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.