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motivation

chase after someone in front, and don't be affraid to push it

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  • risris Posts: 1,002
    i have an inner voice that encourages me to fight, berate and urge myself on.



    on the bike particularly it tells me to chase the cyclists ahead of me and not to let up until they are distant specs. it asks me to find the extra mile an hour, attack that hill and power down on the flat.



    my run voice is let down by a weak body, but i'll push it until i know i can't bear the discomfort.



    i just figure that in a race you don't get to do part of it again - you can recover after so get stuck in and give it your best!

  • ZacniciZacnici Posts: 1,385
    My Dad was a fit old bugger. He started running when he left the army in 1945 - back then the sight of someone running on the streets for fun was not exactly common, that was something only strange middle class people did in the seclusion of athletic clubs etc. When I was in my teens and twenties in the 70's and eraly 80's we would go running together, still a sight that was not common and would often draw stares, and he would beat the pants off me.



    Anyway he was active right up to the 3 months before he died aged 80yrs and 8mths. One Sunday after he had been for a walk in the Saddleworth moors with a couple of friends (also octogenarians - they looked like the trio from Last of the Summer Wine - filmed about 5 miles away at Holmfirth) he collapsed with an intestinal bleed. After 2 bouts of surgery, both of which the doctors did not think he would pull through, he had a third operation just before Christmas 2005. As he lay in intensive care I was told 'he is not registering anyone ... the situation is not lookimg hopeful' I held his hand and after a few minutes his eyes moved and focussed on me, I told him that I loved him and ever so gently he squeezed my hand. Over the next few hours he amazed the staff by becoming more aware of his surroundings.



    I must say that I had let my fitness slide, I was hitting the scales at about 13 stone and attended the gym only because my wife had a good deal and then only did a light spin class once a week and had a swim every so often. One of the gym staff told me by way of passing that a triathlon was going to be staged there.



    On my next visit to Dad in a moment of I don't know what I told him that I was going to enter this triathlon. His face beamed and for a few moments he became his old self, he whispered 'keep it up'. A few weeks later he died.



    A few months later just after my 49th birthday, I found myself at the poolside waiting to start and thinking 'what the hell am I foing here with all these fit young people?' After an slowwww swim and very leisurely T1 I set off on my £60 Halfords mtb with chunky tyres and had all these people whizzing past. Then came the run, halfway through I was knackered, I was fat, unfit and 49 and thought 'this is bloody stupid, these kids are just laughing at me' but then my Dads words came into my head as if he was there willing me on, 'keep it up'. I finished and the feeling was amazing I was a triathlete.



    Three years later I have shed 2 1/2 stone, fitter than I have been in decades and apart from Triathlons run in 10K races. Whenever I am flagging I don't draw on my inner Zen, the 'when the going gets tough..' and all that other stuff I just get this feeling that Dad is by shoulder or watching at the side of the road and I hear his words 'keep it up'.



    One day I will do an Ironman and whenever I flag or have doubt those words will push me on, when I cross that finish line he will be there with his beaming boyish smile.
  • BlurredgirlBlurredgirl Posts: 292
    *sniff*



    What a lovely story. Thank you so much for sharing that. Someone pass me a tissue.....



    This season my motivation is two-fold. Firstly I have a very large operation planned for September that will see me in HDU for a while and then who know what after......so I want to cram as much into this summer as I can before I'm flat on my back again. Secondly I have my sights firmly fixed on doing a half-Ironman next year, when I've recovered, so am trying to work towards that a bit.



    blurredgirl
  • shadowone1shadowone1 Posts: 1,408
    frogger wrote:


    Hi all - first time posting :D



    How do you guys deal with motivation when you're going around?

    I was doing Blenheim last weekend and i felt i just wasn't pushing myself. When i crossed the line i was really happy that i'd finished but knew i had more to give.









    Easy,



    Get some rocky DVD's and rocky tunes on the Ipod or other generic MP3 player.

    Pretend that when your on the bike that you are rocky and...... am I taking this tooo far?



    What I'm trying to say is that everyone is different and that what works for someone doesn't necessarily work for others.



    Whatever you use it has to be something that means it will get to the very root of you, I was bullied when I was younger, cause I was quite smallish in my early teens. I then sprouted to a 6ft 4in man. I also got sweet revenge on those who bullied me as all of a sudden I was a lot bigger than them. Hence why I love the rocky films, always the underdog but always took it to the next level.



    I would suggest you also read Conehead's book, he talks about that very same feeling. Not feeling as though you've pushed yourself is one of the things that most triathletes feel. The demons!!! Conehead will tell you they sit on your shoulder screaming at you.



    Use that feeling as motivation in itself. Next time when your out on the bike and the legs hurt like hell, just remember how you felt after the first tri and keep pushing that bit further. Set a new pb and then aim to beat that. It will snowball from here.





    Good Luck and keep us posted.



    S11











  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    Zacnici's story is the second story I have read today relating to a deceased parent's influence/motivation.



    http://triathlontraining.net/2009/06/10/mystic-river-valley-triathlon-race-report/



    As my dad was dieing (lung cancer, smoked most of his life. PLEASE try to influence your kids never to smoke - I suspect I am preaching to the converted anyway) he asked me to take a well man check thing.



    So I did. 44 years old, 21.5 stone, 5'7", no exercise since I hung my rugby boots up a few years earlier. Diabetes II diagnoised an a lifetime of popping Metformin beckoned (if not worse).



