Shifting Gears and Staying Motivated

November 1, 2011 By Leanne Vogel July 13, 2015

November is upon us! I’ve become interested in sleeping away the afternoon, indulging in homemade chocolate chip cookies, and parking myself on the couch for the whole weekend. Needless to say, my motivation has chosen to go into hibernation.

It all started about a month ago. I began battling with knee issues, forced rest days, and in the end, was given a recommendation to discontinue long distance running until the spring. So, I did what anyone would do when they’re told to stop doing something that they love. I stopped everything active-like and spent an entire week bumming around the house feeling sorry for myself and being downright negative. But feeling sorry for yourself has some major drawbacks, one being that you’re not too fun to be around. I’m pretty sure even Lexy was avoiding me for a couple of days there. After a week of self pity, enough was enough. I knew I had to snap out of it and decided to look to my past successes to push forward.

Completing my first half marathon in August was one of my biggest successes, and the greatest gift I’ve ever given myself. During the race I found a sense of pride, strength, and confidence in myself that I’ve never experienced. Knowing that I had this power in me, and that I had done this before, was just the ticket I needed to get back on track. When did you experience your power? How have you made it work for you? Understanding first hand that it’s good to set my heart after something, I came up with a list of goals…

build strength
regain confidence
try something new
challenge myself
be part of something bigger than myself
make myself accountable for my progress

and then tried to figure out how I was going to accomplish them. 3 days later, I was nervously standing in a huge warehouse looking gym preparing for my first CrossFit class.

[source] What’s CrossFit? Wikipedia says it best:

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning brand that combines weightlifting, sprinting, gymnastics, powerlifting, kettlebell training, plyometrics, rowing, and medicine ball training. CrossFit contends that a healthy, fit person requires proficiency in each of ten general physical skills: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy.

The first session was intense. It was a raw, unadulterated, as hard as your little heart will go, workout. The intensity during the first 10 minutes of the session was higher than anything I’d ever experienced! The second, third, forth, and fifth sessions have been just as amazing. Everything is challenging, I’m already seeing progress, and there are so many things I can improve on. I’m confident that shifting gears was exactly what I needed to get excited about my health goals again. So, here’s how I’ll be adding the sessions into my weekly routine –

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
AM	Spin class 10 minute run	Body rock Vinyasa yoga	Spin class 10 minute run	10min row, 30min elliptical, 40min strength	OFF	Crossfit	Spin class
PM		Crossfit	Body rock	Body rock			Body rock

Although there isn’t a lot of running, I’m hopeful that each exercise will help to build my body for a great 2012 running season. And who knows, maybe this will lead me to something I like even more than running! How do you build your motivation?

This entry was tagged: crossfit