The week before the race: What situations trigger positive feelings of excitement, negative thoughts, nervousness, or questioning of purpose?In sport there are athletes who have risen above their potential in stressful situations. Similarly, there are talented athletes expected to win who crumble under the pressure. These racers could have been at their peak of physical training, and yet their success or failure was a result of what was going on in the mind. Every athlete, from newbie triathlete to Olympian, knows from firsthand experience that the mind can help or hinder race performance.
Likewise, most good athletes can tell you what time they expect to do in a race, based on their training, but their mental state may keep them from racing the times they know they can do. On the other hand, the great athletes are the ones who are not limited by their training results. Their mental state allows them to do, on race day, things that could not be predicted from their training. The goal of this chapter is to shed light on areas of thinking that could make that good athlete a great one, even a champion.
Champions make success look easy and natural. And yet, champions realize that success doesn’t just happen by chance or because they are talented physically. Success requires planning and preparation, including mental preparation. Champions see their races as they want them to unfold before the race even happens, and yet they are unflappable when a race doesn’t follow the ideal script. They work toward creating the positive mental environment for that champion performance to be fulfilled.
Champions realize that little things add up to separate the good from the truly great. Practicing mental strategies for race day is one of the biggest little things an athlete can do. It is one of those little things that is hard to quantify in a logbook, and yet an hour a week of mental preparation can far outweigh the benefits of riding the bike another hour. By self-evaluating your current mental skills—the strengths and the weaknesses—and then learning what mental tools are available to strengthen those weaknesses, you will be ready to practice these skills so that on race day, a champion can emerge.
The first place to start, as with any training program, is to evaluate your current status in regard to the mental aspect of racing. Looking at past races, honestly evaluate your areas of vulnerability. These are reoccurring patterns of when and where the mind is susceptible to being a limiter to the physical performance. Does the same situation (e.g., hills, when you are in the lead) trigger similar patterns race after race such as negative self-talk, doubt, or lack of focus? If so, these patterns are holding you back and need attention.
The evaluation should include each of the key race points listed here:
The week before the race: What situations trigger positive feelings of excitement, negative thoughts, nervousness, or questioning of purpose?
On the starting line: When standing next to your competitor? When seeing all those fit bodies? When thinking about the washing machine you will enter soon?
During the swim: First 5 minutes of the swim? When getting swum over by competitors? When getting tired? When leading the race? When you can’t see the buoy?
Transitions: When you can’t find your bike? When fumbling with skills? When your supporters are watching?
On the bike: First 5 minutes of the bike? On the hills? In a headwind? When getting passed? When it is hard to pass racers because of a crowded course? When leading the race? When your legs feel tired? When it is hot? When you get assessed a penalty?
On the run: First 5 minutes out of transition? When your legs feel heavy? When it is hot? When leading? On the hills? When getting passed? When you want to walk?
After you have answered these questions about the mental thought processes going on at specific parts of the race, you need to evaluate whether the thoughts were negative or positive. They were negative if they held you back from reaching full physical performance. The thoughts were positive if they empowered you to reach beyond what training had predicted. The mental skills strategies in the next section will give you tools to change a negative thought to a positive one.
Barb’s self-evaluation early in her triathlon career: When I was a swimmer in college my senior year, I began to swim out of the fear of failure. My self-worth was wrapped up in how I swam. If I swam well, I felt good about myself. When I swam poorly, I felt bad about myself. I identified that pattern before I became a professional triathlete and overcame it by defining my purpose and working on self-talk so that I would not race out of fear, but out of excitement. Specifically in races, like many triathletes, I dreaded the start of the swim. Being a distance swimmer, pure speed was not a strength. I identified my thoughts on the starting line as a weakness, so I addressed them with affirmations, imagery, and goal setting. On the bike, my mind would start to wander in a 40K. This was an area of vulnerability, especially in the second half of the bike. I used imagery to keep me in the moment. In draft-legal events, I was not confident in bike tactics, so I used visualization to give me confidence for all tactical scenarios. And lastly, for years I thought of myself as “the swimmer,” then “the swimmer/cyclist,” but I was always told I wasn’t “a runner.” And I believed it. So much negative self-talk came in during the run when I was tired, especially on hills, or when I could see competitors chasing down my lead. I recognized I needed to believe I was a runner, and I used affirmations, visualization, and imagery to allow my mind to carry me beyond the limit of my physical skills.
