I cannot believe it is August! This summer has flown by, but not without a lot of adventures and some awesome workouts. I am still on the road to recovery from injuries that I believe are all tied to childbirth and pregnancy. After months of hard work, my core is stronger, my groin muscle is rehabed, things are getting better in the running department, but needless to say running is not my favorite workout endeavor at the moment. I know, I know, this is a blog about running and I should be talking it up like it is the greatest thing ever, and it is, but something about 100 degree heat and hip pain and planter fasciitis and achilles pain has made me gravitate towards other sports as well, namely mountain biking. I still am getting runs in and am feeling closer and closer to being 100% again, but as of late, mountain biking has been my go-to fun workout.
Just as I was starting to feel as if I am ignoring the fact that I need to train for an October half marathon in Napa Valley (which I signed up more for the wine than the race) and subsequently feeling guilty about all of the biking I have been doing (instead of running), a friend asked me to do a mountain bike duathlon with her. I quickly agreed and in mid-September, will be competing in a race consisting of a 5K run, an 8-mile bike followed by another 5K run.
Suddenly I have a reason to do the sport I am most enjoying at the moment. Friday I went for a gorgeous mountain bike ride at lunch. Saturday I did my first brick in years, a 10-mile mountain bike ride followed by an almost three-mile run. Today, I went up to our local ski resort and did a new mountain bike trail with my dad. It was cooler up there, beautiful and fun to try out a new trail.
As I was riding along today, I pondered how signing up for the duathlon had immediately motivated me to mountain bike more and it struck me the importance of choosing goals that incorporate activities you enjoy doing.
Oftentimes, we choose goals because we think we SHOULD be doing something not because we actually WANT to be doing that something. When I am not motivated to run, I sign up for a running race. It doesn’t really make sense when you think about it.
Being the goal-oriented person I am, I will push myself towards whatever my goal of the moment is and while this is typically effective, it also causes me not to listen to what I really want to be doing at the moment. Therefore, I am learning, I need to choose my goals wisely and not give up what I currently enjoy most just to pursue a goal.
This duathlon, while a whim, is turning out to be the perfect goal for me at the moment. It is a great excuse/motivation to both mountain bike and continue my road to uninjured running once again.
I want to know from you, how do you choose your goals? What is your athletic goal of the moment?
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