"A goal without a plan is just a wish"

Recently, I've been having a wobble with regards to my running. When I'm out there doing it, I still love it, but I've been lacking the motivation to get out there in the first place. Throughout March, my longest run has been 5km which is very unlike me not to run further, and I've been taking plenty of walk breaks which is also unlike me on shorter runs. I feel that my mojo for running is at an all time low and that I'm turning into a bit of a moaner about it.
It was recommended to me by a fellow runner to read 'Your Pace or Mine' by Lisa Jackson. I haven't completely finished it yet been it's been extremely helpful to me in trying to get my running mojo back. I've been doing lots of thinking and trying to figure out what's gone wrong recently. I've also turned to the Medal Mad running community via Facebook and Instagram to see if they have any advice to help me get it back. They've come up with the following:
- Run it like Forest would.- Just push yourself and get back out there.- Choose micro goals.- Make a plan to achieve your goals no matter how big or small.- Disregard distance and pace and just run for enjoyment.- Have a break from running and try other exercises for a while.- Run somewhere new.- Switch it up by trying different things e.g. sprints.- Run with a friend at an easy place and just chat.
@medalmomma, a fellow Medal Mad Ambassador said to me, "A goal without a plan is just a wish" and it really struck a chord with me. At the beginning of 2017, I made New Years Resolutions for my running and managed to achieve some of them. I haven't done that in 2018, so I'm going to set that straight now.
Last year, I focussed on increasing my distance to get to 13.1 miles and didn't really worry too much about pace. This year I thought I might work on my pace but I don't think it's in me to be much faster than my current pace. My pace hasn't really changed at all in the two years I've been running. I need to stop worrying about how fast I am and work on getting my distance back up again. I enjoy running distances that are longer than 5km so it shouldn't be too hard to build this back up.
My friend, Claire recently completed couch to 5km so we've done a couple of 5km runs together. We are planning on going out together at least once a week going forward. I love running with her as we just chat the whole time and I forget that I'm running at all. It definitely helps me to run with a friend. My younger sister is also home from university and said she'd get out with me too, so I think I'll take her up on her offer.
I will push myself to get back out there, so therefore, I need to up the amount of days that I get out for a run, which should be easier now the evenings are getting lighter. If I just planned to run for a mile, even on the days I didn't feel like it, it would be done in less than 12 minutes!
My overall goals for 2018 are to run the Great South Run in October in less than 2 hours and to run 500 miles in total throughout the year. I intend to make a plan for each month for the rest of this year and my plan for April is as follows:
- Run 60 miles. This is more than I've ever run in a month but still a challenge that I could achieve.- Get out twice a week with my friend Claire.- On the days that I don't feel like going, to go and do at least a mile!- To run further than 5km at least once a week.
I'll let you know how I get on...

Becky @medalmadmummy