Losing My Way Without Running

What’s happened is what happens every time I have a break from running. I throw my energy (and time) into everything (and nothing).

Sep 18, 2023

I’m in my fifth week of dealing with my running injury, likely a stress fracture in my tibia. I tried a test run yesterday (2min jog, 2min walk), which lasted one minute before I felt pain in my shin 😓. I was smart enough to stop and not continue to “see if it gets any worse”. We’ve all been there!

The Disruption of Routine

Over the last few years, running has been a staple of my life. I love running, and my day typically revolves around my run. I’ll have my weekly training plan and structure everything around that to ensure I can complete my training and still have enough energy for family and work. Over the last few weeks, I haven’t had running to set the foundation for my week. I haven’t had a training plan at all. What’s happened is the organisation of my days and weeks has been all over the place because I haven’t had the consistent baseline that running has typically provided me. It certainly hasn’t helped that we’ve been setting up a new AirBnB, dealing with Emma’s surgery (read below), and I’ve been working on a new exclusive membership with TrainingPeaks (coming soon 😉). What’s happened is what happens every time I have a break from running. I throw my energy (and time) into everything. That leaves me with little energy or motivation for cross-training, which leaves me feeling a bit shit because motion is the lotion of my life.

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The Challenge for "Type-A" Individuals

At this point, I don’t enjoy swimming, cycling, and MTB as much as I love to run. My short and long-term athletic goals revolve around running, so I don’t have the same drive and motivation to get out and train because I’m simply training to stay fit or not get fat. For me, that isn’t why I exercise. I train to find my physical potential. Without a goal or a plan, I’ve ended up throwing my energy away. I’m sure you can relate because I see this all the time in the client demographic I deal with. High-achieving “type-A” personalities who go all in on everything. If these people don’t have a plan or a goal, they will spend all their energy aimlessly trying to “be better”, typically by doing more—more work, training, diet, travel, and LESS sleep.

From a coaching perspective, adding structure and accountability to their week with a training plan gives them more energy for the other things in their life.

I Need to Make a Plan.

After my failed attempt to rebuild my running yesterday, I will need another week off running, so I need to figure out a new short-term goal to help me build a training plan and bring the structure back to my life—the same for my business. If I don’t have a clear plan for my goal, I spend my energy on everything and nothing. More on that below.

YouTube!

On the business front, I need to keep the ball rolling with my YouTube channel because I’ve taken a massive step up in the algorithm over the last month, gaining a heap of subscribers, over 30,000 views, AND nearly $300nzd 🤑. I’ve noticed a direct and significant correlation between YouTube views and client inquiries, which is nuts. Now that my coaching roster is full, I’m hoping to grow and develop my training unlimited membership so I can coach and support a large number of people rather than a select few. I have tried many iterations of a “membership” model, and the trap has been offering too much of my time for too low a cost. I think (hope 🤞) the partnership with TrainingPeaks will provide a solution to this issue. If the business stuff piques your interest, you should listen to the podcast I did last week with Ryan O’Connor (no relation) from Stag Roar.