Always enjoying your journey @VegasJen - I think it’s pretty normal to go through ups and downs, especially with other pressures like work.
I am older athlete like you, and can train around 340 days a year; as a kid I grew up playing the piano and I’m no athlete poor cordination but I have fairly good will power to start and finish things because I am a plodder and I did music which requires daily practise - this consistency though is a trait same as some people are tall or short, sporty or like me not sporty, higher/lower IQ/reasoning or more/less empathetic; we have our proclivities, someone like me saying “you just have to try harder or why are you lazy” is pointless as my mental strain to just train or race is less than others. Just as some people learn languages, have great hand eye coordination to box, or can drum 2 feet 2 hands independently effortless none of which are me. I train and race with people who have serious motivation issues that I simply don’t face; they have a lot more talent, so maybe they never needed to have the habits I do. Nothing to do with work load or life stress, it’s just our different natures. That obstinance and obnoxiousness in my approach to life took me to the top of my career path, and also probably has caused heart and health issues so this is not a boast, but it is a meaningful difference that I’ve learned to recognise between me and the less motivated. Some of them have come a bit more on my side of the approach, and it’s helped them with endurance sport, I’ve moved a little closer to them in other parts of my life which has made my life better too.
That said, training consistently is a major key to endurance sports, so learning a few ways to improve how you approach training to be more consistent can help. A lot starts with not thinking in terms of goals and motivation but rather what is the path of least resistance and process to just get s**t done.
- you don’t rise to the goals you set, you sink to your habits you form: so reframing training as not as today motivated or not but rather I just do. Same as taking out the garbage, sleeping 7 hours a night, showering every day, eating healthy etc; then you aren’t relying on ‘feeling it’ you just roll out of bed, or arrive home and it’s just ok, we are doing this. A subtle but important difference, also a key why diets and many short term motivation based interventions fail so much; really hard to stay motivated for something when the payoff is huge but a one off and a long way away. I’m motivated to acheive the goal of climbing Mt Everest….vs. each day I will do XXm of climbing, each week I will go to rock climbing and do 4 hours of bouldering etc etc - the process will invariably lead us to the acheive the goal, but our focus in on process compliance. Not looking at pictures of the Hillary step and dreaming of standing no that majestic mountain alone.
- be path of low effort; the more you have created as ‘work’ prior to training the less likely you are to complete; having no plan, having to set up your bike when you are already tired, having a flat tire right near the start of a long ride….we’ve all felt the straw that breaks the camels back when we say f**k it and call it a day. Try to make it as easy as possible to get to 20min, like someone above said (they said 15min, something like that). Everyday every session, you give yourself an out - 20min in and you really aren’t feeling it, that’s when you stop. Regroup for next day. But you always do the 20min and it is surprising once that consistency is formed how often after 20min you realise you can keep going…and that feeds into a consistency loop
- avoid the reward cycle too much: whether posting on strava and feeling good for the likes and kudos, or rewarding a successful completion with cake (and no cake on the other days) we try to minimise the motivation output for successful completion, again, it’s just what we do who we are to do these workouts again and again and again. The success reward is also the not do punishment 2 sides of the coin, I’m not a fan of this way, better to just slowly change it to be more stoiac; although I don’t put slotting workouts into the logical flow of a day in that category; for example weekends having the training all done by lunch time and having a nice leisurely lunch after, knowing you already have it out of the way, etc etc. that’s smart. The lunch isn’t a reward exactly as you would eat anyhow, but sure is nice and knowing you can have a nap chill out and whatever rather than getting to 7pm and knowing you still have a work out to knock out, well that’s just harder
- accept the 30 40 30 rule of training: 30% will be really really good; 40% is just ok, 30% is garbage either fail, incomplete, and that’s fine. You need to be failing some of the time to push some of the time knowing that you are doing too much. Again, no shame in not hitting targets or duration; the only thing we want to avoid is not even starting and trying. So, not too much reward, not too much focus on success - its just what we do
- have a plan: the idea of going around and not having any plan at all is creating a greater strain. Also you say big project around the house. So that day, you know you are already working hard on pulling out some massive tree stump, digging a hole or whatever; so that day your planned workout is you do all that stuff, have already laid out your swim gear, and once you are done, you go kick back. FYI we only have a few good decisions in us everyday, do not underestimate the mental strain of having to make extra decisions; if you end up stacking on decisions about social media, whether to post or not, should I swim now or later, if I swim what should I do….the body doesn’t know that these decisions are less magnitude than ‘a lion is chasing me and wants to eat my arm, should be run or climb that tree, because I could die"‘ instead it has that same physiological response to some degree….so we try not to wear ourselves out with the no plan adding a what should I do today decision or even should I swim or bike or run….prep plan and just do it easier
Within a day….plan. Within a week a set number of days. 4 week cycle as an older athlete, if you are hitting consistently decent vol then 3 weeks hard training 1 week recovery week when you can kick back a bit. Within a season 2 or 3 cycles of block base, block build, block peak, race, short rest then repeat. And within a year one full tune out a few weeks where you let your body and mind fully wind down in an off season, and that might be 1 week 2 weeks doing zero endurance no control on diet etc then another 2-3 weeks some training but no watch no structure just you go and run swim bike lift weights whatever for the sheer joy of doing. And then structured training - a proper mindful approach to master specific skills, processes and outcomes that feed into the races or whatever goals you have in mind. I’d be way more focused on process than goals.
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get the small things right: nutrition before and during; enough sleep. Enough electrolytes. Comfy bike clothes and shoes. Amazing how many of the people I know who are least motivated least consistent. I show them how I sleep and eat vs them. Their habits utterly suck. I couldn’t workout either sleeping randomly 8 nights 1 night 3 hours the next, waking up lights on etc; good sleep and diet habits are key
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have a support network; doing things where you are accountable can also help a bit; so for long runs and rides having someone you are accountable to so you feed into eachother’s habits as you run together can help some people (note I don’t do this other than our squad days, I find it mentally straining to rely myself to be exactly on time or trust other people to be on time etc, I prefer to just ride and run alone again it’s that make the mental strain as low as possible)
Motivation and goals to me is a minefield of personal suffering. Habits and consistency is a lot easier. Just my 2c. All the best you are an inspiration to many, myself included.
