Tri Coach Tuesday: Motivation Tips that Work

From USA Triathlon  By Mental Specialist Coach Will Murray
 

Are you sure you’re getting the full benefit from your training sessions? With a training plan aimed at a particular race or set of races, you likely have a number of workouts of different kinds and different durations carefully ordered over the months to get you in peak condition for your top races.
Completing this sequence of training sessions — as prescribed and in order — is key to arriving at your most important races in optimum form: fit, healthy and rested. Fit, meaning in top physical condition for the type of race, whether sprint distance triathlon or ultramarathon; healthy, meaning freedom from injury or illness; and rested meaning fresh and ready to go. Achieving this three-way goal to let you race to your potential is not always easy to do.
Having a good annual training plan is vitally important. Just as important is executing that plan by completing the workouts — as prescribed and in the right sequence. Some athletes succumb to the temptation of taking an easy run when they are supposed to be doing 600-meter hard intervals at the track or chasing a fast pack of cyclists when they are scheduled for an easy recovery ride. Some athletes skip the workout altogether, because they “just aren’t feeling it.”
An athlete who too often replaces a recovery swim with a hard masters set is possibly digging a hole toward overtraining. An athlete who skips the high-intensity bike sessions is raffling off key fitness. And one who skips workouts altogether too frequently is not only giving away fitness but also generating unhelpful emotions that undermine the training and also come back to haunt on race day — if the start line appears at all.
Fortunately, there are easy, quick and effective techniques to help athletes do their scheduled workouts. Here are two that athletes find useful…
Read the full USA Triathlon article here