Ever since having Thing 2 I've been mentally ready to go chase down some big fat juicy running goals. However, the spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak: I can't even seem to get back to running consistently, never mind train for anything. Work has been crazy, baby has been sniffly, and I don't like running on lunch break because it seems to affect my pumping output (formula is great, after 6 months it's just another food, but I want to give baby as much breastmilk as possible for the immune benefits). Last week when I sprained my ankle and had to sit indoors on the spin bike in otherwise perfect running weather, it felt like the final straw.
I see people all over the place hopping back into running 6 or 7 months after having babies, and I'm thinking: what's wrong with me? Am I just not disciplined enough? Do I just not want it enough?
I don't really have a good excuse. The baby, when she's not congested or teething, is a pretty good sleeper. I know how important it is to be consistent so that when I'm ready to actually start training, I can just jump right in. 'Training to train', if you will. But also, the thing I love most about running - being able to run outdoors - I can't do on weekdays before evening at the moment. So a lot of my runs are at 10pm on the treadmill and I'm like, I am finding zero joy in this, what even is the point? I'm not shooting for any PRs right now, let alone actual running goals like qualifying for Boston*.
*also with the way that qualifying times are going, if I keep getting faster at my current pace and the times get tightened at their current pace, the two will converge and I'll line up in Hopkinton in roughly 15-25 years, which is so ridiculous I can't believe I'm even typing this or admitting that I would like to run Boston someday.
I don't really have a good answer to this. If I sign up for something and try to follow an actual training plan, chances are I wouldn't be able to actually follow the plan more than 50% of the time, and I'd get frustrated and fed up. Let's face it, my training-plan compliance is about 85% in a good cycle. In the business-as-usual scenario, I'll keep doing these short sporadic runs I don't enjoy, and get frustrated and fed up with my own lack of consistency. What would you do? What tweaks would you make to my systems?
