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MAKING LUCK...

Saturday, 28 April 2012 02:30

By Tom Demerly (for usatriathlon.org)

This USA Triathlon Multisport Lab article is presented by TriSports.com

Have you ever known an athlete afflicted by everything from bee stings to forgotten equipment, bike crashes, blisters and missed wave starts? Bad luck seems to follow them. If something can go wrong, it does for them.

The opposite is the athlete who races and trains like an accountant. Everything is tabulated, check listed, prepared and re-checked. For them preparation and racing is a well-charted movement from point A to point B. Organized athletes experience a lower level of anxiety and spend less mental energy worrying.

One of the greatest performance coaches ever, author Steven Covey of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People coined the phrase details of hydration, nutrition and equipment. It means knowing the exact route a race course takes before you ever arrive at the venue. It means occupying yourself with every detail you can control and ignoring the ones you cannot.

The magical synergy that emerges from this approach is that suddenly everything seems to go your way. You arrive at the race venue more rested. You rest better knowing your equipment has been checked in advance. You know your shoes won