How do you improve / train your tenacity?

Dont be a lazy bugger and jusrt want it more. No-one can do it for you. I diodnt want to go out in the torrential rain and 43 mph head winds today but i did. Despite the fact only 2 of us showed up for the sunday clubrun we still slogged 35 miles. Got home had lunch changed went for coffee then out to the garage for an hour hard interval session on the turbo. No pain no gain, nothing is free etc etc etc. My dad would just say " MAN THE F*&K UP"!

Good luck!

Get yourself a keen riding partner or join a club that way its harder to say no plus time seems to go quicker when you are not on your own.

was too cold the other evening

HTFU. Where do you live, Pluto?

Set yourself some realistic but challenging goals. Either distance or time based and go for it. promise yourself a "prize" for completion of the targets. Make sure that your other half or someone close to you is in charge of the target prize or you will give in..

You soft wimp, you're nothing but a wheelsucking novice condemned to being dropped forever. I bet even a motorway bridge can make your bendy legs burn. Feeling motivated now?

Seriously, you need to enjoy cycling every day, not just aim to peak for a couple of big rides per year. Go out when it's cold, enjoy the chill on your face but make sure you work up a sweat. Remember, cycling is hard but that's why it's satisfying, when you doubt whether to go out, think how you will feel when you come back home after a good ride and also, if you are a bike tart, only reward yourself with good kit once you've achieved something, so the smart winter jacket only after you've done a ride getting soaked, the warm gloves only once you can't feel your fingers! Get one of these.

Like the others say, join a good club and hook up with some aiming for similar things.

Rich-Ti wrote:

What can I do? I really want to set goals and publish them... but I fear I'll just find excuses again! :roll: :oops:

Any advice is appreciated 8)

Maybe cycling isn't for you :shock: I just wish I had your commitment to finding excuses not to go out

One of my clients has had black HTFU wrist bands made up.

Rich-Ti wrote:

idaviesmoore wrote:

Maybe cycling isn't for you :shock:

Get outta here!! Cycling is all I have, I'm damn sure it IS for me - I just need to do it harder and faster!! :twisted:

Just yankin' your chain, fella

I think you are what you are. If you aren't sufficiently motivated to train harder and longer given that you have the time to do so then you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. There will be perfectly good reasons (physicall and mentally), why you won't feel able to fulfill your training schedule.

Pushing yourself when you don't feel like it may seem like you are following the "No gain without pain" mantra that is the price you must pay to get faster, but you build fitness over time. Trying to go too fast too quickly can be counter productive.

You can't create motivation. It doesn't work like that. On the other hand it is easy to get de-motivated when things don't go well. If you keep training sensibly and consider your races as part of the training process then you will get results. The rider who beats you today may be the rider you beat in two or three months time.

Good luck. Mike

Enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it, find something else. If you enjoy it most of the time, then you will then be able to convince yourself to go out on the days where you don't feel like it. I find it funny when people talk about toughing it out through the wind and the rain. Is that toughing it out? I love it. Each individual training session is like a pebble that you're aiming at a jar. You need to actually go out and train tjust to be able to hold the pebble in your hands. Getting it into the jar depends on whether you hit your tagets. And as I like to think to myself, each session is different, just like each day is different and has it's own challenges. Sometimes the challenge is just getting out the door and spending time in the saddle.

I shouldn't bother listening to the whole "meet up with club members crew" just enjoy riding the bike through whatever conditions and whatever terrain. With people or on your own.

I know the difference between loving something and just grinding it out. Grinding it out is Ok but it's a lot harder than if you really love it. If you love it, it isn't grinding it out. That's why I quit athletics and took up cycling. I didn't love running even though I was in the top three in the UK for my age group for a nuber of years. I couldn't go on with it once my resolve to just "churn it out" had run dry. The feelings I have for cycling are totally different and that is what will make me better.

Rich-Ti wrote:

Thanks Patrick - I do enjoy it, trust me! Just sometimes more than others.

The main reason I wanna ride with a club is to get used to riding in groups so that it's not completely alien to me when I start racing, but I get your point 8)

Just don't forget to enjoy yourself. Realistically, when we're tired, fed up and whatever else, that's when we need to remember what it is about the sport we enjoy. The truly hard go through it all because they find it exciting. Like a kid with an adventure. If your body and your mind is in the right place, you will work harder and for more reward and enjoyment than if one or even both aren't. The good times only roll if you let them. :P