Ever had a goal, set out to achieve it and then… for whatever reason… it falls by the wayside?
It is important to identify the goal and why you want to achieve it… it needs to be something that motivates you on a daily basis, something to inspire.
It is very easy to get side-tracked… well, let’s be honest, you didn’t identify this as an ‘easy challenge’.
You want to complete an IRONMAN? Fabulous… why? Have a reason.
From a training point of view… making time to do your training. Set yourself some time each day. Perhaps, first thing in the morning, perhaps on the way home from work… whatever and whenever you can make work.
From a triathlon training point of view, consistent training will help your performance. I do this with every athlete before we begin. How much time can you commit to training, when are your windows to do it? When can you swim? When can you fit a longer ride in?
You need to make sure you carve out time every day to work towards your goal.
However, living in the UK now, we are going to have the odd obstacle. The weather is not always conducive being outside: ice, rain, snow, wind, cold. Its dark at this time of year in the early evenings and remains so until 8am, by which time we will be doing the school run or on the way to work.
If you can prepare for these obstacles and have a “Plan B” then you can keep that consistency going. OK we cannot swim, but we can do additional strength sessions or stretch cord sessions to work around that temporarily. If it is icy we can do an indoor turbo trainer session.
As I tell my athletes who might be struggling to complete a session, “Doing something is better than nothing.”
Find someone to make you accountable. It can be your coach, your wife, your kids, your boss. It might be a friend or colleague. I like getting my athletes to get buy-in from their families. Anyone training for an IRONMAN will know that without their partner’s support, they might end up separated. It takes up a lot of time to train for an endurance event.
Another way you can stay motivated and stick to your goals and routine is by letting your friends, family, colleagues know about your efforts. You can use social media for example. Post scenic pictures of your longer rides and runs… swimming in glorious sunshine… having fun doing what you are doing?
Be proud of your achievements. You have invested a lot into them. Please, do not forget to have fun in the process! Something we often do as adults is to forget the importance of having fun whilst we achieve our goals. Bike rides should be fun, group sessions should be fun… hard work – of course… but it can still be fun!
Achieving goals – especially in Triathlon should be a fun, inspirational, lifestyle experience. We all do Triathlon to have fun. Make sure you do this with passion, determination and purpose.
Now, pick a goal… make a start…
Paul is a Professional Triathlon Coach. Passionate about the sport of Triathlon. Paul empowers athletic achievements with quality individualised bespoke triathlon coaching.
Coach Paul is a British Triathlon Federation Level 3 Coach and a Triathlon Australia Performance Coach, Paul is also an IRONMAN Certified Coach. F4L Triathlon Coaching offers triathletes and other endurance athletes a full coaching and training service that caters to all levels of triathletes. F4L offers professional triathlon and endurance coaching and the reliability triathletes and endurance athletes require. Each athlete is an individual, every athlete has different needs.
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