Just as an athlete has a physiological purpose behind each workout, an athlete also needs a mental training purpose behind key workouts in order to strengthen the positive connection between the mind and body. Here, four techniques to enhance mental strength—goal setting, visualization, affirmations, and imagery—are described, including examples related to the self-evaluation discussed in the previous section.
Goals are the targets to which an athlete directs his efforts. Outcome goals, such as winning a race or a specific course time, themselves motivate an athlete if they are specific, measurable, challenging, and realistic. The purpose of race goals is to create action steps in training that power the athlete toward the desired race outcome.
Setting race goals in triathlon can be tricky. Our sport is not like swimming or track in that the field of play is not always consistent. For example, a goal might be to break 1 hour on the bike split at the local triathlon in August. This outcome goal is specific and measurable, challenging and realistic (last year’s split was 1:03), but outside factors can come into play such as rainy weather, high winds, or a flat tire. Outcome goals can be dangerous on their own because outcomes are not completely under an athlete’s control. However, mental changes are, so setting goals for mental changes that might power you to the outcome goals is a better way to go. Examples of mental goals in the race include staying relaxed and confident at the swim start by using deep-breathing exercises and affirmations, being mentally focused in the second half of the bike by staying in the moment, sticking to your race plan even if other athletes go out too fast, and utilizing mental skills at key points in the race. These mental goals are all under your control and, if reached, will increase the probability that the outcome goal is reached as well.
As a distance swimmer, getting out fast in the swim was a struggle. I used the goal of being the first swimmer to the first buoy as a way to change my mental approach. I became more aggressive at the swim start, and with that goal in mind, it kept me focused when I was being hit by other racers in the swim. Even though I was not always the first swimmer to the first buoy, the mental change accomplished the same purpose.
Visualization is seeing a race performance before it happens. It is creating a movie of success using the imagination in order to mentally rehearse the perfect performance. Using all the senses, not just the visual, magnifies the strength of this mental strategy.
When visualizing a race, it is best to have a clear mind and be in a quiet environment absent of distractions. Seeing the movie from the angle of a camera mounted on your head gives you the true vantage point for experiencing the future race performance. This vantage point will fully focus you on being in the moment rather than seeing the big picture of how the race unfolds, much of which is out of your control and is distracting anyway.
Visualization reinforces success, so it is important to experience how you want the race to be. That said, visualization can also be used to go over plan B, C, and D. What will you do if your goggles get knocked crooked on your face, or if you need to change a flat? Visualization can help you get out of these unpredictable situations and mentally back into the race, something champions do so well. Although it is important to experience the not-so-ideal race scenarios, you always wants to finish a visualization session having completed the perfect race. Rewinding the tape back to before the contingency plan went into action allows you to continue with your ideal race.
I used visualization all the time for transitions, especially if I had been to the race venue before. I would see myself exit the water, run to where my bike is (counting racks if need be), perform T1 feeling smooth and powerful like a ballerina, hear the crowds roar, then move onto the perfect bike mount. I also used visualization in bike-pack scenarios that my coach and I would discuss. I would see the different scenarios unfold and how I would cover attacks, create my own attacks, and ride smart. After visualizing the many bike scenarios, I would finish off with how I wanted the bike to pan out if I were in complete control.