    Joined a gym. Swam badly, messed around on the gym equipment. Then got serious with a training program. Attended gym, pool and classes 418 times in 2007, including 57 times in June of that year. Lost 5.5 stones.



    Entered 3./5 Km fun run November 2007 in Austria - it was snowing a blizzard.

    First 10K May 2008.

    First Tri Set 2008 (it seemed like a good idea when I signed up in March 2008 for cotswold super sprint though daunting. Training went so well I did the full distances as a training excercise twice beforehand).

    Three aquathlons summer 2008.

    1st half Marathon (having said I'll never run Halves!) march 2009.

    1st Sprint at salisbury May 2009.



    1st Oly coming up at Blithfield.



    My motivation? Not my dad, though he in a way started the path. But NEVER wanting to be so bloody disgustingly overweight and unfit again so as to leave my children by my bedside one day as I ask them to do something about their lifestyle 'cos I never did.



    I am sure my dad would be proud of me. But I doubt he could never be as proud of me as much as I am.



    _I_ am _my_ motivation.



    With a little bit of my dad's memory, and my kid's futures of course :-)



    didds

    PS If the above seems like I am dissing my dad I'm not. I still love him, miss him SO much, and think of him every day.

  • froggerfrogger Posts: 24
    thanks for sharing your stories Zacnici and didds :)



    i know exactly what you mean shadowone1 - there are a few things knocking around in the old grey matter that give me a little boost, a little kick up the back side. thanks for the book recommendation too. windsor tomorrow so ill post how it works out :)

  • willieverfinishwillieverfinish Posts: 1,381
    What motivates me ? ?













    My son.

  • nicknofingernicknofinger Posts: 284
    didds wrote:


    Zacnici's story is the second story I have read today relating to a deceased parent's influence/motivation.



    http://triathlontraining.net/2009/06/10/mystic-river-valley-triathlon-race-report/



    As my dad was dieing (lung cancer, smoked most of his life. PLEASE try to influence your kids never to smoke - I suspect I am preaching to the converted anyway) he asked me to take a well man check thing.



    So I did. 44 years old, 21.5 stone, 5'7", no exercise since I hung my rugby boots up a few years earlier. Diabetes II diagnoised an a lifetime of popping Metformin beckoned (if not worse).



    Joined a gym. Swam badly, messed around on the gym equipment. Then got serious with a training program. Attended gym, pool and classes 418 times in 2007, including 57 times in June of that year. Lost 5.5 stones.



    Entered 3./5 Km fun run November 2007 in Austria - it was snowing a blizzard.

    First 10K May 2008.

    First Tri Set 2008 (it seemed like a good idea when I signed up in March 2008 for cotswold super sprint though daunting. Training went so well I did the full distances as a training excercise twice beforehand).

    Three aquathlons summer 2008.

    1st half Marathon (having said I'll never run Halves!) march 2009.

    1st Sprint at salisbury May 2009.



    1st Oly coming up at Blithfield.



    My motivation? Not my dad, though he in a way started the path. But NEVER wanting to be so bloody disgustingly overweight and unfit again so as to leave my children by my bedside one day as I ask them to do something about their lifestyle 'cos I never did.



    I am sure my dad would be proud of me. But I doubt he could never be as proud of me as much as I am.



    _I_ am _my_ motivation.



    With a little bit of my dad's memory, and my kid's futures of course :-)



    didds

    PS If the above seems like I am dissing my dad I'm not. I still love him, miss him SO much, and think of him every day.





    Didds today you've made me laugh my head off and think about life, you've done well.



    My motivation is to make my son grow up thinking that exercise is normal not something done on a play station. And when I'm going round I talk to myself and tell myself I can do it.





  • ipay1980ipay1980 Posts: 84
    picture that you are doing the tri on a glass of water! not literally!



    but after the swim it is sligtly empty, after the bike, maybe half empty, and gradually empty it on the run! tip out the last few drops over the last 2 miles, and then collapse when you fall over the line
  • Jack HughesJack Hughes Posts: 1,262
    Great stories from Zac and Didds. Big lump in throat. Even I'm proud of you - so imagine how much Fathers/Kids must be!



    Race Motivation: I always have a detailed race plan - where I want to be at various stages. That keeps me focused! If I'm doing well, I focus on form, if I'm doing badly, then focus on getting back on pace. If it becomes obvious that the goals were too hard to achieve, I again focus on form. This requires an understanding of the course (either drive or cycle it before hand if possible, or detailed scrutiny on a map), and using, at the very least, a stop watch (or a GPS if there are no marks of distance on the course). There is no way that I could race with music...



    Motivation when Injured: Long term planning! Admittedly, now that I'm been told I need to be put down like a lame old horse, I'm struggling with it a bit. Should have gone out on the bike - but a bit worried about aggravating the knee as I have a 4 hour drive ahead of me this evening. However, I'm focusing on the swimming - which is improving in leaps and bounds (or gulps an splashes). Rewards for achieving things - new bits of kit etc. I've just "rewarded" myself with a new gadget for counting laps when swimming, for example.



    Big Picture Motivation: Refusing to get old, trying to make the best of my life - doing things that are challenge; finding how far I can go. There are some targets for this - trying to get a total cholesterol of < 5 by next Birthday, and a blood pressure of < 120/75)!
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