Last week I had a string of three days of going into my training sessions feeling energized, positive and excited to train, but when it came to the workout itself, I felt blah. Thankfully, I got out of my funk and followed it up with three quality, feel-great-days of training. Ups and downs are part of training so it would be a mistake to assume that every workout needs to be amazingly awesome or easy to complete.
As an athlete, it's assumed that you have high expectations for yourself and you probably want to do well (or impress your coach) every time that you train. But you need to realistic that not all of your workouts will be great. Plus, you can't let a workout put you in a bad mood. Progress is not about always having perfect or great workouts. Many times, progress is not something that is felt on a day-to-day basis. As much as we want every workout to feel great or to go smoothly, that's not the case. Off days are part of being an athlete.
An off day or bad workout is bound to happen at least a handful of times each month. It would be a mistake to give up every time you don't feel good. Instead, remind yourself of that there is no such thing as a failed workout. Learn something from every workout. Could there be a reason why you are struggling or is it a planned and expected part of the training process?
Whenever you feel off, assess the situation with an open (and not overly critical) mind. What could be contributing to this session that is not going well? Hard previous training sessions, poor sleep, stress at work, nutrition that has been off....by identifying the factors that could be contributing to your rough and tough training session, you can make adjustments so that the same issue doesn't happen again.
Knowing that you will often have to adjust your race day plan in order to reach the finish line, change your mindset so that you can still get something from the workout. Perhaps you forget about hitting a certain pace and focus only on good technique. Maybe you just celebrate the fact that you had the motivation to start the workout. Enjoy doing something with your body that helps you remove stress. If the workout just doesn't make sense to complete, even with adjustments, call it a day without guilt or judgement.
Lastly, keep a good attitude. As soon as you begin to give-in to your bad attitude or frustrating thoughts, you are no longer present in your workout and those thoughts may spiral out of control, into other non-related areas of your life. Accept that you are having an off day and that this one workout doesn't define you (or your future athletic success) as an athlete.
My good friend Dr. G (Gloria) once told me that training for an event is similar to building a house. Some days you will get a lot done whereas other days, you only have time (or energy) to put a few nails in the wall. Either way, you are still building the house. Above all, don't take the good, ok and great workouts for granted. Make sure to celebrate your small victories and always thank your body for what it allows you to do....even when you aren't feeling so great while training.