Every now and then I try to get myself into a routine, but it seems like I'll go days without being able to touch a guitar, so when I pick it up, I just play, noodle, whatever. I hardly ever get to "practice."
However, there are times like the other day when my future (as of Saturday) nephew-in-law, who is 16, was sweep picking up a storm, and I felt 3 inches tall lol. So, now I've been wanting to work on my shred stuff again just to do it, but I once read that you really shouldn't practice stuff that you know you're not going to use. And that's true, you could be spending time on mastering the techniques that you will actually employ rather than being able to just rip off flashy stuff at the Guitar Center (although, that is cool! lol).
Just keep it interesting, no matter what you do.