Coopah How To: Stay Motivated During Marathon Training
I am going to let you into a little secret, nobody is motivated 100% of the time.
Marathon training is one of the most rewarding things you can ever do (in my humble opinion anyway) but it can be tough, and there will be days where you might struggle to find the motivation to get out of the door. And let's be honest, at this time of the year it isn’t always easy to lace up your shoes and go for a run - it’s dark, it’s cold and there will be days that staying snuggled up on the sofa with a blanket will be a lot more tempting, and that's okay. But this marathon isn’t going to run itself so if you can put some things in place to help you on those hard days, it will make the experience a lot more enjoyable and not only that, you will reap the benefits on event day too.
Thankfully for all of you, I have trained for a lot of marathons over the years, and have also had my fair share of ups and downs, so here are some of the things I have found helpful when motivation is low.
Running With Others
Sometimes the best way to stay motivated is to get others involved in your training. If you promise to run with a friend it can be a lot easier to get yourself out of the door and get the miles in. Plus time always goes a bit quicker when you are chatting away and not focusing on your watch. And also, don’t forget to plan that post run coffee and pastry (refuelling is very important remember.)
But I get it, sometimes it may not always be possible to run with others, but here are some other things you can try if you need that extra boost;
Plan a virtual run with a friend and give them a call whilst you are both running.
If you have a young child, go for a buggy run and get your family involved in your training.
Set up a lunch run club at your office and get your colleagues involved (it also means you have another excuse to talk about running 😉)
Switch Up Your Route
We can all be guilty of just running around areas we know, but when you are marathon training it can get a bit tedious running the same routes over and over again. Use this time to explore your local area and find some new routes, it will help to keep your run interesting and will hopefully make the miles go by quicker as you are taking in your new surroundings. If you do decide to run in a new area, there are a few things you can do to keep safe
Always make sure you tell someone where you are going and what time you will be back.
Switch on ‘Find my friends’ or tracking on your phone.
Always take your phone and make sure it is fully charged.
Plan your route using Strava/Garmin route planner.
Make sure you take enough water & fuel with you.
Make sure you have your card or money with you incase you need to get public transport/taxi.
Remember Your Why
Everyone will have their own reason for running the marathon – a bucket list event you want to tick off, maybe aiming for a PB (personal best) or perhaps you are fundraising for a charity that is close to your heart. Whatever your reason, always go back to this to remind yourself of why you are doing it.
I always say that marathon training is as much of a mental challenge as well as a physical, and although it may sound simple, sometimes just taking a step back and reminding yourself of why you are training for the event is a great way to keep you motivated and get you out of the door.
For example, if you are raising money for your chosen charity, you could commit to sharing your training trains on your fundraising page to encourage people to donate, so potentially every run you get out on could result in you raising more money, which makes it a win win situation.
Prioritise Rest & Recovery
This may not seem like an obvious one, but if you aren’t making sure you are getting enough rest (this includes sleep and rest days), fuelling well enough and even drinking enough water this can have a really negative impact on your training.
If you are always feeling tired, or really struggling to get yourself out for a run, it could be a sign that you are overdoing it and your body needs more rest. It is important to remember that your rest days are just as important as all your other training days, so make sure you respect that and schedule in at least one full rest day per week to allow your body to adapt to your training, and then hopefully you will feel like you want to go for a run, rather than feeling like you have to.
Follow A Coopah Plan
And my final, and perhaps most important point, is that if you really want a sure fire way to keep you motivated throughout your training, then follow a personalised training plan on Coopah.
Coopah takes away all of the guesswork –we will tell you when to run, how often to run and give you the right workouts to ensure you doing everything you need to hit your goals, whatever they may be. So the only thing you need to worry about, is the actual running.
With Coopah you are able to track your progress throughout your plan – whether that's building up your run streak, seeing your pace improve or hitting your mileage targets. All of which are there to help keep you motivated and on track.
But we also understand that sometimes we all need that extra level of support, which is why we offer 24/7 support from our qualified team of coaches on the app, who are on hand to answer any questions you may have, or perhaps even just give you that friendly nudge to get out of the door (which we all need sometimes).
Download the app and use the code CLASSOF25 to start your personalised marathon training plan today.
I hope you found these tips useful, and I know for a fact I will certainly be reminding myself of these over the coming weeks if things start to feel tough.
But on that note, whilst motivation is high, I am going to head out for a run right now and tick off another one of my Coopah training sessions.
Coach Jordan x