Funk-Busting 101

My most recent marathon was the Rock 'n Roll in San Diego in early June. Normally after a marathon there is a two or three week period where I cut the mileage way back, let my body recuperate, and after a couple of weeks I am raring to go again. Not this time. I am burned out.

The way it usually works is I put on my running gear after I get in from work/school/whatever and just take off. I've been looking forward to it all day, just getting away for an hour or so, and it takes little to no effort to get going. That's not to say there aren't bad days, because there definitely are. The legs feel heavy, the weather isn't pretty, and for whatever reason, I'm not really looking forward to it. But I throw on my shorts and shoes, head out the door, and within a mile or two all is well. I'm in the zone, nice and relaxed, chewing up the miles.

But lately, it just hasn't been working for me. I dread running from the moment I lace up my shoes. Once out on the road, every step I take is a struggle. I've tried taking a couple of days off, but end up feeling even more miserable not running.

I've been in funks like this before, and eventually work my way out of them using one of several methods:

The old standby is simply changing the route, but I don't have many options where I am right now.

There's also the spontaneous running trick: do every run on the spur of the moment, unplanned in terms of time and length. This works on off days and weekends, but is kinda difficult to pull off when working regular hours.

Short runs twice a day can help break up the monotony, but require getting up earlier than I care to during the summer.

So I guess I'll just keep sucking it up until it eventually goes away. Once school gets going again, I'm sure I'll snap out of it, my after school runs 1L year being what really pushed me over the edge and made me the psycho runner that I am. But until then, I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it.