Motivation,
It is not smooth sailing the whole time and someday it is a struggle to motivate yourself to do that hard interval session your dedicated coach planed for you. I personally ask myself the question: “why am I doing this to myself?”. This is the sort of question we normally ask our self when the going gets tuff. But what keeps us going? Motivation? We are going to discuss strategies to stay motivated and achieve the goals you desire.
I had the privilege to coach rugby with Bertie Grobler back in 2015. I learned a lot, not just about rugby and skills, but how to motivate the players and get them to perform at their best. At a team talk he ask the players to close their eyes and visualize a moment of glory. This could be lifting the World cup or just the joy between your fellow player when you score a try. He called this your Glory Moment and when the going gets tuff take a few seconds and think about this Glory moment to give you inspiration to carry on.
Some personality types are more social than others, and these people like to be with people. Where is the party? Cycling can be a lonely sport, but it does not have to be. Find an Accountability partner with the same ability and goals to motivate you. My Dad had the best example of this. He was a marathon runner and was training for an ultra-marathon. Every Wednesday they did a group long run but started at 5am, he was not the best at getting up so early, so if he was late, the training partners would through stones on the roof until my dad came out.
For others, the motivation can be to an inspiration to others. These are special people and an example of this is Adrien Niyonshuty. A Rwandan national that lost his whole family through genocide in 1990. He did not loose hope and used this situation to motivate him to achieve the highest level of cycling. He also represented his country at the Olympics and several World championships. He is an inspiration to many people in his home country and is currently running an academy for young aspiring cyclist. This is just one example of an exceptional person, you don’t need to look very hard to find others.
My personal motivation is goal setting and my son. I will talk about goals and setting goal in the next blog. The reason why my son is motivation is because I want the teach him through hard work and dedication, anything is possible.
To summarise: Get a Glory moment you can look at when you are struggling to do the last hill rep or help your buddy through that tuff session or just be an inspiration to others through your actions. Whatever your motivation is, the most important thing is that you enjoy what you are doing doesn’t matter what it is.
