More thoughts on motivation
I have many half-baked theories on what motivates me and might motivate other people. Here are some of my recent ones:
1. Train with others
This is something that everyone who's ever trained in a group knows - training with others works you harder than training on your own. Obviously, this assumes you're all of a similar level, and all training as opposed to just out for a gentle bike ride to the pub... On your own, it's easy to back off, tell yourself you've done enough, or get lost in the moment and forget you're meant to be training (my mind wanders terribly when I'm swimming, for instance).
But if there are others around you will be able to challenge each other. One of you lifts off but the other will keep pushing, if your buddy sprints up the hill you have to follow them. And these little races make all the difference in turning a mediocre session into one that will have you vomiting at the end.
1. Train with others
This is something that everyone who's ever trained in a group knows - training with others works you harder than training on your own. Obviously, this assumes you're all of a similar level, and all training as opposed to just out for a gentle bike ride to the pub... On your own, it's easy to back off, tell yourself you've done enough, or get lost in the moment and forget you're meant to be training (my mind wanders terribly when I'm swimming, for instance).
But if there are others around you will be able to challenge each other. One of you lifts off but the other will keep pushing, if your buddy sprints up the hill you have to follow them. And these little races make all the difference in turning a mediocre session into one that will have you vomiting at the end.
This worked well for me today at the lake, as I raced another Oxford
Tri swimmer around the last 2 laps of the morning's session. We had a
good cat and mouse game, with both of us taking the lead at various
points. He definitely made me work a lot harder than I would have done
otherwise, lost in my own thoughts...
2. Set yourself a goal, then exceed it
It's all well and good to train for an event, but until the day, there's always that doubt about whether you've trained enough. Therefore I like to give myself a bit of confidence by going further in training than I need to on the day. That way, even if I'm not feeling too good about my speed or strength, at least I know I've got the stamina to get through the race. The adrenaline on the day will also hopefully give me a bit of a push, turning a mediocre 52 minute 10k into a 48 minute one.
Today I put this into practice by finally running well over 10k. I had a lovely run down the canal and back again, which added up to over 12k. I'm really pleased with this, because the run is the main thing I haven't got enough experience or confidence in. Windsor is a 10k run (Olympic distance), so with 12k under my belt, I know I'll be ok for 10k, even if I'm a bit slow...
I also swam 4 laps of the lake this morning, which is 25% more than I need to do at Windsor. And in about 45 minutes too, which I was pleased with considering it was fairly choppy. I should be able to manage 30-32 minutes for 1500m at Windsor.
3. Make your goals public
This won't work for everyone - some people have no shame - but it does work for me: tell people what you are hoping to achieve, and make sure they keep asking you how you're getting on. If you need to "report back" to other people, you'll hopefully feel at least a little bit more pressure (good pressure) to push yourself harder in training. And of course if you're being sponsored the more people you tell the better!
I followed my own advice here too. I am very proud of my team of runners at work - between them they'll have raised over £800 (and maybe as much as £1000) by the time they run the Race for Life/Run for Moore races in a couple of weeks. They've also inspired me to run a lot more, which has helped my own training.
I figured they deserved both a bit of credit, and a final push before their race. So I told the Oxford Mail about them and now we're all famous!
2. Set yourself a goal, then exceed it
It's all well and good to train for an event, but until the day, there's always that doubt about whether you've trained enough. Therefore I like to give myself a bit of confidence by going further in training than I need to on the day. That way, even if I'm not feeling too good about my speed or strength, at least I know I've got the stamina to get through the race. The adrenaline on the day will also hopefully give me a bit of a push, turning a mediocre 52 minute 10k into a 48 minute one.
Today I put this into practice by finally running well over 10k. I had a lovely run down the canal and back again, which added up to over 12k. I'm really pleased with this, because the run is the main thing I haven't got enough experience or confidence in. Windsor is a 10k run (Olympic distance), so with 12k under my belt, I know I'll be ok for 10k, even if I'm a bit slow...
I also swam 4 laps of the lake this morning, which is 25% more than I need to do at Windsor. And in about 45 minutes too, which I was pleased with considering it was fairly choppy. I should be able to manage 30-32 minutes for 1500m at Windsor.
3. Make your goals public
This won't work for everyone - some people have no shame - but it does work for me: tell people what you are hoping to achieve, and make sure they keep asking you how you're getting on. If you need to "report back" to other people, you'll hopefully feel at least a little bit more pressure (good pressure) to push yourself harder in training. And of course if you're being sponsored the more people you tell the better!
I followed my own advice here too. I am very proud of my team of runners at work - between them they'll have raised over £800 (and maybe as much as £1000) by the time they run the Race for Life/Run for Moore races in a couple of weeks. They've also inspired me to run a lot more, which has helped my own training.
I figured they deserved both a bit of credit, and a final push before their race. So I told the Oxford Mail about them and now we're all famous!
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