#032 – Falling out of a routine is easy. Getting back in… …not so much. In this episode, I will share my personal story about how I recently fell out of my routine and 3 tips on how I am getting it back.
About your Inspire Virtual Runs Host
Richard Conner
Richard is a strategic marketing professional with experience in B2B marketing. Richard is the founder of Inspire Virtual Runs and is passionate about helping others reach their goals. He is a Connecticut native and is a husband, dad, writer, Star Wars fan, and of course – runner! Richard recently discovered obstacle course racing and has fully embraced this new obsession.
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Richard Conner 0:00
Welcome to Episode 32. I’ve been away for a little while, but I’m happy to say I’m back. I want to share a little bit about what’s been going on with me personally, as well as what’s been going on with Inspire Virtual Runs, and the podcast. Hope you enjoy.
Welcome to Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast, whether you are new to running or seasoned, get tips and the inspiration that you need to achieve your health and fitness goals. Now, here’s your host, Richard Conner.
Hi, everyone, Welcome to Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast. If you’re just tuning into the show, this is really a podcast to help others run or incorporate running as part of their fitness routine. And we do that by bringing on guests to share their running journeys, nutrition and fitness experts, as well as race organizers, whether they’re for virtual or live races, hopefully, again, to help inspire you and motivate you to run. And if you’ve been with us for a while, you’ve noticed that we’ve been a little absent for a little while and I just want to say thank you for sticking with us, and listening to the podcast. And I’d like to take this opportunity to just share a little bit about what’s been going on, and what to expect in the coming weeks and months.
So just a little bit of background on on my side, I, you know, just got caught up I think as many of us do with the with work and with home. And I just got into I just fell out of my routine to be quite honest and transparent. I had a great routine through the pandemic. Again, if you’ve been kind of following my personal journey, I did a 90 day winter running streak to to keep myself motivated and running when I didn’t feel comfortable going to the gym, did a lot of virtual races, again, to kind of have that goal to work towards to stay in shape. And just something happened over the summer where I just got distracted with with a lot of things that were going on. And coupled with that I had a new opportunity at my job where I moved into a new position. And within the last few weeks, which is super super exciting, but just really added more to my plate, and just the complexity of trying to balance work, and home and fitness and everything else that have going on. So it’s been a really tough time. But, you know, I don’t want to make a lot of excuses. Because even through all of that, I want everybody listening and others to really prioritize their health and fitness. And I myself, you know, I kind of failed over the last couple of months, I’ve been doing some things here in there, but not to the extent that I was before. And, you know, I just had to kind of make that decision to get back into my routine. And it’s been, it’s been really hard because again, pulled away in a lot of different directions. So that’s just a little bit about what’s been going on over the last few months. Or last couple of months, I should say, in terms of why we haven’t produced any any new episodes, which I really missed, I really miss talking to my guests, they’re really miss sharing information with the with the community. And I’m hoping that I can be more consistent going forward now that things have settled down a little bit. So that’s been what’s been going on with me, I’ll share with you, you know what’s happened to me over during that time, I can tell you that, as much as I had good intentions to get back into to really the fitness in the way that I was doing it before. It wasn’t until I just you know, realize, like, I’m not at the same level as it was before. And I’m really kind of losing a lot of the benefits that I got from from fitness, whether it’s physical, whether it’s mental, I was just really kind of losing it. And, you know, I just decided, you know, I got to draw a line in the sand and I’ll share with you some of the things that I did to get back in, you know, this may not necessarily work for everybody, but hopefully through my experience going through this, maybe this would will help you know, those of you who are listening.
