The Energy Vampire post has been the most popular one so far, so I asked coach Rory Coleman for some more tips on avoiding these dreaded motivation-suckers. Turns out, they’re not just people, they’re all sorts of things, all around us, eeeeek!!!! I’m going to need all the garlic possible as I train for the 6-day 225km Coastal Challenge, Costa Rica this Feb, and I’m sure you could all do with the knowledge too to boost your training. Woa, I just googled Energy Vampires for a picture, it’s an actual thing, not just something Rory made up!

Who and what are your Energy Vampires? It’s time to root them out and spray them with the garlic of your eternal joy for trail running

Rory’s top 7 tips for banishing Energy Vampires:

1. Look at all your friends (including social media ones) and consider who gives you energy or saps your energy. Then obviously, without being too crass about it of course, Rory says, “Try to spend more of your time with the Energy Givers and ‘unfriend’ Energy Vampires.”
2. You yourself can be your own Energy Vampire! “Don’t lower your standards, congratulating yourself on only completing half of your training run, drinking too much at the pub or putting in a poor effort because you’re tired and have a hard day coming up tmr,” says Rory. He advises getting a blank sheet of paper and writing your new standards (or rules) on it. Stick them on your fridge and stick to them!
3. Time is also an Energy Vampire. Aim to do training as soon as possible, or exactly when you scheduled it rather than put it off for later and later in the day then not actually doing it. “JUST DO IT!” Rory says, can you hear him shouting from here?
4. Energy Vampires lurk in the future too. The race may be far away, but you still need to make every session count right now. Rory says, “Take your eyes off the end goal and focus on your week of training, and that session you are doing right now.”
5. Technology. You knew it, didn’t you. Obvious Energy Vampire. Just turning on the TV and watching any old kibosh contributes to the, in Rory’s words, “inner corrosion of yourself”. Instead, watch great, inspiring and motivational films like Gladiator, Apollo 13 and Love Actually (although maybe not Emma Thompson’s storyline that always cracks my heart). Leave your mobile at home/car during training or put it on silent if using an app. so no Facebook bleeps and phone calls disturb your session.
6. Worry is an Energy Vampire. And I quote directly from Rory who I’m thinking may actually have a mind of pure silver, “Worry is a ridiculous waste of time. It’s like maggots eating your brain! You need to concentrate all your energy in the right direction so if you can’t control it, stop worrying about it and think positive thoughts about training.”
7. Yawn, are you getting bored of Energy Vampires yet? Yes, that’s our next one, boredom is one! As I experienced last Sun, my 20 miler around Rutland Water was so dull I started pulling out the rave moves to the sheep (they ignored me) dancing to my iPod tracks. “Get the train 20 miles away and run back,” says Rory. Mix up your runs, go to new places, take a map. I will Rory, I will.

There are loads more Energy Vampires out there waiting to suck the motivation out of you, but by and large you’ll be immune to a great many of them. What are your top 3? Can you post them below? I’ll get Rory to bamboozle them for you…we are Skype chatting in 2 weeks – he says he wants eye contact. Heck. I think he might want to hypnotise me…;)