Getting Back Into Working Out? Take It Easy On Yourself.

It's hard to be patient

I’m going through one of those times when it’s hard to get back into the groove of a routine I want to do. That routine for me is getting up in the morning and running and it’s been tough for me to make it happen.

A year or so ago this situation would have really taken a toll on me mentally. The mornings I wouldn’t run would consume my day and give me an excuse if I didn’t feel like doing something. “I didn’t get my run in this morning.” would become my catch-all for being irritable and for not getting as much stuff done during the day at work.

In situations like this I also used to go to my backup plan of not getting my run in — drinking more caffeine. That would give me a temporary fix of the natural energy that running usually provided but it didn’t last long and I would end up drinking more and running less. Not good (which is why I quit).

Now I have a much more easy going attitude toward getting back into my morning running groove. I look at it with more patience and less pressure on myself in bouncing back into where I was before I got off track. For instance, I was out of town for most of March and even though I got some runs in here and there I was totally thrown off my normal schedule.

Now that I’ve been back for a couple weeks I’m starting to get back to where I was but I know it’s going to take at least a month to get back to running consistently. My entire schedule was thrown off and I’m staying up much later which means I’m not getting up earlier and not running. But, little by little I’m getting back there and it’s going to happen, I just need to keep chipping away at it.

So on one hand I want to always be running in the mornings and doing it consistently. Deep down it’s what I love to do and it gets me ready for the 60+ hour workweek I put myself through on a regular basis. But I also need to cut myself some slack when I know I need some time to get back to where I want to be.

Running and working out consistently is a mental game more than anything and the last thing I want to do is go through unneeded and self-inflicted mental pain while on my way to physical gain. I just keep moving forward and soon enough I’ll get to where I need to be once my mind, body and schedule is ready. So take it easy, you’ll get there.

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