Motivation, or Why I Race

PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay

While my race season certainly isn’t over for the year (I still have Space Coast in November), my triathlon season certainly is.  And already, I’m feeling my motivation wane.

This is a big part of why I race.  Don’t get me wrong – I love racing.  I love the sense of accomplishment.  Augusta 70.3 was so incredibly hard and yet so incredibly worth it for me.  I’m proud of what I accomplished and I’m looking forward to improving on that accomplishment in the year to come.

But really, I schedule races throughout the year so that I have something I’m training for.  If I don’t have a goal on the schedule, something I’m determined to succeed at (or at least not fail at), I’m hard pressed for motivation.

Yes, I know exercise is good for me.  Yes, I know it will help me lose the weight I’m perpetually trying to drop.  But some days, I just don’t want to.  Not for any particular reason, just because I’m feeling lazy.  And if I don’t have a race I’m working towards, I have that much less incentive to actually do the workout.

Over the summer, I stuck hard to my training schedule and it paid off.  I did miss workouts when I wasn’t feeling well, but those were few and far between, and they were when skipping the workout was the smartest thing to do.  But now, my next triathlon is months and months away.  Do I really need to go to the pool?  No.  But I should go anyway.  It’s good for me and I actually enjoy it once I’m there.

So this is a big part of why I race.  I need the added motivation.  I wish I could be one of those people who exercise every day because they love how it makes them feel.  Nope.  I just don’t want to embarrass myself at my next race.

Hey, whatever works.

The post Motivation, or Why I Race appeared first on Elbowglitter.