First IM - Mental Strength. (Page 2)

Experior - 2010-12-28 11:33 AM I'm not sure what everybody is afraid of.  I can say that if fear were the primary motivator for me, I'd find something else to do.  Self-induced fear is not my idea of a hobby.

IMO, race-day mental toughness is the natural consequence of mental toughness throughout one's training.  Take care of the latter, and the former will largely take care of itself.

'Mental toughness' encompasses a variety of things.  One of those is getting yourself out the door (or onto the bike, or into the pool, etc.) on those days when you are less motivated to do it.  Now, if getting out the door is a mental struggle more often than not, then you need to re-evaluate.  Most days, you should (IMO) be getting out the door because you want to.  On the few days when I don't want to go, I remind myself that at some point, I am almost always glad that I forced myself out the door.  Usually, it is within a few minutes of training that I thank myself for pushing my lazy rear end out the door.  I try to remember that.

The exception to the above, for me, was when I first started.  Actually, I 'started' running several times, and each time (except the last!) it lasted about one week.  I did not enjoy any of those runs.  And when I started and it stuck, it took probably a month of forcing myself to go before I began to notice that I wanted to go.  My desire to get fit is what got me out the door at that time.  Eventually, that desire gave way to just loving to run.

Another aspect of mental toughness is pushing yourself to go hard when it hurts.  And then to go harder (or longer).  What enables a person to do this varies, I suspect, from person to person.  I've seen a lot of people at races and in training who just don't do it, and that's fine.  I think it is very possible to enjoy the sport without putting that kind of hurt on yourself.  For me, the desire to perform to the absolute best of my ability, and the prospect of having done so, outweighs the (temporary!) pain of going hard.

Jeepguy2358 - 2010-12-29 10:55 AM

During this race, my legs cramped, my stomach shutdown after the bike, I had blisters the size of Texas on my feet and I threw up three times during the marathon, but not once did quitting ever cross my mind.  To me, that proved to me the mental strength I have.

Patrick E - 2010-12-29 1:44 PM

People on this site get it, but I'm sure there are a lot of non-triathletes you know who probably thought you were crazy!

Experior - 2010-12-28 10:33 AM I'm not sure what everybody is afraid of.  I can say that if fear were the primary motivator for me, I'd find something else to do.  Self-induced fear is not my idea of a hobby.

lisac957 - 2010-12-29 2:18 PM

What about self-induced cramping, stomach shut down, and vomiting?

 

ahohl - 2010-12-29 12:08 PM I think mental toughness can be learned, and it something that is learned during training.
I have a few workouts that I ended up labeling "mental toughness" workouts. Like running in 5 inches of snow. Or biking when it was too cold. Or doing 2 hours on the trainer in the garage.

You push through it, and then you are stronger on the other side.

The ultimate example of this is the actual IM. You push through that, too, and on the other side sometimes you find there was more to yourself than you thought.

Mental preparation = visualizing your goals, visualizing yourself overcoming obstacles calmly, etc.
Mental toughness = just doing it, come what may. Gutting it out. HTFU and Suck it up, Buttercup.