Over the last few months I’ve been dealing with an overuse injury. My hip flexor is sore along with my sacroiliac and IT bands. The three are all related, aggravating each other and making my lower back ache.

I’ve been working with a physical therapist to figure out how to make things better. In addition to giving me a variety of exercises and stretches to do (which I do nearly every day), he has limited the number of miles I walk. His theory is, if I reduce my mileage, I will not continue to aggravate the overuse injury while we are working to make things better.

Unfortunately, I have taken the “reduced mileage” advice just a little bit too far. Instead of just reducing overall mileage and intensity, I have nearly stopped walking. I’ve done some really slow walks for fewer than 2 miles in the neighborhood and the occasional 4 miles with the Buckeye Striders, but that is about it. The bad thing is, I’m enjoying it! I don’t have much desire to walk very far or fast.

Today I got up early and walked at a local park for about 3.4 miles. The trail goes around a beautiful lake. It was tough. My legs felt heavy, my hips felt stiff and I could not get my legs to move any faster. On top of that, though the walking was difficult, I could not get my heart rate up very high. Eventually, I was able to get as fast as a 14-min mile pace (according to my Garmin), but it felt like a lot of effort.

So, a few things were running through my head today. First, is PT doing any good? I thought I was getting better and was becoming more flexible. I felt none of that today.

Second, I am walking so little, just walking 3 miles at a good clip is difficult. I cannot continue to lose my walking endurance without a fight.

Third, if I’m enjoying not exercising and allowing myself to gain weight and become depressed, I need to do something about it.

Today’s walk has inspired me. I have new motivation! Starting tomorrow I will go back to a regular training schedule. I won’t do speed training until I get the go ahead, but I can go back to walking regularly. It will do a world of good for my mental and physical health.

Anyone else struggling with motivation right now? What are you doing to work through it?

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