A triathlon mental training tip 2, motivation, relaxation, mp3 audio hypnosis downloads, visualization CDs...

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.