You’ve been on a high this year and you’ve managed to change your lifestyle around. 2014 has been a great turnaround for many individuals. As more and more people convert to a better, healthier lifestyle, the strive to stay motivated and remain mentally and physically active is getting harder with the Winter season slowly approaching.

To help us combat our urges of grovelling back to our old habits, Triathlon Coach James Poole and Triathlon and Mental Performance Coach Claudia Schroegel have launched the AdventRunning challenge.

AdventRunning is a free and simple running challenge that aims to keep people motivated to run throughout the busy month of December. The challenge is to run for a minimum of 30 minutes a day, each day from the 1st to the 25th of December. The incentive to keep you motivated to run are their sponsors and their daily spot prizes. Each day runners should document their runs by taking a photo, or video or even writing, and post them on social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. There’s also a number of social events to keep you on track and motivated and while having fun keeping active during the cold Winter blues.

There’s more reason than ever for you to get involved in this challenge as winter is associated with the seasonal affective disorder (SAD). The sudden change in the weather is linked to many symptoms of depression, as the days get shorter and the body’s lack of Vitamin D from sunlight takes a toll on our moods. By keeping positive and active, we’re reducing the effects of Melatonin hormone. Melatonin is a hormone that is released when it’s dark, making us feel sleepy. During the winter months, many of us produce very high levels of melatonin, resulting in SAD symptoms such as sleepiness and low energy levels.

It’s vital to take conscious efforts to regulate our mood and stress levels. Just because it’s dark and cold outside, doesn’t mean it’s an excuse for you to act dark and depressed. The AdventRunning challenge is a great way to boost our levels of activity and increase our body’s levels of serotonin in a fun and amicable way. So why not take a positive step forward to staying motivated and productive during the holiday seasons, and join the hundreds of runners out there who have already signed up to the challenge!

Picture: Ian Hunter.