Mastering Mental Toughness
It has been said that 50-95% of endurance sports is mental. Yet, as endurance athletes, we spend countless hours in the pool, on a bike or on the run and yet we give the training on the mental aspect of racing less than 5% of our time. Spending some time confronting those voices in your head can save you valuable time and strength during your events.
The following are a few suggestions to think about and focus on before your “big day”.
Mental Toughness on the Bike
• Commit to your race – depending on the race distance and amount of time before the race, there are many variables. Life gets in the way. Decide on your goal and commit to yourself what you would like to achieve. Know that there will be certain obstacles to come up against and that you will overcome them and reach for that goal.
• Overextend – in order to build confidence, it helps to overextend yourself on certain workouts. Those are the workouts that, at first, seem to scare you, but once you complete them, you receive a good confidence boost and it helps you more positively tackle the upcoming workouts.
• Each workout has a purpose – All of us have heard of “junk miles” and how they don’t really help your performance in any way. If you are able to know and understand the purpose of each workout you’re doing, you are more likely to give it your all because you understand the benefits you will be receiving by completing the workout.
• Envision the race in your head – See yourself at the start in the water, walk yourself through that transition, envision yourself riding smoothly up that hill that you are nervous about. Research has proven that when top athletes envision themselves succeeding, it translates into successful performances. Fretting about that hard hill climb or the hot temperatures of the day will only bring in doubt. See yourself easily getting up that hill or in that heat and feeling fantastic.
• Do your homework – Unless the race you select is in its first year, you can benefit a lot by talking to people who have raced the venue before. You can go to the event website, take a look at the layout, the elevations, where the aid stations will be and prepare yourself. Listen to what the other experienced racers have to say and use that information to prepare yourself.
• Stay “in the box” – Focus on only what you can control. It might be hot. It might be raining. It might be incredibly windy – but none of those are in your control and it doesn’t help to be nervous about any of them. Everyone must race in the same conditions – so focus on all the things within your power: Your training, your nutrition, your sleep, your recovery. Prepare as best you can so you can go on auto-pilot on race day.
• Prepare yourself for the tough challenges – If you know you struggle with one aspect of the race, prepare yourself for it. KNOW it will be a challenge. And KNOW that you will get through it. There will always be positives and negatives in any racing situation. Focus on those positives – the negatives may come, but know they are passing and choose to not give them any of your time or attention. Figure out what you need to do and/or think to get yourself past those challenges.
• Post-race evaluation – Once you’ve completed your event , go over all the events of the day. Some do it in their heads, the others write race reports, but whatever you do, evaluate. Think about what went right. Think about what could have gone better. Think about what you could have done to make those things go better. Use these strategies to better prepare for your next race. In many cases, a disappointment can go much further in preparing for the next race than a success. (i.e., walking most of your Ironman not because of injury, but because you just didn’t feel like running). Some of the toughest races build the most resilience and character. Use that to your advantage in your next race.
