Mental Training | Ironman Triathlon Tips - Part 2

The Four P’s

The Triathlete’s Guide To Mental Training (Taylor and Schneider, 2005) and several other mental training resources, including “In Pursuit of Excellence” by Terry Orlick (2007) identify FOCUS as one of the key aspects of the sport, of any sport. Focus doesn’t mean concentrating on one single thing for a long time, especially impossible in an [...]

Smile

Sometimes training is not fun – we feel demotivated, sore, tired, frustrated – and this can lead to a downward spiral of negative thoughts that make matters worse. A simple way to break the cycle is to SMILE. It may be the last thing that you feel like doing, but just fake it! Put on [...]

Relax

We were transfixed by how fast Michael Phelps swam in the summer Olympics and by how relaxed he looks in the water. The ability to stay relaxed while working hard is one reason why winners win. Tension is slow and inefficient but relaxing tends to go against most athletes’ instincts. Think about racing a friend [...]

Train your Brain

In long course triathlon especially, having a strong mental game can mean the difference between an excellent performance and a poor performance. There are always “dark moments” in the day where fatigue and negative thoughts can leave you feeling demotivated so it is best to come up with a plan to deal those feelings when [...]