0 Beat The Cold Weather Blues - Staying Motivated in Winter

“It’s too cold.  It’s too wet.  It’s dark.  I’ll go tomorrow.  Maybe I’ll go to the gym tonight after work.  I just can’t be bothered.”

If you’re anything like me, this is the conversation that you have with yourself every morning when the colder weather sets in.  Every morning when the alarm goes off, I lay for a few moments in the dark and try to work up the motivation to get my body out of bed and out the door to train.  Summer is ok, as it’s light, warm and the birds are singing.  In the colder months, it’s usually pitch bIack, freezing and lonely.  I often hear of people who “bounce out of bed” in the morning with a smile on their face, excited to be up at some ungodly hour to put themselves through more punishment.  In winter, I am not one of these people. 

   

These are some of the tricks that I use to ensure that I get my training done on those cold, dark mornings:

• ·     Get enough sleep.  If you are getting up at 5 or 6am, make sure you are in bed early enough that you feel rested in the morning when your alarm goes off.

• ·     Never, EVER, EVER, EVER hit snooze.  If you don’t get up straight away, it won’t happen.

• ·     Prepare the night before.  I have my clothes, shoes and any other gear I’ll need laid out ready to    go.  I roll out of bed and get dressed before I can talk myself out of it.

• ·    Have a hot coffee as soon as you wake up.  The warmth and the caffeine will make your life a little bit better.

• ·   Arrange to train with a friend.  It’s a lot harder to make excuses when you’ve got someone else waiting for you.

• ·    Set weekly goals.  Giving yourself a weekly mileage target to hit is a really powerful way to motivate yourself.

There’s no doubt that training in cold weather is nowhere near as fun as the summer months, but you can use this time to build a great summer body, improve your base fitness and set yourself up for a fantastic racing season.  One real positive is the uncrowded running trails and bike paths that would normally be clogged with joggers and people dawdling along.  If you run or ride to work, you will find your commute times come down as you don’t have to slow down for as many people on the way to work.

Remember, you’ve worked hard over the summer to get your fitness to its current level.  Don’t waste all that effort.  Get into a routine and stick with it.  The winter work you do will pay massive dividends when it comes to those first couple of races, or just putting on your bathing suit for the first time when summer rolls around again.