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What Are You Training For?

By Deb Brown, NSCA Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Wellness Coach

Is your fitness routine getting boring? Do you find your motivation to get into shape and stay in shape flagging? If so, consider registering for an event that will take place in Spring or Summer. It could be a 5K walk or run, a cycling event, a triathlon. In Colorado, we also have snowshoe events! Something special happens when you fill out a registration form to enter the event, pay your registration fee and mark the date on your calendar. You get focused, you get committed and you start talking about it with friends and family. It fills you with energy and motivation. Getting your workouts in takes on new meaning because there is now a larger goal – to complete the event. You will tend to work harder and push yourself further if you know you have an event coming up. Also, you will start focusing less on the number that you see on the scale and focusing more on how much further you can run or bike today.

Training for an event will also encourage you to eat “cleaner”. When you eat healthy, with an eye toward fueling your body for your workouts, you are less tempted to eat junk. Eating unhealthy food will show up in tomorrow’s workout by slowing you down and making you feel more tired.

Signing up for an event encourages you to get out of your comfort zone. If you have never participated in a triathlon for example, completing your first Sprint Triathlon will at first seem like an unreachable goal. After weeks/months of steady training, all of a sudden, there you are on event day! It is so exciting and exhilarating to be swimming/biking/running next to your fellow athletes and to think “I am doing this!” The warm glow of accomplishment and the pride you will feel after an event is amazing! You start thinking about what other events you might like to do – events that you may never have even considered before. Many events are “user friendly” to the beginner athlete. Some events offer informational sessions and free clinics.

Participating in an event also provides an excellent boost to your self esteem. Moms, especially, benefit because we are all so busy taking care of everyone else that it is refreshing to take time for ourselves to work at a goal and achieve it. Also, if the event is to raise funds for a cause, it just makes you feel that much better to be able to make a difference. Last, but not least, events are just plain fun!!

So, if you are looking for a way to breathe new life and energy into your fitness routine, consider signing up for an event.

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