20 Motivational Triathlon Quotes to Keep You Inspired

Written by
Elizabeth Grimsley
Sometimes the will to get off the couch and into the water, in the saddle or on the road just isn’t there and we could all use a little help. To give you that extra push out the door, we rounded up some of the best triathlon quotes that will keep you inspired—even on the toughest days.
For a Lifetime
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"You can keep going and your legs might hurt for a week, or you can quit and your mind will hurt for a lifetime." – Mark Allen
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Do the Training You Love
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"Every athlete has training they enjoy and training that they do because they have to and they don't enjoy so much. Do the training you love, remind yourself why you do it and hopefully it'll all come good for you." – Alistair Brownlee
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Fighting a Gorilla
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"Training is like fighting with a Gorilla. You don't stop when you're tired. You stop when the Gorilla is tired." – Greg Henderson
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Feel Free to Quit But…
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"You can quit if you want, and no one will care. But you will know the rest of your life." – John Collins
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Easy
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"The only easy day was yesterday." – U.S. Navy Seals
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Surprise
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"If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise." – P.Z. Pearce
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Enduring Suffering
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"Success in the sport is, above all else, about enduring suffering." – Chris McCormack
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Only What You Can Control
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"You can only control what you can control. I had to remember that and once I got back in the race, I was able to regain focus and finish strong." – Gwen Jorgensen
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Train for a Reason
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"I always try to keep in mind that I do all that training for a reason, which is to compete to the best of my ability." – Alistair Brownlee
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Always Worse
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"If it's hurting me, it's killing them." – Sebastian Kienle
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Fail and Get Up
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"A winner is a loser who was willing to fail and get up, fail and get up, fail and get up, fail and get up and win." – Peter Zafra
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You Don't Play Triathlon
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"You don't play triathlon. You play soccer; it's fun. You play baseball. Triathlon is work that can leave you crumpled in a heap, puking by the roadside. It's the physical brutality of climbing Mount Everest without the great view from the top of the world. What kind of person keeps coming back for more of that?" – Chris McCormack
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Selling Point
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"The variety of training is a major selling point of triathlon. Different sports, different venues means it's always interesting, and you can always switch things round if the weather messes your plans up." – Jonathan Brownlee
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Just Don't Listen
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"The only one who can tell you 'you can't' is you. And you don't have to listen." – Nike
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A Big Fat Creature
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"Pain is a big fat creature riding on your back. The farther you pedal, the heavier he feels. The harder you push, the tighter he squeezes your chest. The steeper the climb, the deeper he digs his jagged, sharp claws into your muscles." – Scott Martin
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Goals
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"If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it, you have won your race. Your goal can be to come in first, to improve your performance or just finish the race; it's up to you." – Dave Scott
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Failure
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"Failure is failure only when we stop trying anymore." – Sri Chinmoy
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Character
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"Triathlon doesn't build character. It reveals it."
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Just Finish
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"We are judged by what we finish, not what we start."
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Still Looks Big?
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"If what you did yesterday still looks big to you today, then you must not have done anything today."
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