21 Triathlon Motivations
Motivation is the force that compels you to work towards the attainment of your objectives in the context of a triathlon. You need to have a strong desire to become an accomplished triathlete and stay committed to it to reach your objectives.
Motivation is the bedrock of every activity you carry out as a triathlete. You won’t reach your triathlon-related aspirations if you don’t have the ambition and dedication to put in the hard work and devote the necessary time.
To be an excellent triathlete, you must show determination to do whatever is necessary to enhance your proficiency.
Motivation is essential for triathlon success for several reasons. Making sure to put in a dedicated amount of effort in all areas of life which can affect a triathlon performance is the first step.
Your attitude has an impact on how much work you put into getting in physical shape, following instructions, getting the necessary supplies, and preparing yourself mentally. The importance of motivation has a major impact on how an individual’s day-to-day life can affect their performance in a triathlon, such as the amount of sleep they get, their eating behaviours, their occupation or studies, and how they interact with others.
Motivation plays a significant role in how strongly you keep going even when exhaustion, tedium, discomfort and other interests appear. The level of motivation you feel will depend on how important the triathlon is to you in your life.
It is evident that although you adore your triathlon, other priorities must be taken into account, such as your studies or employment, other interests, and the time spent with friends. The order you assign to the triathlon in your life will affect what decisions you put your effort and time toward.
The importance of motivation cannot be overstated as it is the only factor that you can control when it comes to doing well in a triathlon. The level of your performance is influenced by three factors.
Your talents as a triathlete, including any innate physical aptitude and mental characteristics you possess from birth. Your innate triathlon abilities are beyond your power to alter as they are predetermined.
The level of difficulty of the competition determines the outcome of your performance. The various elements that make competing in the race hard include the competition level, the weather, and everything at the race location (like water which is too cold, headwinds, and a rough road). You have no control over these factors.
Finally, motivation will impact performance. The amount of motivation you have affects the level of success that you obtain.
If you are extremely determined to better your results, then you will take the time and energy to completely train yourself as a triathlete—physically, technically, and mentally. The drive to succeed will impact how well you do in a race.
If you’re going up against people of similar athletic conditions and proficiencies, capability alone will not decide the result.
It is the athlete who puts in a great effort, maintains their persistence, and does well under pressure that will emerge victorious. The triathlete who desires the most to succeed and do well.
Strengthening Your Motivation Muscle
1. Focus on your long-term goals
You have to dedicate considerable energy and focus to achieve your greatest potential in triathlon.
Remind yourself why you’re working so hard. Picture precisely what you would like to achieve and persuade yourself that the only route to accomplishing your targets is to keep putting in the effort.
Staying focused on your ultimate objectives can drive you in multiple directions. At first, when you have worked hard and feel fatigued and have bodily discomfort, your physique is begging your mental acuity to take a break. If your brain pays attention, you will relax or quit.
Focusing on your long-term objectives sends a message to your body that you must keep going since achieving those goals is vital. Essentially, you are prompting your body to experience the discomfort it is sensing.
By concentrating on your eventual objectives, you will be able to ignore the exhaustion and soreness you may go through during your practice. By taking this action, all of the unfavourable aspects will become more manageable and easier to accept.
When you focus on your long-term objectives, your positive emotions, such as enthusiasm and pride, can neutralize any unfavourable emotions like exasperation, wrath, or discouragement.
Furthermore, studies have proven that having pleasant feelings can actually decrease the pain you feel. When you’re struggling to keep the momentum going during a rehearsal, exercise or workout, remember the result that you’d like to happen in the long term and remind yourself “This is why I’m doing this!”.
2. Have a training partner
Staying highly motivated on your own can be challenging. At times, you might not have the motivation to leave the house. You could be exhausted, overwhelmed, weary of the same old activities, in need of a break, or seeking some leisure time.
No matter how much effort you put forth, you won’t be able to achieve as much when you don’t have someone motivating you.
One may act as a coach, personal trainer, or parent. Getting a reliable workout companion is the ideal situation when it comes to triathlon – someone whose athleticism and objectives are on par with your own.
Having a buddy to train with can be a great motivating factor in keeping you on track. The expression “two heads are better than one” holds true for bodies as well.
When you have a colleague to do exercises with you, you won’t possess the feeling of having to tackle whatever challenge, be it tangible or abstract, on your own.
Instead, they are there to be a source of assistance for you at all times (and you for them). Realizing that you have someone aiding you in making progress can make it somewhat simpler to keep striving for more.
Second, a training partner holds you accountable. An illustration of this would be failing to do physical activity when you do it alone. It will be much more difficult to not attend practice when you are aware that your training companion is there waiting for you.
They will be extremely angry with you if you don’t appear. Although you may not be motivated on a particular day, it is essential to still attend your training session and give it your best effort because your training buddy is relying on you.
When you are exercising and your body is telling you to quit, your mind is also insisting that you keep going.
Rather, as you for example near the last few laps of a track workout or the last few hills repeats on your bike, you might have a training partner who is by your side encoring you to push through (and in turn, you would be doing the same for your training partner).
3. Train smart
Nothing can sap motivation more than an exhausting, drawn-out and monotonous training program. Soon, you will experience exhaustion, disinterest, overexertion, and a lack of enthusiasm (or sickness or injury).
Designing an effective training program that provides a variety of benefits is a smart approach. First, it has variety.
Your program could involve spending time in the gym lifting weights, exercise adapted to different outdoor situations, swimming, jogging and cycling, and other distinct types of training such as yoga or Pilates. The diversity of the task prevents monotony and its freshness keeps you concentrated, attentive, and invigorated.
