Q: What is your best motivation strategy for those days when you feel tired/behind/slow and/or how do you get yourself out of bed for early morning workouts? – L. Malone
A: First, I really, really try to avoid early morning workouts. I’ve tried and my body just doesn’t respond well. I try to tailor my day so that I can do my hard workouts when I have the most energy. If you must do early morning workouts, then it’s key to have a training buddy to keep you from rolling back over and blowing off the workout.
Second, finding motivation is a continual struggle for ALL athletes. There are just days where it’s hard and not going well. During those times, I practice positive talk to myself, try to forgive myself if I’m not as fast as I want to be and focus on the fact that I’m doing the work and that’s better than not doing it. I also have a few visual cues I bring into my head of really great race finishes or highlights in my career that mean a lot to me. Those moments seem so far away when you’re having an off training day, but I think about those and remind myself that all of these little building blocks must be in place in order to have those special moments. When that fails, just keep plugging along and stop listening to the negative talk in your head.
Posted in: Motivation, Training