Negative self-talk is the chatter that goes on in the mind, telling an athlete he is not good enough, he can’t do it, and that success is doubtful. No single factor is more devastating to an athlete’s performance than negative self-talk. Through self-evaluation an athlete can identify trends of what is said and when it is said in the mind. When the destructive talk rears its ugly head in the heat of battle, it is too much of a challenge for the athlete to think, No, don’t say that, or La-la-la, I’m not listening. The athlete is too fatigued to fight that battle during a race. What is possible, though, is for the athlete to proactively create positive affirmations to replace the negative self-talk. If the athlete already knows the mind will say, You are just a swimmer shuffling on land, the athlete can create a positive affirmation well before the race, practice it, and then in the race replace the negative chatter with I’m a runner! And not just replace it once, but use it as a mantra, repeating it so the negative talk has no room to come back in a mind filled with positive thoughts. Importantly, the athlete does not actually have to believe the affirmation to make these magical words work.
Creating affirmations can be a fun and creative process. Here are a few guidelines to help make them most effective:
Use first person, such as “I thrive on challenges thrown my way.”
Use present infinitive tense, meaning it is happening now and into the future, such as “The first buoy is mine.”
Make affirmations short and snappy, something that is easy to repeat, especially with the rhythm of breathing in a race, such as “I’m a runner,” which is four syllables, perfect for four foot strikes.
Replace and update affirmations to keep them fresh.
Affirmations were the single biggest transformation in the mental aspect of my racing. When I would start to lose focus in the swim, I targeted getting the most out of each arm stroke by thinking, I am long and strong. When my legs fatigued on the bike, I would think, My legs are like steel pistons, smooth and strong. In the second half of the run I thought, The longer I go the stronger I get.
Imagery is a set of mental pictures used to create a positive image affecting an athlete’s mind and body. Pictures can be powerful. As humans, we remember scenes from films or from our past much easier than we remember words. Imagery is that snapshot picture that creates a feeling in the athlete, whether it be a feeling of calm before the race or of power up a hill. To find what imagery works for you, ask what pictures illicit the feelings you want to have at certain points in a race. At the race start, for example, do you want to radiate quiet confidence? Perhaps the image of a lightly rolling sea, which can turn from calm to dynamic in an instant when the gun goes off, is the picture you want to focus on. Do you want to keep the leg turnover up at the end of the run? Perhaps creating a picture of running on hot coals will keep you focused on fast feet.
Running hills was a weakness of mine. One year while racing in Australia, the America’s Cup sailing race was going on. I saw the grinders use their huge arms to turn the handles powerfully and quickly on the winch drum in order to pull in the sails. I created the image that at the top of each hill was a grinder, and as I started climbing the hill, a rope was attached to my waist, and the grinder would pull me up. Another time I used the imagery of balloons attached to my knees to help lift my legs as I ran up the hills.
The ultimate objective is to practice the mental strategies listed in the previous section in order to finalize a mental racing plan. An athlete would not try a new nutrition strategy on race day and should not try new mental strategies, either. Mental strategies must be practiced in key sessions during training.
Practice of mental skills in training sessions will test which skills are most helpful in certain situations and will give an athlete confidence in the race. If there is one takeaway lesson to this chapter, it is that just as you have a training plan in place, so too must you have a mental plan to practice. As with any skill, mental skills training initially takes time to master, but once the groundwork is laid, using mental skills will come naturally to you. And it is fun! It is similar to working on running technique, for example. At first you may spend extra time on drills. Ultimately with practice the new technique comes naturally. The same is true for mental skills practice. Following are suggestions for practicing.
Write down an outcome goal for your next race. Determine three mental goals that will bring you closer to reaching that outcome goal. Last, write how and when you will practice those mental goals in each week leading up to the race.
Share your goals with someone in order to keep you accountable.
Set aside three 10-minute sessions each week to visualize your race. Make one of these sessions a time to visualize race situations that are not in your A plan.
Visualize your transition skills at a specific venue before the race.
Visualize an ideal race morning, starting from the time you wake up until the gun goes off.
Create two or three affirmations for each vulnerability area identified in the self-evaluation. In a key workout corresponding to a trigger for negative self-talk, pick one affirmation to practice. Repeat the other affirmations in other key workouts so that by the time the race arrives, you have picked which affirmations work for you.
Create a list of affirmations for general areas of vulnerability in the week before the key triathlon. When negative talk, self-doubt, or nervousness arises, repeat the affirmations.
