How to stay motivated to run in the long term?

Running is the ultimate accessible sport. You can run near home or while traveling, in all seasons, alone or in a group. A pair of shorts, a T-shirt, shoes and off you go. Nothing could be easier. However, in the long run, after months of training or years of practice, motivation can be lacking. Balancing family life, professional life and sports life is not always easy. The appearance of an injury can also be a blow to morale. So how can you stay motivated over time?

Here are some tips to make the pleasure last as long as possible:

1. Encourage variety

The first piece of advice is to encourage variety in all its forms: variety in goals (10K, half marathon, marathon, short trail, long trail… maybe even a triathlon or a swim-run), variety in training, variety in environments (in a park, by a river, lake or sea, in the forest, in the countryside, in the mountains, etc.) and going out alone or with others... Variety helps combat monotony, which can gradually give way to weariness. Variety is also possible in running when you travel, since it is a unique opportunity to discover new routes.

2. Stay flexible in your training

The second tip after variety is flexibility. Flexibility in organizing each week of training is key to being able to reconcile family life, professional life and sports life. Most training apps allow you to change the order or day of each training session if necessary. Don't hesitate to use this feature and reorganize a week to take into account other requirements or unpredictable weather.

3. Vary the routes

Varying your routes is a great way to avoid the monotony of training. The great advantage of running is clearly that this sport can be practiced almost anywhere and all year round. Bringing your running shoes on a business trip or during a weekend at a friend's house is an opportunity to go running in new places, on new routes. Running interval sessions on an athletics track, going around a small lake for a recovery session, discovering a small forest, the possibilities are endless. Conversely, always and only doing the same route near home is not recommended so as not to get too bored.

4. Run in a group from time to time

Group running is often very nice. Be careful to stay in groups of fairly homogeneous levels so as not to make the sessions too demanding or exhausting for some. A recovery outing or a long outing are ideal sessions for several people since they are done at moderate paces where you should be able to run and talk at the same time. Even a speed session on an athletics track can be done very well with several people. It creates a bit of emulation and can help when the sessions are a bit stinging.

5. Diversify sports practices

Cycling, swimming, yoga, rowing, even cross-country skiing or ski touring in winter… so many physical activities that perfectly complement running. You should definitely not hesitate to vary your sporting pleasures. Doing one of these activities at least once a week in addition to running sessions is ideal for breaking the routine. Practicing 'weight-bearing' sports like cycling or swimming and activating other muscle groups is also excellent for preserving joints and having balanced muscles.

6. Take breaks

Don't hesitate to plan one or two weeks of sports break for example every 6 months. It allows you to regenerate physically and psychologically. If you finish a fairly long training program for a demanding race like a marathon or a long trail (or a long distance triathlon), the week after the race, take the opportunity to take a total break, to get a massage and perhaps to eat what you like but is normally not very recommended. I still remember a delicious burger in Amsterdam the day after the Amsterdam marathon.

7. Plan fun sessions

Pleasure sessions are outings at a moderate pace with a little extra pleasure, such as a superb viewpoint at the top of a hill, the spectacle of a beautiful sunrise or a little dip at the end of the session in the sea or a lake. It is not always easy to plan such sessions depending on where you live and the weather. But if you have the opportunity, you absolutely have to know how to enjoy these little pleasures that make these sessions a little out of the ordinary and perk us up.

8. Listen to music or podcasts

Music is a valuable ally in life. It transports us, motivates us, gives us rhythm. When running, it can help us reduce the feeling of fatigue. It arouses positive emotions and stimulates the release of dopamine or serotonin, which are associated with feelings of pleasure and well-being. However, be careful to always remain vigilant and to be able to constantly hear the outside environment, especially near roads or paths used by cars, motorcycles or bicycles.

9. Meditate during low intensity sessions

Sometimes during sessions that are not too demanding, we manage to enter a zone where the effort is sustainable over time and where the mind begins to wander. We get lost in our thoughts and sometimes new ideas arise. It is close to a form of meditation combined with moderate physical effort. We almost surprise ourselves by being dreaming when we are not only perfectly awake but also running. These are moments that can be both regenerative and sources of inspiration.

10. Take care of yourself and your body

This last piece of advice is the most important and it goes beyond just running. You have to know how to take care of yourself and your body, train it, develop it, make it more efficient while giving it time to regenerate, recover and adapt. You have to listen to it if signs of unusual fatigue appear and adapt your training pace. If an injury occurs, it is important to accept it and treat it with enough patience for a complete recovery. Taking care of yourself and your body over time is the guarantee of being able to maintain good physical condition with almost no age limit.