So one of the things you know, I always talk about, like starting with your why and this is not novel and I know a lot of people talk about it, but really just starting with your why. And I started to remember that right I think I lost it over the last few weeks and I really wasn’t focused on it. But I wanted to to be healthy and fit for myself and my family is my why and I also want to challenge myself in different ways than I have in the past. And that’s really what fitness allows me to do whether it’s running, you know, regular road races or virtual races or obstacle course races, there really helps me do that. So I’ve been missing that I’ve been really missing that in my thinking about my why my whole schedule has been off. But that that’s number one. The The second thing is kind of setting that goal, and working towards it. And that may have been one of the reasons why I got off track, I didn’t have any races really scheduled, I didn’t really have any firm plans for what I was going to do for the balance of the year. And that allowed me to coast, quite honestly, and which is not where I wanted to be, I want to have a goal and I want to work towards it. And I want to be excited about it. And I have a plan. And I just didn’t have that. So outside of the Spartan Deka race that I ran probably about a month ago, which I’ll talk about, I really didn’t have anything mapped out for the balance of the year and had big goals this year. My, I wanted to run three road races, a 5k, 10k, and a half marathon and really improve my times for each of those. But you can’t do that overnight. Right? That takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of practice. And you have to have a good plan for it. So I had to jump back in. So what did I do? I just started signing up for races, I signed up for another Spartan Dekarace, which is happening in in mid September, which I’m really excited about. And then I started I signed up for a The Hartford marathon. Well, half marathon, here in Connecticut, which I’m also super excited about. So, you know, I’m not sure how things are gonna go with the pandemic, I think, you know, everybody’s trying to figure out how do we how do we live life this despite the pandemic, if it’s, but you know, if it’s in person, that’s great. If it’s virtual, that’s fine, too. I did my first half marathon virtual as well. So you know, we’ll see how things go. But the reason why I’m saying this is because I signed up for these races, that now I have this end goal, now I have something to work towards. And I can’t coast any longer, I really got to just get after it, get the plan and and get after it. So I can meet my own personal goals for for these races. Last year, my goal was to just complete a half marathon, never done it before, just wanted to be able to do it. And I did that, and I felt really, really good about it. Now I know I could do it. Now it’s about what can I do it better than I did before, can I run faster for the half marathon? Can I train a little bit differently for that? Well, I feel better during and afterwards. So these are the types of things that I’m thinking about as I’m as I’m preparing for it. And so that’s the second thing I did to really help me just kind of jumpstart. And then the third is around prioritization. You know, if you are trying to do a lot of different things, there are things that are always going to fall to the to the bottom right, the bottom of the pile, the things that are just, they’re just not going to get done. And I think that’s just natural. And it’s fine, right? If you have your key priorities that you’re really working on, that you’re focused on, you know, it’s fine, you’re not getting to to the other things. But for me for fitness is one of those key priorities. It was at the bottom of the pile, that wasn’t where it needed to be. And that was the third thing that I had to do, I had to say, Okay, you know what, I just got to bring that back up where it was before. And if there’s other things that are happening, maybe those got to fall to the bottom. And this is the area that I’m really going to focus on. So you know, what does that mean, in terms of priority, one thing is really scheduling the time to do it, which is probably one of the hardest things to do, especially if you work full time, you have a family, you have a lot of other commitments, it’s a really hard thing to do. But I realized, you know, over the last few weeks, you know, even along with the podcast that it doesn’t take that much time. But in my mind, it takes a lot of time that I didn’t really have at the moment, which really wasn’t true. I just wasn’t making that time and space to to do the podcast recordings or to do my runs. And that’s kind of what led me to where I am today. So just kind of making that time and the space for it. So, you know, that’s just a little bit about what’s been going on with me. And some of the key ways that I’ve tried to really restart and get back into not only producing podcast episodes and communicating with all of you and sharing the stories, but also my own personal fitness journey and getting back on track with that.
So what’s next? Well, for me, personally, my races. I have about five races I’m planning to do by the end of the year. Let’s see if I can get there at the moment. Two of them are scheduled and I’m signed up So that’s great, I got to figure out the other three. And that’s what I’m working towards. So personally, getting back into my routine. And getting back out there and getting into to these races, and for Inspire Virtual Runs podcast. I’m really, really excited about about what’s coming. So there’s a number of things that I’ve been working on in the background to refresh and kind of relaunch this Inspire Virtual Runs as well as the podcast. So I’m excited to share that with you in the coming weeks. And we have great guests that are that are coming on the show, I have recordings that I’ll that I’ll start to edit and share with you in the coming weeks. And we have a great lineup for for more guests and more stories, again, to help you inspire you and give you the tips and tools that you need for your fitness journey. So that’s really it. That’s what I wanted to share with you just short and sweet. Just want to say thank you again for for sticking with me and Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast. If you’re new, just want to, you know, say thank you for listening to this episode. Please subscribe. We’ve got a lot of great content that’s coming. If you haven’t heard any of the previous episodes, you know, take a moment and find something that interests you and take a listen to that. And yeah, with that, thanks again for listening. We’ll see you soon and have a great day.
