Strava just sent me an email that January 19 is known as quitters day. This is the day that most people break their resolution. I have done streaks in the past (see photo Thanksgiving to New Years Day) and have always stopped for 1 main reason: no focus on a bigger picture other than the streak.
I would go out and run the 3 or 4 KM or 15 mins in order to get the checkbox. Other times I would go out for a 1, 2 or maybe even 3 week BURST of hard efforts to get back to where I once was only to totally burn myself out. This only left me broken and deflated when I would eventually fail.
I am currently on a streak but this one feels different for many reasons. One thing I am doing this time is looking forward more than looking back. I am building a story and not just checking the box or putting an X on a calendar. Currently I am at 252 days and have raced in 4 half marathons and 1 Marathon. Below are the 5 tools that have made this streak stick:
- A paper book to write my days and sum by week
- Structured plans to meet goals (Half Marathon, Marathon, current Ironman)
- Calendars: Personal, work and workout are all in sync
- Communication with family and friends about your goals
- Celebration of milestones
Manual Book
When I started my streak I started a manual book. In this book when open the left is for thoughts, quotes, etc. and the right is a log for the week. I track Day, distance, type, duration and a count. Then at the end of each week (Tuesday’s for me) I sum it up by activity and then a weekly total, the bring forward total and a grand total. This lets me reflect on the progress, see weekly totals and builds a nice history of my streak.
Structured Plan
The times that my streak failed was because the streak was the plan and the goal. Not the outcome of an accumulation of goals. This time I am aligning plans with goals. May 1st I stared a half marathon plan that took me to Father’s day and then a marathon plan that took me to the end of September where I started a 48 week Ironman plan. This structure allows me to keep the goal insight as the workouts in the plan help me attain my goals. Structured plans also have a blend of tempo, long slow and recovery built in so it keeps you away from burnout like I experienced in the past.
Sync Calendars
Sync your workout calendar, personal calendar and work calendar. This sync allows you to see where you can fit your workout into your day. With a busy job and busy family some days the workout is done at lunch other days it is get up early or stay up late to get it done. But visibility allows you to react and communicate.
Sync is really easy to do with Garmin. I sync with Office 365 for work and publish to my personal calendar.
Communicate
Goal setting and syncing calendars you can set your self up but there are normally other parties that need to be aware of your goals and activities. Communication with your spouse, kids and boss about your goals makes adhering to a streak easier when you have conflicts. I am blessed with a loving family and a flexible job. I am also very lucky to have 2 friends doing the same streak as me so we can see each others workouts, encourage each other and talk about tough weeks.
Celebrate
Celebrate milestones with some new gear (like a neck warmer) or dinner out. Because you communicated with your family, friends and co-workers they will know when you hit a goal or milestone. So celebrate but just remember, tomorrow you need to move onto the next goal to keep the streak alive.
Hopefully some of these tools help you get past quitters day. Message me if you have any tools you use or want more details on any of the above.
Recent Blogs (lines taken)
- 2024 A Year of Growth, Milestones, and Gratitude
- 5 Years Strong – The Benefits and Strategies of Keeping an Exercise Streak
- ERP The Catalyst to Business Resilience
- Embracing Life’s Uncertainties for Personal Growth
- Quitters Day
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