Make it easy. Or make it hard.

Easy runs, easy and hard runs hard. Sometimes we get in the space where we continue to do the same routine at the same pace, which becomes boring in some cases. Sometimes we can find herself plateauing. So if we really take it easy on our easy days and really go hard on our hard days, that's the way to jumpstart a little bit of, mojo.

Number seven: stop making excuses for yourself.

This is real easy to do. We all are busy in life. There is lots going on and you can say, is it more important for me to get up and go on this run or do this workout versus make dinner for the family, pay this bill, sit down with a child and help with homework. Those are very valid reasons to... these are things that we have to do in everyday life.

But ultimately you have to put in the work in order to take care of yourself. A healthy you is better for everybody in your life.

So make the time, put it on your calendar. set reminders, put it on a post-it note in a visible space. Anything where it helps you get out the door or get into the garage and get in 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour long of exercise in some way is going to help you.

Number eight, can you run without a watch? Yes, you can!

Every workout does not need to be tracked. Many of us are participating in the Taji 100 and I understand if you want to get credit for every single step, but sometimes it's refreshing you kind of take off.

Point of measurement and setting the watch aside or not paying attention to it can be a good thing. It can be liberating. So from time to time, Don't look at the watch when you're running or in some cases don't take it at all run without the watch, you know, the route you can estimate what that distance was, if you want to track it.

Post-workout totally understand that. Or if you're going to track and not refer to the distance by looking at seeing what the pace is, I get all that, but sometimes just running to run is great. And all too many times, especially if you're training for something we're always looking at, what's the pace, what's the cadence, all those other particulars so periodically run without the watch.

Number nine: take some time off. Yes. Take a week off at possibly potentially two.

This is something that I encourage my athletes to do, certainly at the end of the training cycle or at the end of the year , many of us reduced our mileage and took some time off in December.

I'm recently coming back from a five day, sabbatical where I only ran twice and those were shorter distance runs, one was more of a run slash hike, but I was out on a lot of those walks. where I estimated my time and distance. I wasn't tied to my Garmin GPS tracking device. And it was refreshing. So being able to take some time off and completely disconnect.

So, get away, you know, is that a day trip? Is it a weekend trip? Can you afford to get away for a couple of days and knowing that fitness is always there, if you're out on vacation or the local destination. Going wine tasting. You're still going to be walking. You're still going to be outdoors. You're still gonna let the sun kiss your face and get that vitamin D.

Those are all good things, but being able to take a break and feel like you're getting outside of the training routine, just to mix it up and to give the body and mind a break is a good thing.

[00:07:25] Kevin Chang:
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[00:07:35] Bertrand Newson:
Number 10, take action. Consistency and routine helps with accountability. So as much as I referred to an item nine and taking some time off, this is getting back into the mix because sometimes for those of us who don't have a fitness structure in our routine, we can be all over the place.

If we don't have our fitness booked on our training calendar, sometimes it's so subjective that we do it when all things line up. That's not real life all the time. You have to make it happen. And once you get into the routine of knowing that, Hey, on Mondays and Wednesdays and Fridays, I'm going to do some level of cross training.

And on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, I'm going to be doing some running. And on Sundays my rest day where I'm not doing much of anything other than, maybe some yoga.

If you have a routine it's easy to stay in the routine, especially after a couple of days, which turned into a couple of weeks, much easier to keep , that fitness cadence, that fitness momentum, when you have it structured on a calendar.

Number eleven: run, where it makes you happy.

Find that trail, get to the beach. Find that favorite walk path. If it speaks to you emotionally and lifts your census, that's a good thing. So find those places that have, we've had good experiences that has helped, pick up your interest and energy, , and get out to those locations. That's going to help you get out of the running funk.

Number twelve work on a weakness.

Is there a part of your fitness routine that you feel is a bit more challenging? For some of us, we don't like running Hills. So run some Hills.

It doesn't mean you have to jump into them a hundred percent. You can gradually work on that because it's going to benefit you doing some things that make us work a little bit harder, um, it's going to help.

The same thing with, working on our core, or doing some level of strength training or, being more mindful of our diet.

If those are areas of opportunity, areas of weakness by addressing them and having some progress that can also help lift us out of our running funk and improve our fitness mojo.

Number fourteen: understanding how live stress can directly impact energy motivation, especially with work stress.

I mean, we all have a lot going on, but if we allow that to consume us and the level of self doubt starts to creep in, it can give us even more reason to say, you know what? I got so much going on.

I don't want to get to the gym. I don't want to get on the Peloton. I don't want to jump on the treadmill. I don't want to have a salad versus fried chicken. I don't want to get up at five in the morning and go meet the running group or my accountability buddy. I don't want to get outside and walk the dog.

Stress can really stifle your energy. So if you. I have already put it on your calendar. Just realize that a nice antidote to stress is physical activity and ultimately you'll feel more guilty by not getting out versus you getting in a workout and it kicking your butt, but you feel good that you at least got it done.

Number fourteen: the power of visualization.

I love this. The mind is a powerful thing. So allow yourself to go to your happy space, your happy place, and visualize hitting that long sought after PR or achieving a new milestone distance, perhaps your very first marathon or your very first 50 K that's not a dream that can happen.

It will happen but it will happen with work. It's within your reach. So remember your hard work will pay off, but first you must put in the work.

And finally, number fifteen: if you need a little bit of help hire a coach.

There are a lot of fantastic options out there on online coaches, local coaches. We can help you here at RaceMob.

We have a lot of people that we work with as well, that's not working with me directly. We have some fantastic individuals like, coach arena, Coach Jake. , Coach J coach Bree, a lot of people that are our partners that are looking to help you be a healthier and happier version of yourself.

If you have tips that have helped you get out of your running rut, please share with us.

We certainly appreciate your support and please let us know what topics interest you so we can expand upon them in future RaceMob podcast episodes.

Visit us at RaceMob dot com for more tips and great resources to help you level up your fitness and to hear more about being a Mob Squad Ambassador.

Until next time, keep on moving.