In Thoughts on Training #4 I mentioned the role of persistence and patience in training. Persistence is all about the unrelenting drive to accomplish an achievable goal. Nose to the grindstone. Daily reporting to a blue-collar job. That’s persistence. Patience has to do with faith—faith in your training. Measurable fitness changes don’t happen overnight. It takes a few weeks of persistent training to realize the results. Until then you must have a belief that you are training as you should. If you change how you train every couple of weeks because “it doesn’t seem to be working,” you’ll just add more worthlessness to your training.
Also, in #4 I touched briefly on your time available for training. After family and career, training should be next on your list of the most important things in your day—if you really want to perform at a high level. And, of course, “training” is a broad topic ranging from workouts, to nutrition, to sleep, and more. Sleep is what athletes tend to use as their time dump. If pressured to fit more into the day, most athletes will find the time by cutting back on sleep. Adios goal!
Accept that training must be somewhat boring to be successful. Successful training is built around doing much of the same stuff every week with only small modifications. If you keep changing it, odds are that you won’t have the season you wanted. Give some thought to what that model week should look like and then stick with it. If your lifestyle blends in nicely with your family and career, you are dedicated to your goal, and you are patient and persistent about training, you will prepare consistently and greatly improve your odds of race success.
Let’s move on to an important aspect of consistent training—motivation.
Internal and External Motivations
How driven are you when it comes to workouts? Your determination to head out the door for a workout day after day after day without daily signs of improvement can certainly drain your enthusiasm. Loss of enthusiasm means loss of purpose and inconsistent training. Why not skip the workout and stay in bed for another hour? I’m sure that has crossed your mind and will continue to do so long after you’ve finished reading this. There’s nothing wrong with you. All athletes ponder similar questions frequently. Some give in. Some overcome the little voice in their minds that says, “Sleep in.” This is all about motivation.
There are two basic types of motivation—internal and external. Motivation is always best when it is internal—you get up and are out the door for a workout without even thinking about it. It’s who you are and what you do. You do it because you’re motivated to the core.
But what can you do if you are in the second group and internal motivation is lacking? While I’d certainly like to see you eventually become internally motivated, that doesn’t happen easily. So, you may just need a good external motivator in the interim. There are two very basic ones I have found that help athletes stay on track. The first is to hire a good coach. I guarantee your motivation will increase. The second is to find a training partner who will meet you for that early morning session. Both are external motivators that almost always work. The first is going to cost you some money. The second is free. Either will help you get out of bed in the morning.
Next, I’ll cover thoughts on a making a plan for success.
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