Winter Motivation To Get Your Butt Out The Door

 By LifeSport Coach Lance Watson

It’s a Saturday morning halfway through December. You are relatively fit but training volume and frequency has been in steady decline. If you want to start your 2009 season building fitness rather than trying to get  back in shape, the time for an action plan is now!

New Environments.

As you step out of the car for your weekly base run, a routine you have been doing steadfastly since March, you wonder to yourself, “How many times have I run this route this year?” Make a decision to change things up. Run through a different neighborhood or bike with a new spin class, or drive an hour to start a ride somewhere different. Create new challenges that are fun. Add a run-hike over a new mountain trail in place of your usual base run.

It’s refreshing to get out of town, and to take a break from the same old bike loop you’ve been riding all year. If you are in a cold climate head south, and perhaps join a winter vacation bike tour, to get in some fun and scenic bike miles - not too mention fresh air if you have been locked inside on your trainer!

Join an organized weekend training camp with some friends. This can create some energy that will fuel your training for weeks. If you are a typically busy athlete, balancing your sport with the rest of your life, a training camp is an opportunity to affirm your passion and take some personal time and build skills. There are many coached training camps offered, but you can organize your own too. Choose a venue that appeals to you but put in some research.

Celebrate Your Success, Plan for Improvement.

Review the goals you wrote down at the start of your 2008 season. Have you achieved any of your goals? Did you acknowledge your fastest mile repeat ever at the track, or the fact that you swam the whole race without dwelling on sharks lurking at the bottom of the lake? Were you more dedicated to your nutrition? Acknowledge your small victories and give yourself a pat on the back. Even elite athletes, who are very goal oriented and forever pushing themselves to raise the bar, often forget to celebrate the small successes along the way. 

Review some of the targets missed. Write down what you hope to achieve in 2009. The winter months are prime time for laying plans and a logical time to refine single sport skills to get you where you want to go. Work on your pedal stroke, consult a sport nutritionist, or read some current sport psychology. Sign up for a masters swim meet to give you incentive to work on your swim skills.

Run Forrest, Run

Heading off to a run race is so easy! No bike and transition gear to pack, so little nutrition to worry about. All you do is step up to the start line and run from point A to point B as fast as you can. Not only are road races fun, they increase your run fitness for triathlon, and they build your sense of expertise and prowess as a runner. Find a local running race and go for your fastest 5k or 10k ever. You don’t have to fully taper, but use the race day instead of a tempo training session and keep it light and carefree. This isn’t a triathlon, so you can do it for fun.

Fun First, Friend and Family.

Playfulness and games are the reason we started participating in activity as a kid, and should still be a core part of why we do sport. Remind yourself of why you do triathlon (all the reasons), and train with the joyfulness of a kid at the playground. Make time to get out with friends and family, and adjust your pace if necessary to enjoy a more social aspect to your training.

Play games. If you train with a group, organize a workout that includes a fun relay at the end. Divide the group into teams of four (attempting to make the teams equal makes it more exciting), decide on a format (25 or 50m, all freestyle or mix), and RACE. Extra people can act as judges and rotate in. Cram everybody into one lane and swim “skinny”, doing relaxed freestyle without bumping into the person immediately next to you (or bump into them if you want to flirt!). Try the swimming wheelbarrow race. A team of two swimmers in tandem includes one swimmer acting as the freestyle “arms” while the swimmer at the back holds onto both his/her partner’s ankles and is the “legs”. How fast can your team go?

Run workouts can be run as relays as well. You can do this at a track but choosing a trail through the woods (where runners disappear for a moment) is more fun. In groups of 2-4 athletes run 600-800m tagging off to the next runner. If you rotate through the group 4 times, then each person does a maximum effort with 200-400% rest and the spirit of racing for the fun of it is infectious. Silly prizes make it more fun, but the smiles and encouragement is more than enough reward.

Get your friends or run group together and organize a game of “Capture The Flag”, “Kick The Can”, or soccer. You’ll get a great fartlek type workout and have fun doing so!

At the end of a bike workout, spend half an hour refining your bike skills. Practice bunny hops, pick up a water bottle from the ground without unclipping (or your bike pump if you are really good), or ride on a grass field with a buddy and practice bumping shoulders and wheels at low speed on a soft surface. I guarantee you will find yourself giggling like a kid, grinning ear to ear.

Keeping everything in perspective is a big part of achieving your goals. Take your training seriously, but take yourself lightly!