Skip to content
WE ARE DAYBREAK
  • shop
  • coaching
    • TRAINING PLANS
    • 121 + GROUP SESSIONS
    • BEACON
  • MEET THE TEAM
    • COACHES
    • COMMUNITY
  • words on life
WE ARE ONLINE

Finding motivation

  • 23rd March 20203rd January 2021
  • by ClaudiS

Finding motivation when the going gets tough

Words by Fiona.

Motivation is a funny thing. It seems to come and go like the wind and I tend to find I’m motivated at really useless times (think 11pm at night I’m dreaming of that long run or stuck at my desk I’m fantasising about a core workout I want to nail).

Home working can be tough and being constricted by external limitations can really cause motivation to run away scared. Here are some tips of how to stay motivated when times get tough:

1 Plan

Sit down at the start of week and make a plan of when you’re going to workout and what you are hoping to do. Planning in advance helps you prioritise the time and forces you to think through when things won’t work (planning a 3 hour long run the same day as you’re due to be working a long day – probably unrealistic).

As well as simply planning I really recommend you write it down – this makes it more likely to happen. Personally I use a journal and go old-school but you could do this online or on a calendar app if that works better for you.

2 Be Accountable

Community is so useful in helping us get through the hard sessions. I also have found my running transformed since being coached by someone as this has enabled me be accountable for the sessions I’m going to attempt and how they did or didn’t go.

Text a friend and ask if they fancy doing a session with you remotely this week – you could both commit to doing an interval session on Tuesday say or to doing the Tempo Thursday set. Check in with that person afterwards, share what you found hard and what you’re proud of for yourself for.

Accountability is such a powerful tool in helping get a session in when motivation is waning.

3 Find Positive Inspiration

Inspiration is everywhere around us from those we find positive influences on social media (note positive influences: if they’re not uplifting – unfollow!) to stories you can read from heroes of the running community (now is a great time to read that book you’ve always wanted to) through to documentaries and short films and of course from those around us. I particularly find the people in my everyday life really inspire me: the colleague who did her first 5km run in the park yesterday, my parents getting out for a daily walk, my We Are Daybreak friends committing to their workouts and finding strength and resilience.

Channel that positivity and let it fuel your workout.

4 If you’re struggling

Sometimes life can be quite overwhelming. At times when I’ve been really struggling I’ve committed to the simple tool of completing three things a day. Just three things. When I’ve been in a really tough place that might be as simple as shower, eat one proper meal and get outside once today. When I’m doing well it might be bigger things: laundry, a running session, pay that nagging bill. Write it down. Celebrate each thing you complete but remember if things are tough that you can do small things. Sticking to just three helps keep it manageable and gives you create a positive outlook to approaching tasks throughout the rest of the week.

5 Set goals

My recent coaching qualifications focused on the importance of goal setting but not perhaps in the way that social media has led us to believe. Firstly don’t worry about medals or even times. And while it’s great to have something big to aim for (I’ve been working towards a race in August for over a year now), it is also really important that we set bitesized smaller goals and review our progress. So try setting a fitness based goal of where you would like to be in 8 weeks time and then benchmark your current ability. That could be improving your balance by 20% (try standing on one leg with your eyes shut and time yourself). Or how about improving your core strength through completing regular strength training (try holding a plank for as long as you can).

Goals don’t need to be about races or medals and smaller fitness goals will have long term impacts on your running that you will reap for years to come.

6 The ‘zero to hero’ fallacy

With so many opportunities to take part in exercise at the minute don’t overcommit and try and do everything. What does your current average week of exercising look like? We would always encourage that you don’t step up by more than 20% in a week so that might mean if you regularly take part in 5 running sessions a week adding in an additional yoga class. Start slowly and remember that the phrase ‘zero to hero’ is a lie. Zero to “Ouch what is that sharp pain?!” more like. There is power in rest days. Since I’ve introduced two rest days a week, I’ve got 15 minutes faster at the marathon. Fifteen minutes. Just by resting! Get stronger, stay fit and sane yet move mindfully and allow your body time to recover.

Finally: remember the power of the simple things. Eat mindfully, get some time outdoors, reduce your screen time, exercise, call your friends and family, don’t overdo the caffeine.

Follow Fiona

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY ONLINE
AND GET INSPIRED!

#WEAREONLINE #DAYBREAKNOTOUTBREAK

WE ARE ONLINE

Join our sessions

  • 19th March 20203rd January 2021
  • by ClaudiS

WE ARE ONLINE
– how to access session content and community support, helping you to get through various lockdowns and local restrictions during the pandemic:

Head over to our FACEBOOK Community group

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY ONLINE
AND GET INSPIRED!

#WEAREONLINE #DAYBREAKNOTOUTBREAK

Tap into what our team has been up to on INSTAGRAM and our STORIES, where we share snippets and community content too. Why not join our STRAVA group so share workouts, see leaderboards, join our segment challenges? You can also access video content, technique sessions and strength & conditioning workouts via our YOUTUBE channel. We’ll be adding more week by week, sometimes day by day!

Are you ready? Let’s go!

WE ARE ONLINE

WE ARE ONLINE

  • 16th March 20203rd January 2021
  • by ClaudiS

WE ARE ONLINE

In light of the recent pandemic COVID19 / CoronaVirus –

Until further notice we are pausing our weekly sessions and special events, effectively from March 16th 2020.

The Government has today issued updated guidance for clubs, businesses and individuals to:

  1. avoid any unnecessary and non-essential social contact or gatherings – big or small, the size doesn’t matter.
  2. avoid all unnecessary travel, with work from home recommended wherever possible.
  3. London is further along the pandemic curve, and should expect further preventative steps in the near future to reduce the risk of contracting and spreading the virus.
  4. For more information or if you have concerns, please go to: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Therefore, it is our collective responsibility to our community and fellow Londoners (and beyond) to take these critical steps, however much it saddens us to do so!

However, we are still allowed outside as individuals! 🍃 We have started working on an online programme ‘WE ARE ONLINE‘ for you last week and will help you to keep active and get outside. We aim to keep you all connected, and we will continue to support each other as we always do, even if that is solely online for the time being.

We further encourage you to follow the latest Government advice, which includes exercising individually to avoid non-essential social contact and be prepared for the advice to evolve, particularly in London.

We understand this is not going to be easy but we are a strong and dynamic community, so let’s keep our channels open. Share your sessions, share your learnings, share your questions, also share your challenges. Speak up if you struggle – we are as much about your emotional and mental wellbeing as we are about your physical conditioning.

The trails remain and we will run further and farther together when the situation improves. Watch this space. And wash your hands!

Much love and light from your DB Team x

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY ONLINE
AND GET INSPIRED!

#WEAREONLINE #DAYBREAKNOTOUTBREAK

I’M LOOKING FOR…

FROM THE ARCHIVES

QUICK LINKS

  • ABC OF LIFE
  • ADVENTURE
  • COLLABORATIONS
  • COMMUNITY
  • GOALS
  • IN THE PRESS
  • INSPIRATION
  • KNOWLEDGE
  • LIFESTYLE
  • MEDIA
  • MOTIVATION
  • NEWS
  • PR
  • SAILING
  • SCOTLAND
  • TALES FROM THE TRAILS
  • THOUGHTS ON LIFE
  • TRAIL RUNNING
  • TRAINING TIPS
  • WE ARE ONLINE
  • WE ARE TRAIL
2023 © We are Daybreak
Theme by Colorlib Powered by WordPress
  • Instagram
  • Facebook group
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Strava