Centralized Motivation Tips Thread

There are several threads with people asking for motivational tips. I thought it would be a good idea to have one centralized thread with everyone’s tips. If this already exists (didn’t find one after a search), feel free to close it down. Here are mine:

  1. Change your goals to process goals. If your goal for the year is based around an A-race or some event, it will be natural to lose motivation after the race/event. If your goal for the year is to train X amount of hours every week, or hit X amount of hours this year, your goal is not over after the event.

  2. Try to do little commutes or evening rides each week. Sometimes a 15 minute evening cruise around the neighborhood where I don’t record it and take it easy will remind how good it feels to feel fit. Being a former overweight smoker, breathing through my nose riding up a hill reminds me how far I have come and makes me feel grateful that I found cycling. Likewise for a quick commute to the grocery store. The other day I biked to a friends house and had so much fun on the way home I wanted to sell my car.

  3. Take breaks from TR (sorry, TR). As good as it feels to nail a TR workout, it feels equally bad when you start to fail them. When this happens to me, I still do structured rides through a different venue (outside or just using wahoo app). If. I do it outside, sometimes I might do 2 minute climbs for a vo2 max workout. It is not perfect, but it is better than nothing. Once I start feeling better with these, I always go back to TR.

  4. Try and find at least one other hobby to help prevent burnout. When I split my time between cooking and cycling (cooking being my other hobby), I always look forward to each one.

  5. Lastly, move to MN. Nothing will get you outside on your bike like an impending winter. Once winter hits, take a couple weeks off and then start training for next year.

What does everyone else do to stay motivated?