Mental toolbox for IM racing and training (Page 2)

This a good question and one I have thought about during both my IM's.  Where does mental toughness rank amoungst s/b/r and nutrition?  I dismissed mental toughness after my first IM cause I had such a great time (95% positive, 5% negative).  IM#2 was just the opposite (IMAZ April '08).  I was not prepared for the conditions that we experienced and once I adapted physically, I was done mentally.  So, here is my take on this topic:

1.  Don't under estimate or take for granted the distance and effort needed to finish.  Be prepared physically and mentally.   That comes with training on both.  Don't quit during training.  Learn what was hard and make it a lesson for later.  If you do cut a session short, write it down with all the reason why.  Then go back later and see if your mind tricked you into stopping.  Could you have kept going?  Remember that and use it against yourself the next time your brain is giving convincing reasons to stop.

2.  Definately understand why you are out there.  Keep going back to that reason when things get tough. 

3.  Stay calm and relaxed.  Don't be afraid to stop for a moment and gather your thoughts.  I have seen this time and time again.  Just watch any Kona video where the eventual winner got a 4 minute penalty and then came out and won the race.  I should have stopped on the run course in Arizona for 2-3 minutes and just gathered myself.  Instead I had this incredible feeling that I had to keep moving forward or I would end up like all the people sitting in Medical.  3-4 minutes in an IM is nothing (unless you are trying to qualify or place). 

"A thousand perfectly fine reasons to stop don't stand a chance against one really good reason to keep going."  -me

Make sure you know what is your one really good reason to keep going.

Cappy your right..we are all different and I'm hoping your wrong and I still have time to dial it all in.  Up to now it's been easy.  These back to back long workouts and bricks this week are killing me.  Last night's run was tough.  I talked to myself through the tough parts and plodded along.  I have a feeling I'll be doing that several more times in the next three weeks before I hit taper.

Thanks for the other ideas guys.  Whatever I can practice with now will make the day more enjoyable. Suzanne, our times are pretty close....I'll meet up with you on the run and we can make up stories about everyone.  Be warned when I'm tired and cranky they won't all be Mary sunshine ones. LOL....

Waterdog...I like the paper idea and will put it in my special needs bag on the run. 

 
A very good analogy indeed! And, I speak from experience (childbirth, that is) .

Agree that stressing and obsessing for days and weeks and months on end is counterproductive and a waste of energy and time.

Do the training and then just trust that on race day. The rest should fall into place and if it doesnt you deal with it as it comes. 

Wow, awesome tips - thanks everyone. It got me thinking about contingencies and adapting during the race when thing don't go according to plan. I've started a separate thread on this subject (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=113107 ) so as not to hijack this one. Any thoughts appreciated!

Gerrard 

This has been touched on already but....

Things I do to overcome mental "issues" during an IM occur well before the IM. These work for me and may not work for everyone:

1) I never train with music; which requires motivation to come from within. There are many times I'm not motivated in training (many many times) and the mental skills I hone from training to create or increase motivation from within (as opposed to external motivation via music) helped me dramatically in my IMs.

2) I train long, hard, and bored quite often (esp. on the bike) and when race day comes, the bike doesn't feel long, hard or boring. some of my 5 and 6 hour training rides (yes, some of them have been 5-6 hours on the trainer) have been long, hard, and boring...but I got through them and consequently honed skills to create or increase motivation from within.

3) I push (and sometimes even push through) my mental motivational limits often during training; which help tremendously during the IM mental "tough" spots because I have yet to experience an IM race where it was physically or mentally harder than my training (and that's the point of training right?)

there are just a few of the things that have proven to work for me. Again, the things that get me mentally through an IM race are things I've done over and over again well before race day.

No offense intended, but I do not agree with you either, Rob. You can be preparing your 'mental toolbox' up to the gun goes off.

As others have pointed out, that is only your opinion and not a fact, and it's a very negative opinion.

I think the taper time is the perfect time to be building your 'mental toolbox'.

For me, I would try to focus on 1 or 2 ChiRunning ideas during each mile. I did this in training sometimes, and thought I might do it on my IM run, but didn't actually. I did do it on some of my HIM runs. During the IM, I was too busy enjoying the moments, and at least on my last lap, smiling at the volunteers and hi-fiving the spectators.

During my IM run, I did spend a lot of time thinking back over my training and previous racing. I thought about the challenges I did on BT, some of my first races, my toughest races, how tough it was getting started in the sport, how far I had come in the 3 sports, etc. Also, I spent a lot of time thinking about how I was literally living a dream. I was doing this thing that I had trained for and been focused on for SO LONG. It was quite literally living a dream.

-Tom 

Cappy - 2008-05-02 8:18 AM NOTE: This is NOT a jab against Kathy! Really! Seriously, and this goes for everyone, if you are 2 months 2 weeks and 4 days out from your IM and you haven't figured out what to put in your mental toolbox by now, you are in serious trouble! Especially since 1 of those 2 months should be your taper… It’s probably just me but I don’t see where smiling and saying “hi” and stuff like that is going to help when you are 15+ hours into a race, your tired, hurting like hell, and want to be anywhere but out on the course. I’m not saying I’m mentally, or physically, tougher than anyone but I have spent 16+ hrs out on an IM course. Sure, it was great to have the volunteers and spectators and family and friends but, let me tell you, when you are out there that long, and the clock is ticking, your only concern is getting to the finish before the clock strikes 12:00! There is no “Hi! Thanks for coming out! Nice to see you!” and there is no smiling and waving. That is B.S.! Your legs are sore. Your feet are sore. Your back and neck are sore. You’re tired. And you’re nervous. So, I say again, if you haven’t figured out how to deal with that, with only 1 more month of training to go, you are in trouble!

what really helped me was expecting that I would have low points in the race.  I knew that I would feel pretty poor a time or two on the bike but also knew, as proven in other races and in training, that those would pass.  so one of my first toolbox items I'd go to when I started feeling despair was that I've felt like this many a times, and it will pass.

on the run I tried to balance my focus on strategy with externals:  I gleaned a lot from all the signs and spectators.  absorbing a lot of small things was just enough "candy"

I like that!  I would boil it down to, "THIS TOO SHALL PASS."  It nicely summarizes the fact that you need to enjoy the highs because they may be fleeting, and try to appreciate the lows, knowing that you'll come out of them and feel better soon.

~B

This is an excellent point. I was fully expecting to hit a very low point on the bike. I was ready for it, although in my case it never really came. But, be mentally ready for a couple of low spots.

tom 

What I do...when I have felt like stopping, I just think back to how much pain my father went through in his last days and realize my pain is nothing.

And of course, "Of course it's effing hard, it's an Ironman." (BryanCD)

CP2K

I thought about this on my run last night, and I have another suggestion -

While it is good to have lots of things in your 'mental toolbox', I would make sure you clearly outline your primary focus during the different stages of the race. Your mental faculties are not going to be at their highest and you may well forget things. For example, I broke the run at IMAZ down into 6 segments, and had a primary focus for each one that I had well memorized.

-tom