Training may be particularly hard of late but high jumper Isobel Pooley knows it will all be worth it if she can raise the bar even higher next season.
Pooley, winner of a silver medal for England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, had another busy summer this year, including setting a new British outdoor record of 1.97m.
She also made her World Championships debut in Beijing although she missed out on qualifying for the final.
The 22-year-old is now back in training in preparation for the new season, with a focus on technique and strength and conditioning.
And while arduous at times, Pooley is well aware that the work she puts in now could prove pivotal with World Indoor Championships, European Championships and the Rio 2016 Olympics all taking place next year.
“At the moment we are in the middle of winter training, which is when we lay down the foundations for the next year in terms of fitness, strength and technique,” Pooley wrote in her latest BBC Sport blog.
“It's the toughest part of the whole year and involves the highest volume of training and requires a diligent and steadfast approach.
“It's useful to have short and long-term goals and to keep them in mind as much as you can. In my case a short-term goal might be just to survive the next set of exercises and execute them to a great standard.
“Alternatively, I might focus on training as hard as possible for the next week, knowing that I have a recovery period coming up afterwards. This keeps my mind on the task in hand and stops me from getting lost in the sheer volume of training I have to contend with.
“In the long term, it's easy to imagine what my motivation is, with the World Indoor Championships, European Championships and Olympic Games just around the corner.