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Ten Tips - Christmas Advent Calender

12/7/2018

The door says; “Pull” so I push and walk into the glass door, it’s 9.30 and I’m heading to the gym… I feel drained and slow in my head. I guess I suffer from a training hangover, yesterday was a big day out. I find the band and start warming up my body, counting to ten as my leg works against the band. With the mirror in front of me I can observe my movements. I want to get stronger, leaner, better, a better version of Malene, for next year. I’m looking for the progress, but I know that the only place I have to look is in that mirror

I believe you are your best chance to get better. You need to work for it, work on you - for you, but in order to do so you need to give yourself the best possible setting. So let’s get started with my 10 tips to find your motivation and keep going on a daily basis.

#1 Ask yourself the important questions
The best motivation comes from somewhere deep inside of you, so you need to ask yourself some fundamental questions. In that way, you can find or remind yourself why you do what you do. There is no right or wrong answers, or questions, but you can start with these; “What makes you happy?”
“Why do you like this sport - how does it make you feel?” “What is the 5 most important things in your life, at the moment?”
“What is your dream with the sport?”

#2 Goals & Dreams
Setting goals and having dreams can be very a big factor for your motivation. Goals can be both big and small - Do you want to qualify for the World Championship or do you want to bet your current PR..? Just examples. At the moment one of my goals is to transfer my work from the gym to my power on the bike.
How I set goals?
I like to look at my up-coming race-season and dream about results, while my goals are laying in the steps to those dream-results. Does this make sense for you? This sentence is essential for me.

#3 Overall Plan
If you have an understanding about where you’re heading - bums on the road don’t matter. Make an overall plan of the year. When do you want to perform? My coach and I sit down in the off-season and plan as much as possible for the next 365 days. We use “TrainingPeaks.com"

#4 Know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it
When we are talking about the coach, then one key motivation for me is to know what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. It might sound silly, but understanding why you are doing exactly these kinds of intervals - and what the interval boost/increase - really helps me to push my limits. So ask questions.
And then plan and prepare your ride, so the intervals and the ride will be done as good as possible! Having a game-plan is great for my motivation.

I like to look at my up-coming race-season and dream about results, while my goals are laying in the steps to those dream-results.

#5 Feel ease with imperfection
Now you made the perfect plan, you have set your goals, you know why your coach makes you suffer like **** - but you don’t have the time or things just don’t go as you want them to. You need to learn to feel ease with this “chaos” or imperfection. Life is not a one-way road in any aspects :-)
I always try to get the best out of the current situation. So when things happen that makes training for you hard or just not according to plan - then try to get the best out of the situation. (This is just an example) Living in Denmark equals a lot of days where it’s just rainrainrain … Then do: today is a good day to improve my mud skills. (I say this now but I will complain a lot when I go back haha)

#6 Find training friends
When I ask myself the important questions, one of my reasons why I like this sport - is because I like the people who ride bikes, I like the social side of cycling. So having training friends to share my cycling addiction with is most essential for me. It might be for you too? Try to find a group ride in the area or connect a group of riders you like and say, “Every Saturday at 10 from the train station - see you”. It might not always fit perfectly with your intervals and so on, but maybe it gives you something else - that might be just as important?

#7 Beat yourself and hunt some QOTM / KOM ’s !
I love to tease my competition gene when I train. And it comes in handy, when you want to get stronger - simply try to beat yesterday. Make segments, find segments, hunt the last seconds so you can get a new PR. It motivates me a lot to dig deep and see a progress. Both on the road/climbs and on the trails.

#8 Find your tune
You need to kill your DJ game when you head out for those winter training’s. I like to listen to music that fits my pace. So when I’m riding high-cadence and full of energy I need music that accomplish that; I like the playlist’s “Monday Motivation” or “Comfort Zone” on Spotify. In the same way; for more slow rides I need more slow music, Kanye West or Frank Ocean are some of my favs at the moment. And then when I hit the gym I need to feel badass so there I listen to “Old School Hip Hop House Party” or “Walk like a Badass”.

