Let's see if this works:






A little bit of the Eagles, for those who don't know it. "We may lose, and we may win, but we will never be here again."

Always liked this quote on Svein Tuft's forearm, but remember hearing Buffed Brad say it in his mincing voice in the worst waste of two hours ever, the horrendously dialogued film Troy.

Thanks so much for pointing out the script writer had stolen it from the Eagles, that makes it a most excellent quote once again!

Mine is obviously 'feed the rat' prior to a challenge, although Conan's "To cuh-rush your en-em-eez..." is a good one before the games commence too. In the heat of training or competition, or when the going gets tough, or I start to want to ease off, 'no regrets you #$%^!' usually works.
;-?

Today.Is.My.Day.

Showing my age here - "Break on through to the other side" - preceded by humming the great bass line from the Door's song of the same name.

I'm adopting this

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/773280
http://imroycer81.blogspot.com/
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everymanjack.com

"Savor every moment."

Good..bad...hard...all the moments count in the end. I'm not going to give up experiencing any of them.

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Chris Harris

"Enjoy every sandwich" - Warren Zevon

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

go faster go faster go faster go faster hold this pace keep going keep going relax hold this pace go faster GET ON THAT FUCKING WHEEL!!! Good pace keep going relax keep going...........etc.

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"I like to start out slow, and then taper off."

-Doug Thorne (TVHS XC)

In high school, we had a guy on our CC/Track team that got hit by a car and landed on his head, and ended up in a coma for the summer. Our coach used to use him as an example. He'd say:

"What you are feeling right now is discomfort, not pain. What he felt when the car hit him and he landed on his head was PAIN"

I think of that guy every time I feel a little "discomfort" during a race or training. It later translated again after seeing the physically challenged guys and gals out on the courses.

Not pain, discomfort, now suck it up buttercup!

For some reason I always go back to the same maddening chant/mantra:

'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...'

Over, and over, and over, swim bike and run. Friggin Dory.

"If the fire is hot enough, it will burn anything."

But that mantra has more to do with my eating habits than training/racing. For that I'll go with the Great Jens Voigt:

"Shut up legs!"

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Follow me on twitter @andrewlangfield

Follow my fourth year in the pro field at http://andrewlangfield.blogspot.com/

+1 for Yoda

Also, during winter training (interior New England): There are dreams that need to be crushed come spring-time... and they aren't going to crush themselves.

Not a mantra, but what drives me at times is passing a car on a hard pick-up (yes, passing a car) with a super-fat, smoking, smelly, disgusting, no teeth, fat chick on the cell phone bitching about the prices at McDonalds. Or running/riding past the same person spectating at a race who is pissed they can't get out of their driveway and screaming... "how long is this marathon?"

f@&^#ng idiots...

And as always from the great Tim and Tony DeBoom: The Fit Shall Inherit The Earth!

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-Eric
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"The Fit Shall Inherit the Earth" -Endurance Conspiracy

I think the ST collective should take 10 to 20 of these and put them on a nice light grey tech shirt.... we could all wear them so the regular people we encounter at the gym will know what we think when we see them stop after 10 minutes of jogging or whatever else they might be doing.

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You will remain the same person, before, during and after the race. So the result, no matter how important, will not define you. The journey is what matters. ~ Chrissie W.

I memorized the whole Dylan Thomas poem, but the main part is the best:

"Do not go gentle into that good night......rage, RAGE against the dying of the light!"

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There is only one thing in the world worse than being witty....and that is not being witty.

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I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.

H.M.F.D.

Hunt Mother Fuckers Down.......

"I know what's within me, even if you can't see it yet!"

I simply sing the line of a song to myself. That song?

"I really do like it when you f*ck me dead"

an old punk song my brother played for me just one time. It's stuck in my head ever since and it's become my mantra, particularly running up looooong hills.

Before a race, I listen to the same song over and over and over. That song?

Rolling Stones "Don't Stop" from 40 Licks. Just a happy little Stones pop song that keeps me going.

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

"I feel good, I feel strong" -- got me through that hellacious bike at Leadman.

But, I also like what my Grandpa used to yell at us at sports events: "LEAVE IT ALL ON THE FIELD!"

And, I'd give an up-vote to the guy who yelled "EAT THE PAIN!", that's not bad either.

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blog: transitionfour.com
twitter: @tritweeter

"Fatigue makes cowards of us all." Lombardi
"It's not enough to do our best, sometimes we must do what is required." - Winston Churchill, during the Battle of Britain, when the RAF were out-gunned and out-numbered, and the British stood alone against Germany.

After my battle with cancer: "This (IM run in 95 degrees/training run along frozen Lake Michigan/etc) is better than the alternative, and I am on this side of the grass."

When I need to chase someone down in the run: "I'm chasing my antelope."

"I am relentless."

A couple years ago at Oceanside I kept telling myself "light, fast, strong." This year, during the swim, I suddenly realized I was feeling really good and thought "I feel good. This is my day." The rest of the race I kept telling myself "Today is my day." I ended up PRing on the course.

- Ken

"When you want to be successful as bad as you want to BREATHE, then you will be successful"

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"That doesn't make any sense at all, you can be second, third, fourth... hell you can even be fifth." - Reese Bobby, Taladega nights

"Get busy living...or get busy dying."
<The Shawshank Redemption>

I figure if this way; if I don't get out today and do what I know I have to do, I can't ever get that day back.

My other one was already mentioned, from Master Yoda:
"Do or do not. There is no 'Try'".

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2005 Cannondale Cyclocross

Love this thread.

I have a few.

"What have you done today to make you feel proud?". Cheesy line from a song by M-People (British Band). Not necessarily a great song, but that line summarises perfectly why I decided to do IM in the first place and wakes me up when I'm wondering why I am putting myself through this sh*t, riding into the wind, soaked to the skin when I could be playing xbox with a sandwich in my hand. I have the letters WHYDTTMYFP written on my RoadID.

"Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever". Popular paraphrasing from everyone's favourite Texan. But I find it to be very true.

"Money in the bank". To remind me that the discomfort I'm feeling today pays itself back on race day.

And lastly, simple and elegant. Said out loud to myself, usually on the turbo trainer during a sufferfest session, when the demon on my shoulder is making up excuses to end the session early. "Come on you w*nker".

Rich.