Intro/Outro 11:25
That’s it for this episode of Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave a review. Also, be sure to click the subscribe button so you don’t miss an episode. Thanks for listening.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Episode 32. I’ve been away for a little while, but I’m happy to say I’m back. I want to share a little bit about what’s been going on with me personally, as well as what’s been going on with Inspire Virtual Runs, and the podcast. Hope you enjoy.
Welcome to Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast, whether you are new to running or seasoned, get tips and the inspiration that you need to achieve your health and fitness goals. Now, here’s your host, Richard Conner.
Hi, everyone, Welcome to Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast. If you’re just tuning into the show, this is really a podcast to help others run or incorporate running as part of their fitness routine. And we do that by bringing on guests to share their running journeys, nutrition and fitness experts, as well as race organizers, whether they’re for virtual or live races, hopefully, again, to help inspire you and motivate you to run. And if you’ve been with us for a while, you’ve noticed that we’ve been a little absent for a little while and I just want to say thank you for sticking with us, and listening to the podcast. And I’d like to take this opportunity to just share a little bit about what’s been going on, and what to expect in the coming weeks and months.
So just a little bit of background on on my side, I, you know, just got caught up I think as many of us do with the with work and with home. And I just got into I just fell out of my routine to be quite honest and transparent. I had a great routine through the pandemic. Again, if you’ve been kind of following my personal journey, I did a 90 day winter running streak to to keep myself motivated and running when I didn’t feel comfortable going to the gym, did a lot of virtual races, again, to kind of have that goal to work towards to stay in shape. And just something happened over the summer where I just got distracted with with a lot of things that were going on. And coupled with that I had a new opportunity at my job where I moved into a new position. And within the last few weeks, which is super super exciting, but just really added more to my plate, and just the complexity of trying to balance work, and home and fitness and everything else that have going on. So it’s been a really tough time. But, you know, I don’t want to make a lot of excuses. Because even through all of that, I want everybody listening and others to really prioritize their health and fitness. And I myself, you know, I kind of failed over the last couple of months, I’ve been doing some things here in there, but not to the extent that I was before. And, you know, I just had to kind of make that decision to get back into my routine. And it’s been, it’s been really hard because again, pulled away in a lot of different directions. So that’s just a little bit about what’s been going on over the last few months. Or last couple of months, I should say, in terms of why we haven’t produced any any new episodes, which I really missed, I really miss talking to my guests, they’re really miss sharing information with the with the community. And I’m hoping that I can be more consistent going forward now that things have settled down a little bit. So that’s been what’s been going on with me, I’ll share with you, you know what’s happened to me over during that time, I can tell you that, as much as I had good intentions to get back into to really the fitness in the way that I was doing it before. It wasn’t until I just you know, realize, like, I’m not at the same level as it was before. And I’m really kind of losing a lot of the benefits that I got from from fitness, whether it’s physical, whether it’s mental, I was just really kind of losing it. And, you know, I just decided, you know, I got to draw a line in the sand and I’ll share with you some of the things that I did to get back in, you know, this may not necessarily work for everybody, but hopefully through my experience going through this, maybe this would will help you know, those of you who are listening.
