Mental Preparation for Raceday

This might be a little early for this.   But some athletes have early season races.   I've found that positive visualization is an important part of mental training for a race.   Not just rehearsing what you have to do in your head, but seeing your self succeed.  For a triathlete, you might call it the 5th discipline after nutrition.

So you have that big "A" race off in the distance.  Maybe it's even the 1st time you've ever raced that longer distance.  I myself tend to be a visual person..   So I believe it's never too early to think about the race and visualize yourself over coming challenges and succeeding.  No matter the race distance, you can visualize the pace you'll be running, how you might be feeling and the excitement and reward of success.  It can be a huge motivator especially on those long runs and long rides or when grinding out sets in the pool.  Visualize yourself performing well, having a great day then hitting the final miles and the finish chute.

You're practicing positive thinking.  Drilling into your head that you can keep going when your body is yelling at you to slow down or stop.  If that big race is truly important to you, if you not injured or physically unable to finish (stuff happens) remind yourself all you've done to get to this point in the race, all the hours you've trained and the goal you've focused on for so long, that quitting isn't option.  Failure is not an option.  You can drive on to the finish.

This could mean not slowing down a the miles count down... or just putting one foot in front of the other one more time, then the next.

For myself, having done my first full Ironman last Fall, on most of my runs, I thought about the pictures I've seen of athletes finishing that distance, that race.  I tried to place myself in that finish chute, achieving all my goals for the race.  Finishing strong.  I was truly in uncharted territory as well.  It was only the 6th time I had run over 20 miles, ever in 21 years as a runner or triathlete.  The last time had been in 1998 on a long training run with a friend.  While I wasn't prepared for the level of suffering I would face in those final miles, I was prepared for the commitment to drive forward and not slow down.  I was rewarded with by far my greatest athletic achievement ever.

Good luck to everyone as they start their training this season.  Focus on those goals.  Focus on over coming any setback in training or racing and see yourself finishing strong.