Noel referred the book The Triathlete's Guide to Mental Training to me early in the season, and I cannot tell you how much it has helped me work through the mental aspect of tri.

Some days that are better than others. Personally I decide whether or not its worth it to fight through the pain or to give in....I do more fighting ;) But occasionally I give in and I'm ok with that. Over the last 6 months I listened to my body (and you Trifuelers) and took a few days off when needed, and that usually got me motivated again to train hard.

I think...and believe that this endurance stuff is 90% mental and 10% physical. You can train your body to do just about anything, but training the mind is the key.

Yeah, I'm with Matt, My HR monitor is a constant reminder, a rabbit, a motivating tool which relentlessy reminds me to pick it up . Makes it easier to stay focused, it's like a game, keep the number between 138 and 148 all the time and before you know it, your done and have trained properly.

I find it really hard to train by myself as well. Here are my thoughts:

1. It's always easier to train with someone else keeping you accountable.

2. If i'm by myself and i want to mail it in I just think of a competitor out there training his a$$ off while I rest. That oftentimes does it.

3. Because i'm new to this i've seen great progress in my fitness level. The desire to keep moving forward and not regress is a strong motivator as well.

For the bike and the run I'll put a 3rd vote in for the HR monitor. Especially on the bike. On long rides it will tell me when to back off on a hill or when to pick things up on the flats. If I'm feeling good I often find myself over-reving up a hill and that can hurt hours later on your ride. On the other hand if the legs are tired I often find myself saying, you wuss, you can hold a HR 10 beats higher on this part of the ride so suck it up. It's amazing what the body can do when the mind tells it too.