Motivation to train

[Leon Besaans]

Hello All,

 

I have hit a real down in my training.

 

How do you guys motivate yourselves to train. Make no mistake, I enjoy riding, but have really lost interest spending endless hours in the saddle, and spiniing you can have for free, I endure that only in the coldest months of the year.

 

Would love to hear your motivational stories.

 

Regards,

 

Leon

[NotSoBigBen]

Buy something 'moer' expensive

[rouxtjie]

What bennie said

[hboli4]

I enter Ironman and Transbaviaans each year. Forces me to train

[Jaco-fiets]

Nothing like getting you back on the bike like splashing 50K+ on a toy. Was the only thing that motivated me to get back on the bike after 10months off last year

[martinsnyman]

Join a club/group ride

[LRW]

My entire riding group group is out to get me.....they all said that this is their year...and going for faster times in all the races we enter.

 

I cant let that happen........even the younger guys in the group need to learn their place

[Rapunzel]

it's cheaper to enter an event than to buy a new bike!

Seriously, arrange to join a group or get out with a friend - makes it more difficult to cancel your training ride.

[Iron]

Leon , you need to have fun on your bike . rule number one !

 

Enter 3 or 4 big races throught the year ( one at the biginning , keeps you going through dec )

( one in the middle , keeps you going through winter )

( one at the end , keeps you going all year round )

 

Ride with friends often , those rides are the ones that dont feel like training but are a blast , stop have coffee , have fun .

 

Oh and but new **** all the time , nothing like new stuff to get you out on the bike .

 

Ps , build a single speed :-) ( we have had this chat )

['Dale]

Hello All,

 

I have hit a real down in my training.

 

How do you guys motivate yourselves to train. Make no mistake, I enjoy riding, but have really lost interest spending endless hours in the saddle, and spiniing you can have for free, I endure that only in the coldest months of the year.

 

Would love to hear your motivational stories.

 

Regards,

 

Leon

 

Leon,

 

Take a break.

Start swimming or running. Or hiking. An alternative way to keep fit.

Your hunger can re-emerge with great freshness.

 

Mental staleness is normal after too much of the same thing.

[hboli4]

Leon , you need to have fun on your bike . rule number one !

 

Enter 3 or 4 big races throught the year ( one at the biginning , keeps you going through dec )

( one in the middle , keeps you going through winter )

( one at the end , keeps you going all year round )

 

Ride with friends often , those rides are the ones that dont feel like training but are a blast , stop have coffee , have fun .

 

Oh and but new **** all the time , nothing like new stuff to get you out on the bike .

 

Ps , build a single speed :-) ( we have had this chat )

 

Very true!!! I mix my training up with slow coffee runs with friends and family and have also recently built a SS. It has opened up a new world!!! Pure enjoyment all over again, getting back to the 'basics'. Loving it so much that I'm gonna get a On-One Inbred!!!

[mon-goose]

I agree with Dale. I only do swimming at the moment and I know that every few months I'm going to have a down period where I just don't feel like doing it. But I've realised that it doesn't last long. In those times I usually drop the distance that I'm swimming and try and swim at the times where I'm most energetic. But I keep swimming through it.

[Falco]

If you don't feel like training, and aren't being paid to train, then don't train.

 

Pack the bike away and do something completely different for a while.

 

Chances are after a week or 10 days you will be missing the bike, and ride it again with renewed vigour.

 

Works for me every time.

[Capricorn]

if u use an HRM, take one or two rides in the month, or when you're needing some motivation, ditch the witch and just go ride for the funsies.

 

Mix up your training. Do stuff other than cycling. the day it starts to feel like a job, is the day you need to stop and do something else.

 

Go watch other ppl be awesome. Nothing more motivational than watch a world class athlete make the impossible seem so easy.

[Wil6]

4 weeks ago I torn my ligaments in my ankle. Was on crutches and in a moon boot until Monday. Last night I said to hell with it and climbed on my trainer. Luckily all went well and it did not hurt at all.

 

From now on just being able to get on my bike or be healthy enough to do the sport I love so much, will be enough to motivate me

[RudoJ]

I've was struggling with the very same thing about a year and half ago.

So I decided that I'm not going to enter any races, just going to ride whenever I feel like it and with no HRM's or anything.

Then something personal happened and I decided to focus more on my training and get ass into gear. Now I am as hyped and focused as never before and planning to do a few nice hard events in the next year.

 

I guess its just a matter of knowing when to take a break, "ride" out the bad patch and then revving it up again. Trust me, you will never stop riding.

 

Or just build a SS as the others said