Improving Your Mental Game For Triathlons
Would you ever enter a triathlon if you didn’t train at all the month leading up the event?
As you know, a Triathlon takes a ton of training in order to be successful.
Most triathletes are quite thorough when it comes to their physical training: spending hours in the water to build their swimming endurance, pedaling countless hours on the bike and pounding the pavement for miles during their runs.
Success in the triathlon requires more than physical training.
Triathlon success depends on your mental strength:
- How do you stay motivated during long hours of monotonous training?
- How do you deal with the discomfort of training or nagging injuries?
- How can you maintain your focus for long periods of time when competing?
- How are you able to handle down time and relax when not training?
- How are you able to manage your fears and expectations prior to competing?
- How quickly can you rebound after a bad event in competition?
The amount of mental strength you have is in direct proportion to the amount of mental training you undertake.
You cannot be mentally prepared and mentally strong if you paid no attention to your mental training… Just as you cannot be physically prepared and technically sound if you didn’t engage in countless hours of swimming, cycling and running.
Chrissie Wellington, a four-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion and World Record holder, credits her success to more than just elite physical training but also her meticulous mental training.
Wellington relied on her mental training to help her overcome many athletic and personal obstacles, consistently push her body and mind throughout her rigorous training regiment and help her become one of the most accomplished triathletes in the history of the sport.
WELLINGTON: “All the physical strength in the world won’t help you if your mind is not prepared. This is part of training – the part that people don’t put in their log books; the part that all the monitors and gadgets in the world can’t influence or record. And the mind can be trained just like a muscle and becoming mentally strong requires patience and practice.”
Wellington is a model for success.
Success is more than having the lightest bike with high-end components… Success is more than having great stroke mechanics… Success is more than being able to run for days on end…
Success requires a strong set of mental skills that allows you to get the most from your physical capabilities.
To determine if you are maximizing your capabilities, ask yourself the following questions:
- What am I doing to foster stable confidence in my racing?
- What strategies do I have in place to stay calm and composed in the middle of a race if I have a bad leg of the race?
- What have I done to improve my ability to stay focused?
- What methods have I utilized to push past comfort on a regular basis?
If you are at a loss to answer these questions, image how much improvement you would make with even a slight commitment to mental training!
How to Improve Your Mental Game For Triathlon:
Review the previous mental skills questions.
Identify one mental skill (confidence, focus, managing emotions, composure, dealing with discomfort, etc.) that can improve your consistency.
Now it’s time to put your mental training in action.
Start with one mental skill, such as focusing on the process, and build upon that one skill.
Be as conscientious with your mental game as you are with your physical training.
Soon, we’ll share an exciting new program for Triathletes, titled “Triathlete Confidence,” to help you improve the most important mental skills for racing.
For now, check out our article on confidence and how it can help you mentally on race-day:
Triathlete Confidence Workbook Program!
If you are read to improve your mental toughness and perform with ultimate self-confidence in races, “Triathlete Confidence” will do just that.
Dr. Patrick Cohn and Andre Bekker (formerly ranked #1 in age category 50+ for 70.3 distance) share powerful metnal strategies to elp you perfrom your best in races.
“Triathlete Confidence: Mental Toughness Training For Peak Performance in Racing” is a complete workbook program of the TOP eight mental training sessions we teach our triathletes to help them boost racers’ mental game and improve consistency – from how to mentally prepare for races to performing under pressure with mental toughness.