Getting out of a Slump - Why Don't I Want to Run?

I stated in an earlier post that I wanted to run Pine Creek Challenge 100 miles in September and I also had in mind One Day 24 Hour in November.

My plan changed after my "quit early" performance in the 24 hour race at 3 Days at the Fair (3DATF) in May 2019.  I don't think I know how to explain what has happened, but I am pretty sure it was more in my mind than anywhere else.

During 3DATF I became uninterested in continuing the race.  I was physically uncomfortable sooner than I had expected even though my body was working OK and my miles were adding up well enough.  But I didn't try much to correct this problem; I simply gave it some time to go away.  When my motivation problem didn't go away and my discomfort remained, I just decided to drop out.  I had completed 45 miles, about 20 miles of which were recorded during my period of deciding whether to continue for the entire 24 hours.  I just quit and went to sleep.

The "I don't feel like it" attitude was a new one for me and it shook my commitment to training for other long events.  Without this commitment I decided not to register for any race until I had gotten back my "want to".  And my training dropped off to less than half the running than needed to prepare for even a marathon.  Many weeks I managed only 2 runs. 

A puzzling thing for me has been that at the beginning of the day my motivation was weakest.  But by late morning and continuing through the end of the day, I felt like I wanted to train for and enter races.  At bedtime each day I would set my alarm to get up early and run.  By morning I was again feeling more like sleeping than running.  If I didn't have arrangements to meet friends to run, I usually reset my alarm and slept later.  I have hoped to run some local races where I would see friends who are still in the game.  In particular, a July 4th 5k and a 5 mile race a month later fell to the wayside just like most of my planned morning runs.

I have been more achy and was breathing harder in training runs, but that seems normal considering my sporadic, low mileage training.  I wondered if some physical issue was to blame.

Finally, I think I am coming out of this slump.  The run enthusiasm of local friends is rubbing off on me.  I am wanting to be a disciplined and committed runner.  I am back to thinking about the races I can prepare for later in the year.  In the previous 2 weeks I have run 11 of 14 days.  I have done a speed work session in each of these past 2 weeks.  And I ran again today.

It seems to come down to the popular saying:

         There is no try, only DO or DON'T DO

 I am ready to DO.