I need to grow more chest hair.

I spend a lot of time pondering motivation. I think it’s amazingly difficult to *really* understand why we do what we do. We can always find something to point at to explain motivation or lack thereof, but I think it’s usually more complex than we let on. If it is as simple as “I wanted to get back in shape,” why is it so hard to summon motivation at times? I’m in the middle of a good run and I really don’t know why. My phone app says I completed 38 workouts in January. I couldn’t tell you why I’m motivated right now, I just am.

It seems irrational at times. For instance, my gym (HPC) publishes a list of members who log 12 or more workouts each month. Don’t ask me why, but I make sure I’m on that list, and it appears that several hundred other people do, too. It amounts to a t-shirt at the end of the year. They just started a “Swim the English channel” promotion yesterday. Swim 37,000M in 40 days and you get a t-shirt. All of December, if I swam I often had the entire pool complex (3 pools) to myself. Last night it was packed, every lane being shared. This little promotion, for a t-shirt, has hugely changed the behavior of dozens of people. It defys logic.

Your situation is interesting. When I blogged my time from the 2009 LV 5K, which was my PR, you mentioned that it exactly equalled your PR. I remembered thinking “OK, we are of very equal ability.” Immediately after that, you rocketed off to a higher level that remains beyond my reach. In the summer of 2009, something was driving you.

In “Perfection Point” the author points out that most marathoner’s lifetime PR occurs early, usually in their 3rd or 4th race, even for professionals. It seems like having achieved certain accomplishments might erode the motivation to push higher (I’m looking at you, Alan Webb). There’s nothing wrong with that. I can understand how after devoting many months to a race, doing everything just right and working as hard as posisble, the prospect of going *even harder* next year may seem daunting and not worth the incremental gain. I think it’s completely natural to face a decision such as ‘work much harder to shave a few minutes, or take it much easier and still be pretty darn fit.’ And there’s nothing wrong with that. Maybe your goals have changed from PR’ing to promoting the sport, or maybe the need for speed will return after a rest. Either way is cool.