Identify the picture of yourself that you see when thinking about your areas of vulnerability. Next think of an opposite strong picture you want to see in order to give you the positive feeling to overcome the situation. Use your imagination, let the mind wander, and be creative as to what this picture looks like. After creating images, practice bringing them up in key workouts.
Practice controlling your level of excitement using imagery. Pick an image that raises your level of readiness, and also pick an image that calms you down. In training, practice using the first picture to get you excited for a key workout where perhaps you are struggling to get fired up, and practice using the second picture to help control and relax you when you are getting too nervous for a training session.
You can also use a combination of affirmations with the other mental strategies:
Practice combining both imagery and affirmations in workouts. For example, with the image of running hills with balloons attached to the knees, the affirmation could be “My legs are light as they drive up the hill.”
Practice combining both visualization and affirmations. While seeing the race in your mind, hear the affirmations you will use.
Practice combining both goal setting and affirmations. For the goal of being the first to the first buoy try “The first buoy is mine.”
As a final note on practice, there is a trend in younger athletes of listening to music during every training session. Music moves us, it motivates us, it is wonderful. But music also makes athletes mentally lazy, allowing them to zone out and keeping them from using mental skills. Caution needs to be taken in how often music is used in training, especially since it is illegal for athletes to listen to music in races.
Employing the previously listed skills in practice is a key element of racing success. Additionally, the following sections offer helpful tips for race week, race morning, and the race itself that can reduce energy-wasting stress and maximize race-day performance.
This is the week for you to solidify the race plan and corresponding mental strategies you will employ in the race to bring out a superhuman race performance. The starting point for this is having a race plan: a written description of what you will do on race day. Prepare it a week before the race, and then review it daily throughout race week.
Writing down the strategies so you can review them will help you focus on what you can control. Writing them down and sharing them with someone also makes the plan more real. And last, recording the plan creates a record for the postrace evaluation and for future races. Here are some common items to consider including in your plan.
What equipment and clothing will you use if on race day there is high wind, rain, snow, heat, cold, bright sun, or an overcast sky?
What time will you get out of bed on race morning?
What will you eat and drink for the prerace meal? When will you eat it?
On race morning, what time will you arrive at the race venue?
How will you set up your transition area?
What sport nutrition products (if any) will you take in during the race?
How will you gauge and regulate intensity on the bike? Will you use a rating of perceived exertion (RPE), heart rate, or power?
Regardless of what tool you use, what will be your goal intensity? Will it vary during the race?
How will you react if passed by other riders?
How will you efficiently and quickly transition both in T1 and T2?
Also, during race week, things will come up that are out of your control. The boss may throw an extra project on your plate. A child may get sick. You may hyperanalyze every feeling in a workout and start to worry when you don’t feel just right. Although these factors may be out of your control, how you deal with them is not. Learning to roll with the punches of outside factors while addressing details that can be controlled will allow you to remain focused and calm.
Details that are under your control include packing; pack your things early, using checklists so you don’t pack too much or forget last-minute items. When you know details about the course, the prerace meetings, directions from hotel to race site, and so on, it can instill confidence and alleviate stress. Stress wastes energy and takes focus from the race. The body does not know the difference between mental stress and physical stress.
Writing down a morning timeline gives you something to focus on, something to control. The timeline should include logistics such as wake-up time, traveling to the race, warm-up, and food to be eaten.
A comment needs to be made about prerace mode and personality types. When some athletes get nervous, they are chatty or outgoing, and some can be downright obnoxious. Other athletes close up and get introspective when they are in prerace mode. Both are OK if the athlete is being true to her personality. An introspective athlete should not feel she needs to be talkative, even if she is setting up transition next to someone being the life of the party.
Racing should be viewed as a celebration of the wonder of the body in motion. Creating a moment of quiet for a deep breath to be thankful helps center and relax an athlete. Remembering the journey and saying affirmations can start you off on the right foot.
The more practice you have creating a mental strategy for racing, the more the positive thinking will flow naturally from the inside mind to the outside physical results. Be patient with yourself, realizing it takes time and continual practice for mental skills to become second nature.
