What
thoughts and emotions go through your mind in the 10 minutes before an event begins?
This question may be crucial to your triathlon results. It
seems that the more science discovers about the human mind, the more important
the power of thought becomes, especially in an event as mentally and physically
taxing as triathlon.
Believe it or not, every thought you think,
every word you say, and every emotion you feel in the 5-10 minutes before
the race has a major effect upon your results.
Humans think approximately
60,000 thoughts a day, and the quality of these thoughts is becoming increasingly
important in a sport where the competition is so physically strong - as
when two or more competitors are of the same fitness and skill level, the mind
will be the only thing that separates them.
We already know many
of the problems which are associated with a negative attitude, such as fear, extreme
nervousness, intimidation, lack of belief, worrying about 'uncontrollables' (those
aspects of competition we have no control over, such as the performance of your
competitors), uncharacteristic errors or unusually slow times,...and so on.
If you still struggle to believe the importance of the mind in triathlon,
think of this; all of your past triathlon training and actual event experience
(that is, every swim, bike and run leg you have ever done in your lifetime)
is recorded in the archives of your memory bank, and this entire 'computer file
of your triathlon experience' lies within your subconscious mind, right now.
The subconscious
happens to be the control-center of all movement, and it functions just like a
computer (in fact, computers were originally modelled upon the subconscious),
and this amazing mental computer is being constantly programmed by the thoughts,
words, statements and emotions you choose.
Your results in the triathlons
(which I like to think of as the computer printout) are determined by the
quality of the thoughts (which is the 'data') which are programmed into your mind
(the computer).
What this all means is this: Think negative thoughts
before a race, and you will (generally) get a negative result. No question. Likewise,
program your mind positively with powerful words, images and emotions (and get
rid of any mental roadblocks which may have been holding you back), and you will
get vastly improved results. Garbage in, garbage out, as they say. This is all
now common everyday knowledge, tested many times in university experiments - this
is no longer theory, it is simple truth.
The question is: are you
satisfied with the results you are getting, or could they improve (and possibly
even a lot) ?
Simply by changing the thoughts you think before
a race, may help you to change your printout (your results) for the future.
So how can we do this? One of the best ways to overcome negative
thoughts before a race is to re-focus the mind onto something positive,
by using a mantra or affirmation. This is an ancient and world-renowned technique,
where you simply repeat a few positive, powerful words - over and over again for
5-10 minutes before a race. This does two things; it focuses the mind onto the
positive, and it prevents negative thoughts being 'programmed in' before the race.
An example of an affirmation could be 'power and speed', or 'perfect rhythm',
but you can just as easily make up your own mantra using your own words. These
can even be used during actual events, especially the run leg of a tri event.
The greatest boxer of all-time, Muhammad Ali, used "I am the greatest" to
great effect on his subconscious - he became the greatest boxer who ever lived.
Please note however, that if you create your own mantra, just ensure you keep
it short, positive (no words such as 'lose'), and present-tense
(eg. 'I'm unstoppable', not 'I will be unstoppable').
This is
important (for reasons I do not have time to go into here). Yes, some competitors
even sing a tune to themselves during the swim leg (very common in training or
practice), and this can also work remarkably well if a mantra is turned into a
tune. Even better, create an affirmation which suits the exact rhythm
of your strokes or movements!
Practice this affirmation technique,
and see if it makes a difference to your results. I have seen it regularly make
massive change and quantum leaps in triathlete's results and times.
