The triathlon season is over for another year, so it's the time to focus your energies elsewhere. Autumn is an excellent time to think about your performances in the past year and to set goals for next season.Setting goals can be broken down

with the motivation to train day in and day out so he can achieve the results he wants. And when things don't go the way they're supposed to, he knows that plans can, and must, be altered to suit new circumstances.Setting a goal is a process that must begin

Triathletes are a driven bunch, always setting goals, generating plans and setting new challenges. The summer race season is the culmination of enormous effort and determination. Then, sooner than you thought possible, the main races are over - you

motivated athletes but it's vital, otherwise long-term performance will suffer," says Maitland. His advice: agree your goals with the key people in your life.  Finding the balance between work, life and sport for top age-group athletes is particularly tough

and exercise psychologist at Sheffield Hallam University, to develop strategies that will enable him to reach his Ironman goal.This summer he'll take part in small triathlons to become used to the atmosphere at races. "Rob is helping me to develop strategies

Picture the scene: after 10 hard years of racing and training, you make a triathlon breakthrough by qualifying for the ITU World Championships. You're one of the finest triathletes in the country, winning the right to join Team GB.So you fine

've achieved your goal - completing a triathlon. And then another.But now something's not quite right. There's an itch that hasn't been scratched to your satisfaction. You're wondering could you have gone any faster, trained harder, perhaps overtaken the guy

How to get started "The winter months are for base training. When the weather is bad, just keep reminding yourself of this. It's always important to have goals to drive you through the tough times." - Michelle Dillon "Try to train with other

a life, and you do. With three sports to juggle, as well as a full-time job and maybe a family, training for triathlon is a compromise between training you know you should do, and the training you know you can do.  But that doesn't mean you can

, and they all get so much from listening to each other; it's very motivational," he says.2. Go the extra mile If you haven't changed your race distance since you started triathlons, then the chances are your training hasn't change much, either. Even if you