Finding it really hard to get the motivation to train at night

I decided to add cycling and swimming to my running today. The plan is to run in the mornings and add turbo and swimming sessions in the evenings on some days. 

I love to train in the morning. I find it REALLY hard to train at night, after work Even when I am working from home! Today was a prime example - ran this am, missed my turbo this evening. 

Guess I just need to man up - maybe having a triathlon target would help but i don't want to set one until i have done my marathon in April. Anyone else have this problem or are you all, as i suspect, supremely motivated? 

I have to admit - the Something No Different To Last Years Competition thread is helping. Oh well, tomorrow is another chance to get on track.

i think it depends on how you think about your sessions, how you intergrate it. i decide in the morning what im going to do, at what intensity and at what time. If i know im not going to have too much time in hte late evening i make sure i get my session in before i eat. If im going to have a big dinner = i train before because no one likes to train with a belly full. For me its also how i word my thoughts - for example i will think " im going to do XXXX before XXXX" 

why did you miss your session tonight - trained too hard in the morning? didnt have time? CBA ? i think you need to eliminate your excuses before you begin. If you really like running then why not make sure you do your other session before you run - delayed gratification  hope you can sort it 

If you find training in the morning easier - then why not mix it up? Try and get a couple of turbo sessions in, and two morning swims.

That saves your favourite (running) until later which you may find easier to motivate yourself for?

I certainly found the 'Something  Different to Last Years Competition' useful in 2011 when I started - find an 'annoying' so-and-so who posts a few more points than you each week and try and beat them 

I actually find it easy to train at night this time of year than in the morning.  I really struggled getting up in the dark on Sunday morning for my long ride.  You have just got to get on with it though.  No magic formula.

I do most my training in the evening, it is not as if there is ever anything worth watching on tv so thats when I train.

Having a new event to train for (ironman) has got me fired up and keen to train though. last winter I stopped running during the week and only ran at weekends. I was determined not to let that happen this year.

Swimming and Turbo training I'm happy to do anytime, its the running that I dislike doing in the dark as I prefer to use off road tracks, joining a tri club makes one evening run a week more enjoyable and gets me out, 

Picture yourself sitting on the side of the road 65 miles into your bike leg, feeling upset or annoyed that you have nothing left and your Ironman dreams are over......should give you the drive to want to train at anytime and in any weather....it does for me.

Consider nutrition.

If your energy levels are down in the early evening this may create a weak mind that is open to giving in. If you eat lunch early (12:00) and don't get home till 18:00-19:00 then where is the fuel coming from for the evening session. So you eat and are then too full.

A late afternoon snack may carry you through and enable training. Plus if you don't then train you will get fat - so training is not optional.

I do most of my training in the evening and often do my marathon training long run on a Monday evening. Out at 6pm, back by 9pm, wash, dinner, bed. However I rarely train twice in a day. Saturdays have a morning swim and afternoon run or bike.

At first you just need to apply will power, at some point routine helps keep you going.

If you dont enjoy something, or cant face doing something as part of a path to a goal race (for example)  then don't do it. If you dont like training evenings then don't. Train mornings and lunchtimes (when you work from home). It's supposed to be a hobby and supposed to be fun, not a chore.

If you don't want to train, then don't.

It really is as simple as that.

Disagree...if you have paid to enter an event (and i think you have) then you want to enjoy it and compete, so you need to train.

X-post with TR. I do get fed up of these 'motivate me' posts. You either want the end goal enough, or the journey enough... Or you don't.

It really is as simple as that. However anyone balking because of lack of confidence or in need of a mentor, we're here to help. Just PM.

m..eface wrote (see)

Consider nutrition.

It's not 'nutrition' unless you're elite and have a team of specialists behind you.

It's eating stuff and drinking stuff.

Fair nuff KK.

Flat Foo..ted wrote (see)

Fair nuff KK.

That's very close to 'fairy muff'. I approve.

kittenkat wrote (see)

m..eface wrote (see)

Consider nutrition.

It's not 'nutrition' unless you're elite and have a team of specialists behind you.

It's eating stuff and drinking stuff.

I'd hate to get a dictionary out................

...............however the point is the same. I find if I have evening session planned, especially a longer session then I have to adapt my eating such that I am not starving or recently stuffed.

I would also agree with FlatFooted. It is possible to want to do events, and enjoy training but not want to do every single training session. We all sometimes struggle for motivation and have to push ourselves out the door. Or have you always wanted to do every single training session you have ever done?

Also not sure how many of us actually train twice a day.

Elipses are ...

I'm not a fan of............................................. this............................... stuff...............

Just punctuate a bit... ... ... ...

But in retrospect, we could crack the Enigma code... Jog on...

Kittenkat in reply to your first post, if you dont like these kinds of posts then don't waste your time and that of those participating in them by moaning about how you don't like such posts. Haven't you got anything better to do? If you have, do it. If you haven't, find something to fill that void in your life. This was not a request for motivation. If that is what I wanted I would have put in the subject, 'request for motivation'. 

Meface - it could but nutrition. I need to take a look at that. I'm creating a daily calorie defecit in order to lose some weight and i did not think about the fact that this will have its impact on training in the evening more than training in the morning when I am relatively fresh.

This evening I went for a swim. I made sure my meal before the session was much earlier than the session so i would not be feeling full and 'comfortable' when it was time to head to the pool, but at the same time I felt energetic. It worked - I had no issue going and enjoyed the session.

I think a part of the problem is also that I really dislike the turbo trainer. I need to make the environment I turbo train in a bit more appealing. Right now my turbo is sat in the middle of a cluttered up garage and it's a bit offputting. 

Thanks for the tips folks. 

I was going to say is it motivation to train or motivation to sit on a turbo trainer that is lacking ?     I find turbo training takes time to get into - use it twice a week and you get into a habit after a few weeks - it can almost become fun...almost.   Are you turbo training to a plan though - do you have a heart rate/speed/power that you are aiming for in each session ?  

The other thing that I find helps is having a bike set up on the turbo ready - so I only have to motivate myself to get out into the garage and train not to spend 20 minutes faffing about with it before I even start training.   

If you really can't face it though is there no way you could do an evening road ride -depends where you live but I have a 24 mile loop I can do at night which is lit and probably no more dangerous than riding in daylight.