Motivation 
• It is a very personal & different things motivate different people.
• Enjoyment is key.
• Group training helps.
• A coach and/or program keeps you focused.
• Achieving your goals can be one of the best sources of motivation however the goals need to be realistic and in small steps.Goal Setting

It is really important to set goals with anything in life and triathlon is no different.  Without goals, how do we know whether we have been successful at a given pursuit?
Secondly, goals need to be categorized into short, medium & long term or they can be destructive. How un-motivating would it be as beginner to have your sole goal to win an Ironman when this may take 5-10yrs to achieve?  But there is no reason why this shouldn’t be a long-term goal, you just need to ensure you have steps in place leading up to this.  See below for examples:

Short-term:

I will finish an Olympic distance triathlon
I will build my longest ride to 80km
I will swim 1.5km open water 

Medium-term:                                       

I will finish a Half-Ironman race
I will build my longest ride to 120km
I will swim 1.5km in under 30minutes

Long-term:

I will finish an Ironman race
I will build my longest ride to 180km
I will swim 1.5km in under 25minutes 

Using the above structure, it gives you plenty of opportunity to achieve smaller goals on your way to your large goals.  We all need encouragement regardless of our level and it is important to take positive thoughts from every race and workout. With clearly defined goals, this is possible.  Take the short-term example above, “I will swim 1.5km open water.”  You could have a disappointing bike in a race but have achieved this goal in the swim.  By all means, analyze what went wrong with your bike but pat yourself on the back for a swim well done!  You can re-define your goals on a semi-annual or annual basis and this is where having a coach can be very beneficial. 

The most important thing is to have fun and don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t achieve……anything is possible, so get ready to surpass your limits. Go on…..get dreaming!

Online coaching and goal-setting available, contact madge@claire-murray.com or view personal training for more details.