On Procrastination

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. ~William James

Why drive to the top of the mountain to go for a snow shoe run in the rain when I can get just as wet and cold by stepping right outside my front door? Well, that’s my rationale for not heading up to Seymour for the planned snow shoe run this evening. With training plans gone awry, I’m struggling for motivation to head into this ugly Vancouver weather. My running partners (including my dog) have left me solo tonight so that gives me one more thing to whine about. Yes, it is only week 2 into 2008 and I have already found myself procrastinating.

So what do runners do when they enter this ever-dreaded avoidance type behaviour? Well, they make lists and develop training schedules and then read the latest training articles and redevelop their trainings plans. (And they blog...) Well, you might think us list makers are being smart by taking the tame to plan up front. After all, an effective training plan is required to ensure gradual builds in training intensity and duration and reduce injury risk, right? Well, some people believe that list makers spend more time managing their lists than they do carrying out what is on them – I wonder if the same holds true for developing training schedules?.

My name is Corrina – and I am a list maker.... I honestly can not function without lists. And without a training schedule, I'd probably have way more blog entries and be competing in dance dance revolution contests (sad, but true). I made my to do list this morning and crossed off nearly everything except for my daily workout. Does that make me a self-proclaimed procrastinator? Right now, I am in the middle of revising my training schedule and trying to find a way of fitting everything in among work, grad school, teaching spin classes, yoga and exercising the dog. Okay, enough already…. I’ve got to get out the door…...