So one of the things you know, I always talk about, like starting with your why and this is not novel and I know a lot of people talk about it, but really just starting with your why. And I started to remember that right I think I lost it over the last few weeks and I really wasn’t focused on it. But I wanted to to be healthy and fit for myself and my family is my why and I also want to challenge myself in different ways than I have in the past. And that’s really what fitness allows me to do whether it’s running, you know, regular road races or virtual races or obstacle course races, there really helps me do that. So I’ve been missing that I’ve been really missing that in my thinking about my why my whole schedule has been off. But that that’s number one. The The second thing is kind of setting that goal, and working towards it. And that may have been one of the reasons why I got off track, I didn’t have any races really scheduled, I didn’t really have any firm plans for what I was going to do for the balance of the year. And that allowed me to coast, quite honestly, and which is not where I wanted to be, I want to have a goal and I want to work towards it. And I want to be excited about it. And I have a plan. And I just didn’t have that. So outside of the Spartan Deka race that I ran probably about a month ago, which I’ll talk about, I really didn’t have anything mapped out for the balance of the year and had big goals this year. My, I wanted to run three road races, a 5k, 10k, and a half marathon and really improve my times for each of those. But you can’t do that overnight. Right? That takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of practice. And you have to have a good plan for it. So I had to jump back in. So what did I do? I just started signing up for races, I signed up for another Spartan Dekarace, which is happening in in mid September, which I’m really excited about. And then I started I signed up for a The Hartford marathon. Well, half marathon, here in Connecticut, which I’m also super excited about. So, you know, I’m not sure how things are gonna go with the pandemic, I think, you know, everybody’s trying to figure out how do we how do we live life this despite the pandemic, if it’s, but you know, if it’s in person, that’s great. If it’s virtual, that’s fine, too. I did my first half marathon virtual as well. So you know, we’ll see how things go. But the reason why I’m saying this is because I signed up for these races, that now I have this end goal, now I have something to work towards. And I can’t coast any longer, I really got to just get after it, get the plan and and get after it. So I can meet my own personal goals for for these races. Last year, my goal was to just complete a half marathon, never done it before, just wanted to be able to do it. And I did that, and I felt really, really good about it. Now I know I could do it. Now it’s about what can I do it better than I did before, can I run faster for the half marathon? Can I train a little bit differently for that? Well, I feel better during and afterwards. So these are the types of things that I’m thinking about as I’m as I’m preparing for it. And so that’s the second thing I did to really help me just kind of jumpstart. And then the third is around prioritization. You know, if you are trying to do a lot of different things, there are things that are always going to fall to the to the bottom right, the bottom of the pile, the things that are just, they’re just not going to get done. And I think that’s just natural. And it’s fine, right? If you have your key priorities that you’re really working on, that you’re focused on, you know, it’s fine, you’re not getting to to the other things. But for me for fitness is one of those key priorities. It was at the bottom of the pile, that wasn’t where it needed to be. And that was the third thing that I had to do, I had to say, Okay, you know what, I just got to bring that back up where it was before. And if there’s other things that are happening, maybe those got to fall to the bottom. And this is the area that I’m really going to focus on. So you know, what does that mean, in terms of priority, one thing is really scheduling the time to do it, which is probably one of the hardest things to do, especially if you work full time, you have a family, you have a lot of other commitments, it’s a really hard thing to do. But I realized, you know, over the last few weeks, you know, even along with the podcast that it doesn’t take that much time. But in my mind, it takes a lot of time that I didn’t really have at the moment, which really wasn’t true. I just wasn’t making that time and space to to do the podcast recordings or to do my runs. And that’s kind of what led me to where I am today. So just kind of making that time and the space for it. So, you know, that’s just a little bit about what’s been going on with me. And some of the key ways that I’ve tried to really restart and get back into not only producing podcast episodes and communicating with all of you and sharing the stories, but also my own personal fitness journey and getting back on track with that.
So what’s next? Well, for me, personally, my races. I have about five races I’m planning to do by the end of the year. Let’s see if I can get there at the moment. Two of them are scheduled and I’m signed up So that’s great, I got to figure out the other three. And that’s what I’m working towards. So personally, getting back into my routine. And getting back out there and getting into to these races, and for Inspire Virtual Runs podcast. I’m really, really excited about about what’s coming. So there’s a number of things that I’ve been working on in the background to refresh and kind of relaunch this Inspire Virtual Runs as well as the podcast. So I’m excited to share that with you in the coming weeks. And we have great guests that are that are coming on the show, I have recordings that I’ll that I’ll start to edit and share with you in the coming weeks. And we have a great lineup for for more guests and more stories, again, to help you inspire you and give you the tips and tools that you need for your fitness journey. So that’s really it. That’s what I wanted to share with you just short and sweet. Just want to say thank you again for for sticking with me and Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast. If you’re new, just want to, you know, say thank you for listening to this episode. Please subscribe. We’ve got a lot of great content that’s coming. If you haven’t heard any of the previous episodes, you know, take a moment and find something that interests you and take a listen to that. And yeah, with that, thanks again for listening. We’ll see you soon and have a great day.
Intro/Outro 11:25
That’s it for this episode of Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave a review. Also, be sure to click the subscribe button so you don’t miss an episode. Thanks for listening.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai