I ended up taking a rest today to try and let my body get its act together. Hopefully an extra rest day will help me feel less tired. In the meantime, I came across this article on the Brooks Running blog. It talks about five ways to “reboot” your running resolutions. Now I didn’t actually make any resolutions related to running (or any resolutions, period), but some of these points still apply to how things have been for me lately. I think the article was specifically geared towards someone who made a resolution to start running, but it really does apply to long-time and new runners.
Funny they should mention taking a look at your eating habits, because that’s exactly what I said I needed to do yesterday. Ironically I had not come across this article before yesterday’s post. I’m definitely going to be paying more attention to what I eat and how it makes me feel in regards to my running.
This is the other tip out of the five that directly applies to how I’ve been feeling lately. Their advice to keep a running journal is something I already do, and have been doing since I started running in 2007. Thanks to Team in Training for staring me off right with a Runner’s World training log. I have continued to use this same log over the past 5 years and I have all of my old logs. I really enjoy going back to look at past runs and training cycles. It really gives you a good picture of what works and what doesn’t in terms of how you are training, the amount of mileage you’re doing, etc. I will probably always continue to keep a hand written running log because it works for me and I look forward to writing in them when I complete a run.
In addition to keeping a running log, I think it’s important to try and make at least one of your weekday runs have a specific purpose. You could make it a progressive run, do fartleks during the run, purposefully run a hilly route, or maybe run a negative split. I have a bad habit of just going out and running the same speed each day (or whatever speed I feel like that day) just to get the miles in. This is something I need to work on. I’m going to try and incorporate a run with a “specific purpose” in at least one of my three week day runs.
What resolutions did you make for the new year?
Do you keep a running log? If so, what type?
Do you have a habit of running just to run? Or do you make sure your runs have a specific purpose?
Turkey Runner 
This post was something I needed. I’m training for my first-ever marathon (this was a year of firsts… first 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Triathlon, Marathon) and I’m feeling a little tired of the routine. I need to spruce it up and expect more of myself athletically (adding speed workouts, strength training, fartleks, etc.) when I train for my next race. Apparently this whole “running thing” isn’t a bucket-list thing for me, but something I want to continue to do and to improve upon as time passes.
That’s a lot of firsts! It sounds like you’ve caught the running bug. Good luck with your marathon training!! Running can definitely get monotonous at times, and adding something in to spruce it up will help.