Dec. 2008-Positive Attitude, Positive Results

Positive attitude, positive results. That’s what I tell myself. In the off-season I like to work on my mental training as I work on making my body physically stronger for the season ahead. Like many athletes, I believe that mental preparation is as important as your physical training. It may be even more important to the triathlete, because we need our minds to keep our bodies going during a tough race.

Part of being mentally strong is having a positive attitude. You have to be positive, believe in yourself. I may not be the fastest, but I have to believe I have done everything I can to prepare and I CAN DO THIS.

It’s hard to compartmentalize your life—make your training separate from your job and your job separate from your family time. Stress and negative thoughts in one area can affect another area. If you have a bad day at work you can yell at the kids or lose your enthusiasm to work out. It pervades your whole life.

Now, we can’t control what happens outside of training, but when you get to training you have to be able to let those emotions go and put yourself in a positive frame of mind. If you are feeling stressed, take some time before your workout to center yourself, what I call “finding your happy place.” Do some deep breathing and get your focus. When I am working out I imagine that with each breath I am breathing in the positive energy and expelling the negative energy. New age, I know, but if you can get your mind to believe it, your body will follow.

Use your training accomplishments as a way to keep positive. Don’t focus too much on what you lack. Appreciate what you have achieved. Look back at your training log and see how far you’ve come or check out your race times from a few years ago. Next to my autographed photo of Tony Romo I plan to hang my photo from the Bix. It’s not that I had a great run, but finishing that race was something I am proud of and it reminds me that anything is possible. It’s the same reason I hang on to the #32 I wore in my first Pigman. Each of these races was a step on my journey.

Sometimes in the morning, as I get ready for work, I stand in front of the mirror and flex my little muscles like a bodybuilder. “You are strong,” I tell myself. I know I am not talking about my body; I am telling my mind to “be strong.” I need to start out the day in a positive frame of mind.

Attitude affects performance. Kick those self-defeating thoughts to the curb. Stay strong, stay positive and always keep tri-ing!