Way back in winter and spring you dreamed about all the races you wanted to do in the coming race
season. Motivated by the upcoming race season, workouts seemed like fun and starting your training
bouts was no problem.
Now it’s getting toward the end of the season, and, even with maybe one or two more races on the
calendar, maybe your motivation is not quite as sharp and keen and juicy as it was pre-season.
How do you reconnect with that fun, bright, juicy motivation that propelled you forward some months
ago?
Step 1. Put yourself back into a specific incident a few months ago when you felt very strongly
motivated. When you put yourself back to that time, make sure that you can actually powerfully feel
what it felt like to be motivated. Make sure that you can feel that feeling of motivation right now.
Step 2. Hold that motivation feeling and now picture your upcoming race. Let the motivation feeling
soak in and sink into your picture of your next race.
Step 3. Whenever you think about your next race, recall that motivation feeling and connect those two
things, your next race and that feeling of motivation.
That will reconnect you to how jazzed you felt last spring and refresh you for the rest of the season.
Mental Skills Performance Coach Will Murray often hears triathletes saying that the sport is at least 50% mental and 50% physical, but he has come to notice that athletes spend very little (if any) time doing mental training. Fortunately, it’s easy and fast to train-up your mind to help you achieve your triathlon goals. He’s been lucky enough to bring mental conditioning techniques to first-time athletes and Olympians, kids and seniors, triathletes who want to finish the race, and those who are gunning to win.
Will is a USAT Certified Coach, holds a practitioner’s certificate and more than 100 hours of advanced training in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a certified administrator of the Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories Protocol. Will is co-author, with Craig Howie, of The Four Pillars of Triathlon: Vital Mental Skills for Endurance Athletes and Uncle: The Definitive Guide for Becoming the World’s Best Aunt or Uncle.
