THE ONLY WAY TO FAIL IS TO QUIT
Training for an IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 (and should I say LIFE) is all about repetition.
Just the other day, one of my athletes training for her first IM 70.3 shared, “I no longer get nervous running a half marathon thanks to training”!
When you do something over and over and over again, it starts to lose its significance. Our mind no longer sees it as a challenge. Like Aristotle once said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
Why is this such a big deal for IM and IM 70.3 training?
Well, simply said, we are teaching the mind to tolerate discomfort over repetition while training in a fatigued state. All to simulate race stress and build the endurance machine that is both physically and mentally strong.
At the end of the day, who wins on race day is who can tolerate suffering the most. Race day is a race of the minds so mental strength is as important if not more than physical strength.
Here are my top 5 mental strength tips after racing in 3 IRONMANs, 13 half IRONMANs, Qualified for 3 IM 70.3 World Championships, coaching for 2 years and most importantly my experience from someone that has struggled most of her life not feeling good enough:
1) What You Tell Yourself fucking Matters
Your inner dialog that nobody else can hear but oh boy, has the power to move mountains is beyond powerful. What you tell yourself will either break you or make you. Positive-self talk creates confidence. Confidence creates believing in yourself. Believing in yourself creates self-love.
Have a positive mantra that you can use during training and race day to help you stay positive when shit hits the ceiling and all you want to do is quit. For some of us we want to quit before even crossing the start line. Do not go into race day thinking your shit wont hit the wall. It fucking will. And your mantra is going to help you hit the wall harder than it fucking hits you.
My personal mantra is “breathe”. I focus on my breath. I calm my monkey brain down and leash my demon. I enter in a state of meditation. I remain relaxed and connected to mind, body and heart. I call this in a state of flow and it is here where I get the most out of my performance on race day and training.
2) The Power of Goal Setting
The power of knowing what you want will allow you to take actions that produce results. Dare to dream big and create realistic goals with expiration dates. This process helps you clarify what it is that you want in your future and taking immediate actions in the present.
This is a big questions but ask yourself what is your purpose in life? Your WHY?
People often think of me as a motivated person. Fuck no. I am lazy and I am a brat. I often don’t want to workout, cook, and fuuuckk I hate grocery shopping (put that on a bratty voice and that is me)! I mean I often tell my husband that I get tired of chewing and why haven’t they invented a pill that I can just swallow all my calories. Yeah… lazy!
What keeps me going? I am highly committed to my WHY. And I navigate my life (career, relationship, adventures, etc) with my values and beliefs. They are like my GPS system that allows me to stay true to who I am no matter what challenge life throws at me.
3) No Expectations
No expectation is different than low expectation. Putting a lot of pressure to perform on race day only results in high anxiety. Your self worth is not the outcome of your race performance. Racing is not about pass/fail but instead an opportunity for growth.
Trust your training and before a race reflect on how far you’ve come. How much you have already achieved. I often tell my athletes and myself that race is all about celebration and time to leave it all on the course!
4) Staying Calm and Grounded
When curve ball arrives during training, race week, and race day remain and stay calm. Don’t be a victim. Handle the situation. Adapt. Resilient. Be ready for adversity. There is no perfect race. Always something gets in the way.
One month out from race day know your race plan from how many bottles you will have on the bike, nutrition plan for bike and run, trust your equipment you have been training with and don’t change anything, know where you should expect challenges on the course and bike, run and swim those challenges so on race day it is not new.
Always read the entire athletes guide for each race and attend the athlete briefing for all your races. The more prepared you are for your race, the less stressed you will feel allowing you to remain calm and grounded.
Two weeks out from a race day I print out the race course maps for the swim, bike and run. I like to write down my race strategy for each leg and make notes on T1 (swim to bike) and T2 (bike to run) such as how far of a walk from T1 to swim start, expected water temp and write down what I expect to wear on the swim, expected air temp when transition opens so I know what to pack and wear over race kit, what time T1 opens, race pace strategy for the bike, where the climbs are, aid stations, etc.
The more I visualize my race, the calmer I will be on race week and race day.
5) The Only Way to Fail is to give up
Never give up on your dreams mother fuckers!
You might DNF (did not finish) or DNS (did not start) in your first IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 or in your 100th race. Who the fuck cares! Remember, racing is not a test of self worth but instead racing is growth of opportunity!
Learn from each race. Then get the fuck back up after throwing yourself a pity party and ask for help. Maybe look into hiring a mental strength coach, or hiring an IRONMAN coach, or going to therapy to address the bigger picture, or maybe you hire a life coach or a physical therapist if injury brought you down. Please know, that you are not alone. Get out of your own way and create a team around you. A team that will support you to the very end of many proud finishing lines.
Lastly: Smile Fucker! No matter how you feel, smile. Smile for how far and how much you have already achieved.
Celebrate YOU! BE YOU! BE YOU Unleashed!