KO Triathlon Coaching Corner

What Makes Successful Triathletes So Good

As I continue to adhere to the shelter-in-place mandated order, I’m running out of things to watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime. So last night I watched the 2017 Ironman World Championships to get some much-needed motivation going into the weekend.

After watching Lionel Sanders turn himself inside out on the run portion of the race. I started to wonder. What do these athletes have that I don’t?

Well, let’s start with the fact these pros are extremely talented and gifted to do what they do. But how about the Age Grouper? That average joe who has a fulltime job and is trying to split his/her time up with career and family. Other than the DNA makeup of those pros. What traits do we age groupers also have, but just don’t use? 

Here’s my top five.

Let’s start with doers. You can be at peak fitness, but if you’re not fit emotionally then all that training was for not. There’s a saying, “the body follows the mind”. Elite athletes have set race expectations early on in training. Defining these expectations early and keeping them in focus will kept the negative thoughts away on race day. Successful athletes have a concentration about them. A drive and burning desire that won’t let anything stand in their way. A successful race can be defined by doing what you said you were going to do, and a good healthy mental state is the first step.

Being consistent in training is important. Being consistent with the frequency of your training reinforces the success of your race. Breaking habits of doing workouts randomly or doing a lot of them and then stopping needs to be established. Duration is next. How closely was the prescribed duration of the workout session met? Did you do the full workout, or did you bail half way through? Lastly, is the called-out intensity. Every workout has an intensity factor built into it. Did you achieve the prescribed intensity for each session? Or did you finish the workout on cruise control? Being consistent in frequency, duration and intensity during the workouts is a trait needed for success.

Here's the big one…being resilient during the race. Every race will have adverse situations that pop up. These can come from both physical and psychological directions. How you react to these stressing obstacles determines how resilient you are as an athlete.  How you cope with them and right the ship in your favor can make or break your race. Now you can take these situations and go in one of two directions. First, just quit and say the triathlon gods had it out for me and it’s not my day. Or you can call up some positive feelings or memories. Maybe your gratitude for getting to do this race as an example, or staying calm. In other words, go to your happy place. Remember, you’re a doer! You can train for these obstacles too. During your training block for your race, there will be times when things get tough. This is the moment you start rehearsing those thoughts. So, repeat, repeat and repeat this process in training so that when the moment comes you’ll have the mental resilience to get you through it. We always hear elite athletes say they just shut off their brains and turn the noise around them off. The ability to harness these techniques will allow you to bounce back from any obstacle.

They never look like they’re in a chaotic state. Have you noticed the elite athlete never looks stressed and appear always in control? Well truth is, more often than not they are. Yes, their very organized and have a great support team, but the resilience techniques they trained with allows them to appear calm. They are very present on race day. Sure, their minds can wonder during race day, but they can bring themselves back to center quickly to achieve their desired goals. They can handle the pressure and know what they want to achieve by staying focused on the task at hand. 

             

The successful athlete has a wonderful support network around them. Let’s start with the fact they have a great support system around them. Even though triathlons have an individual aspect to them, they are definitely a team sport. The team starts with family. A family’s support is key to an athletes’ psyche. The last thing an athlete in training needs to feel is guilty about not being around because their always working out. Finding a balance between training and life is hard. Your family will be inspired by what you’re trying to accomplish. One way to make sure they support you is to involve them in your training. Time management is key and off family hours may work to get the workouts done. There is no perfect situation and very rarely does it go well all the time. But making the effort to keep everyone happy will usually lead to less conflicts with your family. Remember, when you get to that finish line and your family is there to greet you, it will all be worth it!  

      

I have my athletes work on these traits during training and if you can acquire or improve these traits during your journey to race day, chances are you’ll have a better race result and experience.

Be safe and happy training!