By staying in the moment, not thinking about what just happened or what will happen, you can focus on what you can control. Maximizing each arm stroke, each pedal stroke, and each foot strike with a positive mind-set will give you the best performance possible. Thinking about what your competitors are doing, the weather, or anything else out of your control only drains your energy.
Planning and practice have been the theme up to this point. Champions realize it is a rare day to be enjoyed when a race goes completely as planned. Champions are, above all, adaptable. Although they enjoy and savor the winning performance that went according to plan, they thrive on being thrown challenges within a race, challenges that allow them to rise above a normal, predictable human performance to accomplish something truly remarkable. Challenges allow athletes to grow and learn lessons about their character that reach far beyond triathlon. Each race is an adventure. When racing is viewed with this excitement and wonder, and yet rooted in preparation, an athlete is prepared to take that leap into the unknown realm beyond his potential.
Two of the best races in my career came from races that didn’t go according to plan. In one nondrafting race, during the swim I felt absolutely rotten, even though I was right with the leader. The negative thought came in, saying, It is going to be a long day. I then replaced it with a positive affirmation I had practiced in swim workouts: I am too good of a swimmer to let a little thing like how I feel affect how I race. I went on to have an amazing race, winning the biggest prize purse of my career. In another draft-legal race, my swimmer group out of the water disintegrated. I wound up in the main pack with a bunch of runners. On the bike the negative thought crept in: Rats, this was my race to win, I am so fit and now it is a runner’s race. It took me half a lap on the bike to bring up one of my affirmations: I thrive on challenges! I thought, When have I ever run with fresh legs off the bike to see just how fast I could run? I had visualized head-to-head run racing, knowing at some point I would be in that situation. I started to get excited about the run possibilities. I wound up outrunning all the runners and won the race. Both races had challenges that I had to adapt to, and the mental training I had practiced allowed me to stay focused in the race when my ideal race plan fell through.
Just as an athlete evaluates the race from a training point of view, so too should an athlete evaluate his mental strategy. After a race, assess whether the mental strategies you used on areas of vulnerability allowed you to perform above your level of training or if any new weaknesses revealed themselves. Identifying what worked and what didn’t is the first step of fine-tuning a mental strategy for future races. That said, sometimes a mental strategy that worked at one race will not work in the next race. It is an ever-evolving process. If the race was great, the feeling of success should be captured into an image to pull up in a future race. Recalling a success can be used as future motivation. After a race you can rewrite your mental strategy and then set up a training plan to execute it before the next race.
Dealing With FearMany athletes race with fear—fear of failure, fear of success, fear of what others may think, fear of taking risks out of their comfort zone. To overcome fear, the first step is to say “so what” to the “what ifs.” Address each fear by identifying the worst-case scenario of that fear. Ignoring the fear won’t make it go away. A monster hiding under the bed is best fought by turning on the light and facing it, only to discover it’s not so scary after all.
What is the worst that can happen if you fail in a race? What does failure look like? Some athletes think “dying in a race” is failure. Of course an athlete doesn’t really die. She just took a risk out of her comfort zone and learned the limit of how hard to push for her fitness level. Is failure not finishing a race? Certainly something was learned to make the athlete better prepared for the next event, so it really wasn’t a failure after all. What is the worst that can happen regarding what others think of an athlete’s performance? Will other people love the athlete less or think less of him? Someone who truly cares for the racer won’t love or respect him less or more depending on the race outcome. The antidote to fear is confidence, a confidence that the athlete is adequately prepared not only physically but also mentally through structured practice of both.
It is more fun and rewarding to race for a specific purpose outside of ourselves. Reaching goals is great. Winning races is wonderful. But there are countless reasons why triathletes train and race beyond these personal goals: in memory of someone close to them; to lose excess weight so they are healthier for their families; to inspire other Moms to do a triathlon; to raise money for a cause close to the heart; or simply to foster community with others who love to swim, bike, and run. When we race for something bigger than ourselves, our sacrificial, mindful purpose empowers the body beyond normal levels.