Exercise and working out have not always come naturally to me, in fact, ten years ago…heck, even six years ago, it was a VERY different story. But even now that running, swimming, cycling and other stuff too, have become such a regular part of my life, it still doesn’t always come easy. And to be honest, for the last few weeks, I’ve been struggling more and more with getting in my workouts.

Is it because it’s the usual June madness and I can’t find the time? Nah, I can’t really blame it on that. Although it is a convenient excuse. But the real reason is that… I’m done.

Usually I thrive on a schedule. I like to have it planned out for me how much I’m going to run, how far I need to cycle and when I’m going to fit in a little strength training. In fact, I’ve written before about how I might not ever get off my butt or get away from my laptop if I didn’t have a schedule to keep me on track. I love the schedule. I embrace it. And my training partner does the BEST schedules, complete with stickers and motivation. But lately, I want to tear it up and burn it.

Even with stickers…I need a break

Dramatic maybe, but…

It’s taken me a few weeks to figure out exactly what the problem is, but I think I’ve got it now. I’m sick of running because I ‘have to’ or getting on my bike because I ‘need to’ get in thirty km. It’s not fun anymore. And what exactly is the point of doing all this exercise if I don’t enjoy it?

I want to go for a run without my Garmin tracking my pace and distance. I want to take my bike out solely to enjoy the feeling of it. So…that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

I’ve finally made the decision to throw the schedule out. Surprisingly this was harder to do than you might think. But along with this decision, I’ve also decided not to do the few triathlons I was going to do this summer. I’m not excited about them. I’m not even remotely enthusiastic about them. So it’s the perfect time to take some time off from events and get back to basics. Enjoyment.

The turning point for me was this past weekend, when I went out to the mountains (my happy place) with some great ladies to participate in a bike ride. It was a scheduled event, but not a race. Just a ride. There was no pressure and the only goal was to enjoy ourselves. And that’s exactly what we did. Ripping down the mountain on my bike, at 60km/hour I had the biggest smile on my face. It. Was. Fun.

Mountains + Bikes + Friends = Happiness

So, here’s to a summer of fun and no schedules. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe it will be a huge disaster and I’ll gain forty pounds. Maybe this will only last a few weeks and I’ll be back on a schedule and signed up for an event…BUT…maybe, just maybe, I’ll rediscover the love of it all and be ready to go again in the fall. We’ll see.

How about you? Do you need a schedule for working out? Have you ever boycotted workouts?