After an enthusiastic start, many runners face a common struggle: staying motivated after the first couple of months. As the initial excitement wears off and new obstacles begin to appear, it’s important to find new ways to stay motivated.

Running and training can be a physical and mental challenge, however, with a few effective strategies, you can maintain focus on your objectives without losing motivation.

Here are five factors that can help you to maintain motivation while you train for a race:

Establish clear and realistic goals: Establishing specific and realistic goals is fundamental in order to stay motivated. Establishing long and short-term goals such as running a certain distance under a specific time or participating in a particular race are two examples of how these could look. The key is to make sure these goals are both realistic and measurable so that you can measure your progress as celebrate your achievements in your training journey.

Create a diverse training plan: Monotonous training can quickly lead to a loss in motivation. To avoid this, design a training plan with different types of exercises or drills such as timed races, resistance training and strength training. The constant variation will keep your routine fresh and challenging, avoiding boredom and bringing you new stimulus to improve your athletic performance.

Find a training partner or join a group: Running or training with other people can be very motivating. Find someone who shares similar goals and interests, or join a local running group. Sharing experiences, challenges and achievements with other runners will give you emotional support and motivation. Furthermore, programming joint running sessions will force you to stick to your training plan and be more disciplined.

Get inspired with Music: Listening to music is the perfect complement for all runners due to how the exercise is perceived as less strenuous when there is an external stimulus. Besides, listening to music can give your training a personalized touch to each training session, such as the official Spotify playlist for this race, which you can listen to in this link.

Celebrate small achievements: As you progress in you training journey, don’t forget to recognize and celebrate the smaller achievements as you move towards your final goal. It could be running a longer distance, beating your record time, or simply reaching a personal milestone. Celebrating your achievements will give you a sense of satisfaction and positive reinforcement, which will reinforce your motivation and sense of trust in yourself.

Furthermore, keeping track of your races, times, and achievements can be a strong incentive to keep training. Seeing how you’ve improved over time will remind you of all the progress you’ve made and push you to keep moving forward. For this particular reason, Bimbo Global Race created an App that can help you keep track of your progress and generate a sense of community, which will in turn push you to keep training. It is available in both iOS and Android.

With these strategies, you can stay motivated and keep your training process more stable, even through the natural ups and downs. Establishing realistic goals, diversifying your training and celebrating your achievements with others will help you overcome obstacles and keep a positive mindset.