#9 Fuel the machine
Another way to stay motivated on your bike is to remember to fuel while you’re out there. When your body doesn’t have anything left in the tank everything inside of you will tell you to go home, and that’s not much fun for either you or for your training-mates :-) Anyone remembering the Snickers commercial?? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaRBGBHsjU8)
Try to eat something every hour, or have some energy drink, if you want to perform for the whole training - and remember to drink too. Keeping your energy levels high while you are riding will also increase your energy-level after training and I feel that my body is tougher and tend to get less sick when I do so.

Make segments, find segments, hunt the last seconds so you can get a new PR. It motivates me a lot to dig deep and see a progress. Both on the road/climbs and on the trails.

#10 Rest ride’s with a ‘purpose’
Restitution-rides can often be some of the harder rides to start, strangely enough. Because you normally are a bit tired from the previous training day. A trick is to find a good cafe 30-45 minutes away, then go there have a stop and go back home. It suddenly feels like I have a purpose and a goal to reach on my ride. Helps me :-)

Did I forget anything? Feel free to comment below :-)

/Malene

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Motivation - Christmas Advent Calendar

12/2/2018

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I didn’t have a problem with letting the bike feel lonely, I wanted it to, but in the weeks without training plans, training mates, goals and motivation I was more alone - did I feel lonely?

Perhaps one of the single most important factors for the work we do is motivation. The fire. The desire. That will inside of us. The reason why we get up in the morning and get to work. Athlete or not you need motivation to do your job. Luckily my “after-school-fun-with-friends” turned into my job. My passion for mountain biking, which filled my heart with happiness, became my fulltime job, I’m a lucky bastard, I know. With that said, I think athletes are basically just normal human beings (just basically), who also have days, where the mountains or weights in the gym, are just not calling for us. I try to show this side of pursuing sport too, but I think I anyway do tend to mostly show my oh-so-motivated days. Which there is definitely most of (if not I would find something else to do!), so I’m not lying…
But I did learn a thing or two this off-season about motivation, that I think made me capable of writing something more useful.

I completely lost my motivation after world champs, at the beginning of September, and for the next 5 weeks, I only spent 20 hours in training-gear (that’s not much for a cyclist :-) ). Putting the bike aside and find other things to do in your free time is not an easy task for everyone, but this year I didn’t have a problem with letting the bike feel lonely, I wanted it to, but in the weeks without training plans, training mates, goals and motivation I was more alone - did I feel lonely?
This was a part of my lack of eager to ride. It has nothing to do with my ‘village’ - I have a lovely family, amazing friends and the sweetest boyfriend who all makes my life wonderful, it wasn’t about the people who surround me, it was in me. So the feeling of a bit of loneliness wasn’t the main ‘reason’ or what you say, but it was there. And don’t get fooled, when athletes are away from their sport (could also be caused by an injury) it can be so lonely.

First climbs after the break .. felt a bit, auch

Besides the sudden free time it was also the time for me to deal with what my future should hold. What’s best for Malene? Which I, on one hand, find enlightening, meaning I think I learn a lot during this process and I like to sit down and talk with people/sponsors to share ambitions and so on, but on the other hand it’s also very mentally demanding. Like I guess it is in every workplace. It’s kind of a mental game you just gotta deal with. I haven’t seen many athletes talking about these periods of the carrier, but everybody must have them. It’s not easy to be in the unknown - what will the future hold?

I haven’t seen many athletes talking about these periods of the carrier, but everybody must have them. It’s not easy to be in the unknown - what will the future hold?

I talked with my coach, Benjamin, and I told him I needed some time, I wasn’t ready to go into a training mode just yet. And when I saw that the first world cup of 2019 is at the end of May, I felt this kind of calm-breeze hitting me. I didn't need to train if I didn’t want to, so I honestly just waited for my motivation to come back to me. I didn’t push myself or felt bad about anything I just cruised around in my little world. When November came, I knew which direction my next chapter would go and I felt the desire, the fire, that will to make the next chapter a good one. 1..2..3 let’s go, coach we gotta get this fitness going.

