Staying on the "wagon"

Its easy to miss one workout.  And then easier to miss the 2nd, or the 3rd and it gets easier to miss workouts the longer it goes b/c you have to start all over again, and that's not too much fun.   It's much easier to quit than to it is to persevere.   

I keep reminding myself that I have a race coming up and If I dont work out I will suck.  (If I work out, I will just suck less)  When I used to run and mt bike for exercise and weightloss, I would blow off workouts all the time and was constantly working on a base, no improvement.  But when I added the race element, it was easier for me to suck it up and run/exercise when I didnt want to.  So for me, I need to have a race on the horizon in the short term.  During the winter, after November, I wont have a race until early June, but I will be snowboarding till the end of may so that, mixed in w/ a couple workouts during the week  will keep my base up.  My motivator is I dont want to have to go back to the beginning when I start up again because my goal for my second season is to do an oly in August.

FWIW, I would try and remind yourself how difficult it is to start up again and all of the work you did before will go for naught if you dont keep it up. 

Good luck and keep tri-ing.   

1. having a goal in the near future.

2. having training partners that you meet on a regularly scheduled basis that will hold you accountable.

3. telling my wife my weekly training plans, so that we can schedule around those.  So, if I miss a workout we scheduled around I hear about it.  She will also nag me a little to hit the road when she knows that I am not motivated that day.  It is a friendly nagging, a ribbing really, but it helps me to HTFU.

Join a mentor group when they start up (January?)....

Join a BT challenge--that keeps you accountable to a group on a daily basis.

Write your training plan in your day planner.

As said already, register and pay for some races in the future.

Tell everyone you see that you are training for triathlons!  Take some people with you for runs/bikes.....introduce them to this highly addictive sport!

Try new things to keep in shape--I do a lot of trail running for fun, and there are lots of fund-raising activities like bike rides, cancer walks etc that might keep you inspired.

If you don't feel like working out, at least gear up and try it for 10 minutes.  If you can't get in the groove then, at least you gave it a good try!

Log ALL your workouts on BT.  Seeing yellow squares makes me crazy--I want them all pink! (Don't look at my last week, too much yellow, ugh!)

x2

My discipline has wavered with nutrition, but I am really enjoying the challenge of training.  I am "lucky" to have great support system in place: We recently formed a club (Team TPR) and a coach (Brian Crow, www.tri-performance.com ), as well as a wife who likes to throw out challenges, and will soon be faster than me on the bike.

Mix up your training.  Do some on your own.  Do some with a group.  Do some with a coach or trainer.  Keep it fun!

Running:  Nothing is better for me during runs than to vary my speed (fartlek http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=722  from walking to full out.  I also mix in Galloway as well as some long, slow jogs.

Swimming:  In the pool, I do drills, negative/positive splits, etc.  I am not sure that these things help that much more than just swimming slow and steady, but they do stave off boredom.

Biking:  Bike with a group.  And don't be afraid to draft during a group ride.  It is fun for a change!  I also like spin classes, and feel like these really get my biking muscles primed.  Also, just go for a long, easy bike in the country every once in a while, and enjoy the sounds and sites.

Remember, for most of us, the podium won't be a part of the "tri-life".  (I once came in second for green eyed, brown haired, super-clydesdales in my age group...lol).  Make sure that you enjoy your training!

As far as Olympic-Length Races, I plan on doing Brian's new one on May 31 in Pennsylvania.  I will also be doing the "full sprint" at Lake Anna on April 18, as a "warm up".

Today is a 1 hr bike ride with the husband. I am trying to get back to a training schedule, which always helps. I imported one of the Winter Maintenance plans and will try to stick with it. I have noticed that people on this site in general do a lot of "self-talk", or pumping themselves up in a public forum. I guess it's making the commitment more visible and leads to some accountability. Saying to others, "I am going to succeed at this!" is a risk-maybe a good one to take. So, I guess I will give it a try.

  I will stick with this plan, even if  have to switch some of the workouts around to fit with my work schedule. I will NOT make excuses for myself or buy into the negative verbage that cruises constantly through my head. From now on, it's positive thinking-realistic, mind you-but positive. I will no longer think of myself as a failure. Time to walk the walk.

OK. Enough said. Thanks for all the great advice. I guess we all fight ourselves when it comes to training.  Thanks for listening!

OK Susan, we've talked a few times about some of this. 

1)  Commit to training that you can achieve.  Week to week, look at the training plan, look at work and family responsibilities, and decide what you're going to do for training.  Then do it!  It's easy to blow off the "canned" training when life intrudes because you may not have a strong commitment to it. 

2)  Focus on a positive attitude.  You've been part of the the BT community for almost 2 years and in that time, you've logged about 130 hours of tri-training including about 450 miles of biking, almost 300 miles running, and 34,000 yards (almost 20 miles) swimming.  You also passed your most recent PT test.  Those accomplishments should make you feel good.  Don't beat yourself up over the miles you didn't train. 

Thanks for being a successful member of my mentor group from January 2007! 

 Thanks Mike. You are right about the need to be flexible with the plans. My work schedule is alternately great for facilitating the plan or tanking, depending on what is scheduled for a given week. So, my challenge is to have a little more foresight rather than just react randomly to the idiosynchrasies of my work.

I think the most important thing for me is learning how to talk to myself. Unfortunately, I have pretty serious mood swings that can sabotage my efforts in a second. I suppose that any of us who deal with such significant highs and lows (and no, I don't think I am bipolar) need to plan for that as well. it is just hard to deal with it when in the throes of depression. However, working out is supposed to help, right?

Just a thought.