Favourite Motivational Phrases

[T5]

Failure is never quite so frightening as regret.

There are times you need the courage to take a great leap - you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. (David Lloyd George)

Attitude is contagious - is yours worth catching?


It'd be great if you'd publish your top choices - could be useful for a lot of people in the winter training months!

[Billy Whizz]

Becky

Along similar lines to my advice on your marathon (for which well done btw):
"Do not chase miles: chase quality. Don't run your marathon: race it." This may not be suitable for your 4 - 4.30 friend so more succinctly:
"Quality not quantity"
and
"Train hard; fight easy"

[JayBee]

"I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road, and when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason, I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured since I've gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going. When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go, you know, I went…" Forest Gump

"If you're going through hell, keep going" Winston Churchill

"If you're not failing now and again, its a sign you're playing it safe" Woody Allen

[graeme]

The most successful I made up...

C'mon ****, only the record to beat.
(this to well known nopesporter who was running second on the final climb - and subsequently won in a record time).

You can't let **** get all the glory.
(to teammate in an invitation relay, when our next runner was quick, but rather full of himself): **** caught five teams in the next (last) mile, set a stage record, and set his teammate and rival off with a half mile of open road ahead.

Probably not relevant for your friend as both athletes were super-competitive national champions at their discipline, but they were kind enough to thank me for the heckle afterwards.

One I hate - "Hang on, they're not catching you". I'm not sure about "You're looking good" - sounds a bit like "you're not trying". I hear it a lot, but seldom addressed to me; the avatar may explain why

[Scott]

"Potential means nothing unless you actually go out there and do it" - Mickey Arthur on the radio this morning, in response to an interviewer who asked whether he thought South Africa had "potentially one of the best pace attacks of all time"

[Big Jon]

How about the army acronym (correct word??):
PPPPPPP

stands for:
Poor Preparation & Planning Produces Piss Poor Performances

[jac]

Rightio everyone, I want your favourite motivational phrases, from the inspiring to the hugely ridiculous! I need about 40 of them, so do your worst!

Sine qua non:
"The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare" - Juma Ikangaa

Attributed to General Douglas McArthur:
"Have a good plan. Execute it violently. Do it today."

Or maybe it's George S. Patton:
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."



Charles "no room for sentiment" van Comenee tried get Kelly Sotherton moving by telling her how crap she was; some athletes respond better to positive comment. A coach can help improve an athlete's self-image; this works well for some athletes, particularly for unwarrantedly modest beginners, which may be the case for Becks. For other competitors, this approach just seems like nonsense; this attitude is commonly seen in sports where consistent brute effort can win: "Get up off your arse". But for skill-based sports, Mrs H's quotation from Gary Player works well:

"The more I practice, the luckier I get."

More from Mr Player:

"A golfer chokes because he fears being exposed for something less than he really is."

"The best way to break out of a slump is to pretend you're a player whose swing is rhythmic and beautiful."

How well these work depends on the character of your athletes, and whether they need to feed good about themselves before they perform well. They may not respond to the same stimuli as you do. Knowing this is part of the art of coaching.

jac

[Gross]

Bannokburn... Remember....

[epocian]

Gross said
Bannokburn... Remember....

Not a lot of use if you're trying to inspire a Welsh athlete

[DavidJ]

I was thinking of this thread when out on my Saturday morning training run at dawn today. I had planned to do 6 hill climbs and motivated myself by trying to think of something like: "It is the last 10% of your training which will give you a 10% advantage over your rivals." Not very good but it kept me going until I had completed all 6 climbs.

Jogging back to the car having successfully completed all 6, a better one came to me: "When you have planned to do 6 hill climbs, it is the 7th which will make you champion". Unfortunately it was too late to go back and do the 7th!

[Knee Deep Mud!]

"The person in front of you is on the same course!"
Shouted at my team mate on the last leg run in at the JK or BOC Relays. It worked, and we gained an extra place on the line.

[mharky]

or... the 7th one is the one that will give you an injury, over training syndrom, sickness and ruin your season...

[DavidJ]

or... the 7th one is the one that will give you an injury, over training syndrom, sickness and ruin your season...

Thanks - I had been struggling to resolve the dificult conundrum of how many climbs to do next time. If I go planning to do 7, then presumbaly 'the champion' would actually have done 8; if I go planning to do 8, then etc... I will stick with 6 to avoid injury and hope 'the champion' gets an injury, over training syndrome, ...