It’s the off-season, meaning A-races are months away, and staying consistent is a challenge. Many athletes blame inconsistency on a lack of motivation—a common but flawed excuse. As a busy athlete, you can’t afford to wait for motivation before training. Between work, family, and the training volume required to reach your goals, relying on motivation alone will set you back.
If you’re struggling with consistency, remember: action creates motivation—not the other way around.
Top athletes don’t wake up feeling motivated every day. They take action first, trusting that motivation follows movement. Adopting this mindset will improve your consistency and drive long-term progress in triathlon and other areas of your life.
Evidence that motivation can result from action
As a collegiate cross-country runner, my teammates and I used to joke that the worse we felt during warm-up, the better our race would be. Looking back, there was real wisdom in this mindset. It kept us from falling into a negative headspace before big efforts and reinforced a crucial lesson: how you feel before a hard effort doesn’t dictate how you’ll feel once you’re in it.
This philosophy applied to workouts too. Feeling sluggish or unmotivated at the start didn’t mean the session would be bad. More often than not, simply getting started—moving, being around teammates, and letting the blood flow—flipped the switch. Sluggishness turned into focus, hesitation into momentum, and fatigue into energy. Action created motivation.
Think about your own training. How many times have you dragged yourself to a session feeling uninspired, only to find that, once you got moving, you felt strong, engaged, and ready to rock? This is an example of motivation following action. The key is to start, even when you don’t feel like it—because once you do, the effort itself has a way of igniting motivation.
The “Just Start” Rule
If you’re struggling wrapping your head around starting a workout due to lack of motivation, one of the most effective ways to train your brain to take action is to commit to just starting. Instead of overwhelming yourself with the idea of an entire four-hour ride or hard tempo session, shift your focus to the first step. The warm-up. Say to yourself, “I’ll do the warm-up. But if I still feel bad, I’ll stop.”
More often than not, the simple act of starting is enough to generate momentum. Your body and mind fall into rhythm, endorphins flow, and before you know it, you’re fully engaged in the session.
Note: If you start and actually do continue to feel terrible, then perhaps you’re fatigued and SHOULD skip the session. But, frankly, this rarely happens.
Move first, think later
If you want to reach your full potential as a working triathlete, stop waiting for motivation. Just start. Move. Take the first step.
Instead of “I don’t feel like training today,” say “I’ll start and see how I feel.”
Instead of “I don’t have the motivation,” say “Motivation will come once I begin.”
Instead of “I’m too tired to do this,” say “I’ll do the warm-up and reassess.”
Action fuels motivation. The more you just start, the more you accomplish in life and athletics.
Conrad Goeringer is an Ironman Certified Coach based out of Nashville, TN. He is the founder of Working Triathlete and author of the book The Working Triathlete. His passion is helping athletes of all levels and with all schedules achieve their endurance goals. Reach out to learn more about coaching packages and for a free consultation.