Wakey wakey!

This week I seem to have been really tired. I am, generally speaking, always tired as I have a 7 month old that still wakes up in the night and a 4 year old that has me running round in circles during in the day, however I think it was made a lot worse this week by the clocks going back, as while most people get an extra hour in bed anyone with kids knows it just means even less sleep as most children just don't get the idea that an extra hour of sleep in a good thing! With that in mind I've been finding it extra difficult to get up and get motivated and had to practically force myself out the door to get to my club run last night. I did find a few things helped me through the fog though and thought I'd share them with you.

1) Coffee!

First of all get yourself a MASSIVE mug of coffee. Caffeine is known to improve your running performance and for the bleary eyed mummy it's  a must. Follow this up with copious cups of water as being even a tiny bit dehydrated will make you sleepier. Yes you will pee every five minutes with the caffeine/water combination but at least you'll be awake!

2) Shock the system

Try and start the morning with a nice warm shower. Just before you get out blast yourself with the cold water - try and do it for a good full minute. It feels nicer than it sounds and I promise it will wake up the system and make you feel ten times better. Just pretend you're in a fancy hot/cold room at a luxury spa somewhere where you would be paying for that feeling (you might have to ignore any children's calls or, in my case, the 4 year old pooping on the toilet next to you).

3) Trash talk

Sometimes you just need to dish out a little bit of tough talk to get yourself going. Remind yourself that this is motherhood and therefore you are going to be tired. You can tough it out or mope about but either way you are going to be tired so you might as well get your arse off the sofa and do something which will make you feel better in the long term. My husband is good at helping me with this and it's the only time he's allowed to accuse me of being lazy as he knows that will get me out the door and I'll thank him for it later!

The guys here have some extra tips which are apparently scientifically backed too: proven ways to boost motivation

Overall, remember, going for a run will seem like a terrible idea when you feel extra tired but you know once you are out you will feel glad you did it and it will help you sleep better too. Meanwhile, if you have any tips for that work for you when you need that extra bit of motivation and are feeling zombie like - please share!  

PS - sorry for any typos - I'm still pretty tired...