You have a lot of chances to relax and recuperate. Triathletes don’t consider taking a break as a necessary component of their training; rather, it is what is done when there is no workout taking place.
Growth and development occur not when activity is taking place, as that is when the body is being put through its paces and wearing down, but rather when the body is at rest and the strained muscles have time to recover and rebuild.
Being exhausted and hurting all the time can really sap your enthusiasm. Your physical state is communicating to your brain that it is no longer able to maintain the same speed.
It is extremely crucial to incorporate periods of rest into your workout regime. This is accomplished in several ways. Your program should feature cycles of intensified and relaxed training, with varying levels of intensity and volume.
You must take an obligatory day of rest every week in which you don’t do any kind of physical exercise. If you are feeling very fatigued, pay attention to your body, make adjustments to your workout schedule, and give yourself more time to rest.
4. A little of what you fancy does you good
Rather than just a couple of spoonful’s of spinach and a package of cashews, you require something more filling. So why not spoil yourself a bit? You’re ok with the occasional treat of curry so spicy that it can cause your breath to come alive with flame and dissolve your teeth.
5. Join a spin class
There is no better remedy to regain your fondness for cycling than to be in a space filled with fresh challenges. They, being spin-class types, will want to beat you.
As a seasoned triathlete who is used to practising strict cycling, you will have the desire to outdo others. Put on your most daunting triathlon t-shirt, assume the typical athlete stance, fix your gaze and then the fight begins.
6. Purchase something expensive
If you wish to motivate yourself to go to the gym, consider investing a considerable amount of money into something. Triathlon presents a plethora of chances to invest money to no avail.
7. Get tipsy and enter a very hard race
It’s 1am, and you’ve just returned from the pub. How about now as the perfect moment to take to the internet and compete in a highly difficult race? Make sure to share your progress on your social media accounts so you can’t back out.
8. Look at your old race photos
If you wish to grasp how much progress you have made, simply look back to the pictures of me from ten years ago struggling. Look at that old bike and that painful expression! Look at those stringy arms and that paunch! Look at that full head of hair… sob.
9. Read your friends’ Facebook posts
All of us triathletes share the same worry that if we cannot do our training, then our peers will have an advantage over us.
If you wish to increase your anxiety, simply look at the Facebook updates they post that talk about all the workouts they are doing. I would say that it is highly likely that they are not telling the truth, so would you risk it?
10. Pick on some slower runners
If you are having difficulty staying motivated for running, it might help to visit a nearby park when it’s busy with runners and energetically run around the other people there. The best way to feel amazing about yourself as a runner is to breeze past fellow joggers who are going slower than you at twice their pace.
11. Take up cycle commuting
One useful way to get your motivation for exercise back is to work it into your daily routine.
Cycling to work is an excellent way to get a few miles under your belt without giving it much thought, as well as training you in essential abilities like outrunning Deliveroo drivers, outpacing school run maniacs, and evading the dreaded bendy bus.
12. Do some technique swims
Rather than frantically swimming back and forth in the pool lane as quickly as possible, pause and do some relaxed swims while focusing on your form. Ensure you have a great deal of equipment, for example, fins and paddles, with you, so people in your lane realize you are still capable of outswimming them if desired.
13. Take up circuit training
Begin taking part in a training circuit that requires you to push yourself with a variety of difficult activities such as planks and running intervals.
14. Go on a training camp
Reawaken your desire to go out and explore, as well as your joy of being on the road in destinations such as Majorca, Lanzarote, the south of France, Italy or Spain.
15. Read a sportsbook
The two possible results of reading autobiographies of well-known athletes are either to be invigorated and ready to work hard to reach success or to be discouraged by their egocentric attitudes and remain passionate about the activity for its own sake. To learn about athletes, check out biographies written about them. For stories by top-tier soccer players, read books written by them.
16. Enter an insane team event
If you happen to be in a club, you can anticipate that someone madly desires to engage in a wild collective activity like a 24-hour relay race, swimming across a channel, or a mountain marathon.
When you are confronted during practice, simply reply with “Yes” and then your troubles will be over! A feeling of discouragement will quickly fade away and be replaced with a fear of disappointing your colleagues.
17. Have a rest
Triathletes are notoriously bad at resting. Taking an extended break for a few days can make a world of difference and allow you to have a fresh start after a tiresome year. Taking time off completely may make you feel rejuvenated.
18. Bling your bike
You and your bike spend a lot of time together, so why not cheer yourself up by giving it some special care? A fresh set of handlebar wrapping, maybe, or a pair of glossy tyres, carbon-made foot pedals, and a seat that won’t make your downstairs area insensitive after spending 10 minutes in an aero position.
19. Take up XC running
If you are seeking an intense and low-profile sporting event to rekindle your enthusiasm, Cross Country running is a great choice.
Gather together in a field full of people wearing shorts, form up in front of a marker, then run for 10 kilometres through the woods, heath, or swamps until you make it to the other marker and that is all. No awards, no free gifts, no photographs, no bathrooms and no washing facilities. Just honest-to-goodness local amateur sport at its purest.
20. Enter an early-season race
A great way to bolster self-assurance and eagerness for the upcoming season is to compete in a shorter early-season triathlon. Taking a break from your training can be beneficial in many ways – not only does it freshen up your mind, but it also reminds you of your weak points regarding transitions, providing you with the opportunity to work on them before your most important race.
21. Do some DIY or gardening
Winter is the perfect season to finally do all of those inconvenient household chores that you’ve purposely avoided while working on your physical endurance throughout the year. I’m sure that after a few days of painting, fixing fences, and cleaning patios, you can’t wait to hop on your bike and get out of there.