So when you ask me “How do you keep the motivation high? How do you stay positive?”
My desire for riding bikes was low in the months following world champs, but what I found out was, that when I just accepted the fact that the fire wasn’t there and it was all right… It came back. Now I can see goals and progress in front of me, and I do love to ride bikes and ride bikes fast. If you feel that way about riding bikes too, then don’t be scared when you feel some negativity, your motivation to dig deep for the sport will come back. We’re just human beings, it’s okay :-)

That was a bit about my motivation curve - but how do you use the motivation you got the best way possible? And how to keep your fitness on some kind of level when you want to train the absolute minimum? Stay tuned for the next story #wintertraining #clothing #planing

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I’m my own worst enemy.

9/11/2018

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Your inner fighter has to be the strongest when reality play out in a different direction than your expectations.

I had my first cross-country race of the 2018 season 7 months ago. Around noon on the 4th of March, I was standing on a startline on Cyprus waiting for the gun to go off. 7 month later I’m once again on a start line, this time in Lenzerheide for the World Championship. I closed my eyes before the start, just like I did on Cyprus; Breath in, breath out.
Before my first race, I thought about the upcoming pain, and how I was ready to handle it. I thought about having courage, I wasn’t scared of my competitors, I had nothing to lose. Before my last race, my brain was different when I closed my eyes. I thought about the season, my second place in the overall world cup, I thought about the dream of medals, I thought about Sina’s 6 wins, about failing in La Bresse,

about ending this race with a medal around my neck and how everybody excepted me to do that. Or at least I did. I had suddenly something to lose. Cause over the last 7 months so much had happened. I couldn’t stand on the start line with the exact same mindset. Since Cyprus, I have been standing on 10 podiums and delivered a good performance over and over again. The season has been crazy. Crazy good. I’m so thankful for all the people around me who got me to this point. Thankful that they believed in the idea as much as I did.

I took another sip from my bottle and found a focus point in front of me. The screen said 1 lap to go and my mind was more busy than normal. The disappointment was already soaking in. I wasn’t riding for the medals, but in 8th spot with yet another girl catching my wheel. As we entered the climb for the last time I looked inside and tried to find the strength to fight for this position.
The fire in the legs started to burn once again but somehow I let go of the busy mind and found the strength to dig deep, get away, and hold on to that 8th spot. I mean 8th in the end isn’t bad. But I was a bit blown away. It’s silly how big influence our mindset have on us. Our willing to suffer and fight, and our general feeling of our effort. We are our own worst enemies.

Let me sum up my 2018 result for you.
3. Cyprus SunShine Cup xco
1. UCI World Cup Stellenbosch
13. Bundesliga Heubach
3. UCI World Cup Albstadt
2. UCI World Cup Nove Mesto
1. Borlänge Tour
2. Danish National Championship
3. UCI World Cup Val di Sole
3. UCI World Cup Andorra
2. European Championship Team Relay
3. UCI World Cup Mont Saint Anne
6. UCI World Cup La Bresse
2. Overall UCI World Cup
8. UCI World Championship
3. UCI World Championship Team Relay

What a successful season. So proud of these achievements! I trained so much for this. And I trained my mind to be able to perform on that level, that’s also why it was with a flat feeling I closed the season. It wasn’t my level. Nevertheless, when I look back at these achievements it’s easier to let go of my race in Lenzerheide and feel the proud, warm, stream going through my body. In addition to my own triumphs, I was also a part of two bronze medals at Europeans and World Champs with the Danish national team in the team relays.

Nothing of this could have been done without my village; My cycling team Ghost Factory Racing and all of our sponsors, my home team including, mum & dad, friends, family, boyfriend, Coach Benjamin, national coach Mads B, adviser Bo Falck, Holte mtb, trainingpartners, icaremassage, and so many more.

Now it’s just about letting my body recover with some time off. I need to work on my enemy and turn these feelings into a new bowl of motivation - a motivation that will help me do what it takes to be a part of the top of cross-country racing. And it takes a lot.
But I’m super excited to dig in and start this new journey, fighting against my idols, as I move up to the elite category.

xoxo
Malene

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Ten Tips - Christmas Advent Calender

Motivation - Christmas Advent Calendar

I’m my own worst enemy.

Malene

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