The season is heating up. Things are really starting to happen. A lot of training has been done in the off season and in April/May most of us will see our first triathlon. The last couple days I have felt a little uneasy about the season starting. Why would this be?
Outcome Oriented Thoughts.
I nailed it. As triathletes many things can happen in the off season. Some of us put in insane amounts of work, some of us fall off the wagon. Some work on their weaknesses, some on their strengths. No matter how you spend your off season, when that first triathlon comes around you naturally wonder where you are at. You secretly hope that the off season has given you the strength to far surpass your best of the year before. If you have been sinking instead of swimming in your off season you hope that some of your fitness has hung on. Either way it’s almost impossible to keep from thinking of your first race as a litmus test for your entire off season work (or lack thereof).
You have to get over it. This kind of thinking is an obvious form of “Outcome Oriented” thoughts, in other words you (and me) are thinking about the outcome of the race before you have even stepped on the starting line. Thinking about race outcomes when you don’t really have any control over them just yields panic, unease, sleepless nights and stress.
The first race of the year is all about having fun, remembering why you love the sport of triathlon, and getting out the cobwebs. It is not a litmus test for anything. Most all of us will train straight through our first race, and if you are racing in April/May the probability that you have any speed work under your belt is slim to none.
But, we can’t help it, we still think the thoughts.
It doesn’t have to be that way. I will be in Florida in one weeks time and I am already anticipating those thoughts of “I have a ton to prove” and I am talking myself through them. I have nothing to prove. I only need to remind myself how much I love the action of completing a triathlon. To remember the pleasure I find in the pain and the competition; that’s the only goal. Race Execution, now that’s something I got really good at last year, but need to re-remember.
This first race is not the culmination of all the off season weeks, it’s the starting point. Your Number 1, A race of the season, now that’s the culmination of your off season and your on season.
This weekend I am going to focus on positive mental thoughts surrounding my first triathlon. I am going to talk myself into having fun, staying calm and happy, enjoying the experience, and feeling blessed that all my body parts move and function with precision (a luxury I tend to take for granted that many others don’t have).
When in doubt, take a deep breath.
Homework: If your first triathlon is coming up start thinking about those little voices that are talking to you. What are they saying? Are they worried about Performance OUTCOME? Are they worried about proving yourself, or showing your in better shape than you are. Start enacting some techniques to turn those thoughts into warm fuzzy feelings. Convince yourself that you CAN NOT be outcome focused, you must be process focused, and positive. Good Luck!
It doesn’t get any easier; you just get faster.
- Greg Lemond
Maybe you could change the title to “Philosophy Friday”…
You have some important information in there!
thanks – and good timing. I was looking at the results of last years Atomic Man duathlon – first mistake. I was a bit overwhelmed when I saw the time of the majority of the field. Just have to remember that I’m doing the race for myself and for fun, and I’m not even supposed to peak until May and September so this is really just training.
Yes Ben, you are right on. First races are for fun and experience. You will do super well b/c you are trained and you are ready. When you first start racing you always look at last years results and this is almost never good. We as humans tend to look for the people that will beat us, and everyone looks fast on paper! After many races, you stop looking, and you start looking more within!
Great post! So….are being results-oriented and being goal-oriented different? I know I am super results-oriented. I always have those “secret” unspoken goals that are unrealistic (um, like winning) and I get disappointed when they don’t happen! I like what you said about the process, rather than the end result. That’s what I want to focus on this season.
Laura. I believe that setting goals for race results is a pretty bogus idea. They might possibly be reserved for super special races like the Bolder Boulder, or Kona. If you haven’t raced a race before you can’t realistically set a goal for a race. Even something like “I want to swim under XXX minutes” is totally a bogus goal. We talked today about some courses being short or long. So to me, results-oriented is setting a race goal time, or expectation. Being goal-oriented is saying “I want to get strong at climbing hills on the bike this year”. Goals are okay if they help you or give you some direction, but I tend to think people get a little over technical with them. A better goal is to put the work in that you know needs to be done. Look for progress along the way in your training, reward yourself mentally for that progress. Have the right frame of mind to step on the starting line and give it your all. Race smart, execute a strong, sound race plan that doesn’t make you blow up or throw up, and everything else should come out in the wash. If you do those things your subliminal goals should be met. right??
Does that help?
Yeah, that totally helps! And, I need to re-evaluate even some of my written goals for this season. A lot of them are time-oriented, and it isn’t helpful or even sane. Thanks for the wise words!
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doin’ a little Sonja throwback here. I was poking around your old posts and was reminded about the mental mondays and decided to go through some of them when I had time. I really like this post. I think it gives great perspective on the beginning of the season. Thanks Yoda.. I mean Sonja.