George is having motivational issues. He continues to train six days a week, but during the rides he finds he has  very negative thoughts. The situation is worse in competition, as during racing if George doesn’t find himself in the leading pack soon after the start, he feels like giving up. As a result, he slips further down the race positions, until he finishes at a much lower level than he is used to. Some people have said that he is no longer a competitive cyclist.

After analysing George’s training routine and the competitions in which he enters, it became clear that George was overtraining. Furthermore,  the training that George is doing is very monotonous and he only does it to say he’s done training. As with many cyclists, he is not having fun anymore. I asked George what his training programme was 7 years ago,  just after he’d turned professional. George told me that he did not cycle as much distance in training those days, but spent a lot of time messing around on his bike, doing short sprints and playing games with other cyclists. Now though, he spends too long on his bike and the fitness benefits of sprints and games are no longer there. This in turn has reduced his fitness and in an attempt to get it back he is overtraining by cycling long distances. George has noticed no effects of this extra training and therefore is becoming very unmotivated.

 

Cyclists often need a break from their bike. Becoming bored with training and competition suggests they’re bored with their bike. I asked George to take time off from road cycling during the winter months and to try a new sport. I also recommended that he get out his old mountain bike and head into the woods a couple of times a month. In fact George took up rugby during the winter and went mountain biking around country lanes with his amateur friend throughout the winter.

As spring arrived, George returned to his road bike and found the speed and the thrill of cycling exhilarating again. He structured his training sessions day by day, ensuring that he had variation, he even kept aside time to take his mountain bike out for a spin! The following season was much better for George, although the training routine took a while to get used too. George started achieving some excellent results midway through the season and was enjoying his cycling once again.

 

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