Mental Race Preparation

Some racers start trying to mentally prepare for a big race the night before by “psyching” themselves up with some motivational music or other last minute efforts.   While this approach is not necessarily bad, it does not serve to fully prepare athletes for the true mental demands of a challenging race.  This post will discuss a more in-depth mental preparation in 2 main areas: positive self-talk and focus.  It also provides guidance on how to incorporate these two areas into your written mental race plan.  You are going to write a mental race plan, right?

Positive Self Talk

For most long course triathlons, it is unrealistic to think you’re not going to have any negative thoughts or emotions during the race.   Some of these negative thoughts can be quite powerful and debilitating toward the end of the race, especially if you haven’t developed a sound mental plan to deal with them.    How are you going to deal with that late race, serious fatigue that makes you ask “Why am I putting myself through this again?!”  How are you mentally going to handle the frustration from continuously strong winds or being passed frequently?  The answer:  Learn to first identify situations and causes of common negative thoughts and harmful internal self talk, and then replace them with positive, but realistic self talk.  It must be realistic or you won’t believe it.  If it’s gusting 25 mph, and you try to tell yourself that you LOVE the wind and “this is a piece of cake”,  you’re not going to believe it and you’ll probably end up make yourself more frustrated.

Written Mental Race Plan: Spend some good time and try to identity 3 “hot-button” situations you’ve encountered over the last couple of months that caused you to have negative self-talk.  Write down a short description of the situation along with the underlying cause (frustration, fatigue, boredom, pain, despair, etc).  Also include the negative self talk and think hard about some realistic, positive replacements.

Example 1: A strong wind really slows me down on the bike

• Underlying Cause: Frustration that I’m not able to maintain desired speed or that I have to work so hard to maintain it
• Negative Self Talk: “This just sucks”.  “I hate the wind.”  “I cannot maintain a good effort against it”.  “I’m just beat mentally against it”
• Positive, Realistic Replacement: “The wind is strong, but it will make me stronger in the long run”.  “This is an opportunity to test my mental toughness”.  “I’m doing a good job of staying aero”.

Example 2: I start to get quite fatigued at the end of a long session

• Underlying Cause: Fatigue from having to stay focused for so long.
• Negative Self Talk: “This is no longer fun”  “Why am I out here?”  “I can’t go on”.  “What’s the point of doing this if I hate it?”
• Positive, Realistic Replacement: “I put myself in this position of purpose: this is the meat of session”.  “This is where I’m getting the most benefit.  Right here. Right now”.  “It’s always easy the first hour.  It’s this last hour where I’m really building my fitness”. “This is money in the bank for race day.”

Mental Focus

Often times when I find my focus waning, I’ll try hard to think about what I should be doing instead of letting my mind wander around in “distraction land”.  I start to get a little upset and critical about my lack of concentration.  However, this line of thinking is judgmental and counter-productive.  Thinking interferes with prime focus because it often conjures negative emotions which can actually lead to reduced performance.  Focusing, on the other hand, is objective and detached from judgment or evaluation.  If you make a mental mistake, just accept and acknowledge it and move on.  Don’t dwell on it, but instead start focusing on positive things that can be used help improve your performance, such as proper nutrition and pacing.

A key way to direct your focus in an appropriate way is to remember four P’s:

1. Positive: This is quite obvious, but you want your focus to have a decidedly positive twist even if you’re trying to correct a form flaw.  For example, if your cadence on the run tends to slow down as you fatigue, focus on maintaining “quick, happy feet” instead of “not plodding along”.  See the positive twist.
2. Process: This one is huge because it requires shift in the way many people focus.  Instead of focusing on the outcome of the race (i.e, actual completion, finishing time, ranking, etc), focus on the process of getting to the outcome.  When you focus is on the outcome, your performance will often decline because you’re no longer focusing on the things that will help you execute well such as pacing and nutrition.  Furthermore, you’ll often drift away from optimal intensity because you’ll get nervous or worried about reaching your optimal finish time.  To focus on the process, ask yourself the question: “What do I need to be doing right now?”  This leads nicely into our next P…
3. Present: Don’t focus on the future or upcoming portions of the race.  A long course tri is too much for your brain to comprehend all at once.  Eat it one bite at a time.  When you’re late in the bike and you’re starting to get a bit fatigued, don’t let yourself think about the looming long run ahead.  Instead, stay in the present and just focus on what you should be doing at this very moment.   Is my pace appropriate?  Am I eating and drinking according to plan?  Do the conditions demand any changes to the plan?  Likewise, don’t dwell on the past.  If you had a bad swim or T1, don’t dwell on it.  Accept it and move on!
4. Progress: This last P basically means that you should focus on your own progress and not that of others.  While it’s OK to occasionally use “a rabbit” to give you a short boost, you should in general strive to maintain your own pacing plan while monitoring your personal progress while not comparing yourself to other racers.

Written Mental Race Plan: Come up with 2-3 personal keywords or phrases for each of the Four P’s above.  These keywords are brief, descriptive reminders of what you need to focus on to preform well.  They can be physical (e.g., easy breathing or long stride), technical (e.g, high elbow for swimming or head up for running), tactical (e.g, patience or finish strong), or mental (e.g, positive or attack).

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