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The Secret is: There's No Secret....

Friday, 11 May 2018 23:10

By Kelly O'Mara (The Salty Triathlete - triathlete.com)

Look for a new “A Brief Complaint from a Salty Triathlete” from Kelly O’Mara every month in Triathlete magazine.

There it was, right in front of my eyes: “Read Jan Frodeno’s Mental Trick That Helped Him Win Kona.” Yes, I was going to learn the secret! I’d be unstoppable! I clicked on the headline and started reading.

Turns out, Frodo tries not to think about the whole race all at once. He likes to break the day up into sections and bits that are easier to tackle mentally.

No kidding.

That’s not so much a secret or a trick, as a well-established mental race tactic packaged in trick’s clothing. And it’s one I, theoretically, already know. I already know no one should ever think about the entirety of an Ironman stretched out in front of them. I know I’m supposed to focus on one chunk at a time in a race. Yet, clearly, I’m no Jan Frodeno. What am I doing wrong?  ...

The secret is there is no secret. The techniques the best pros use are the same techniques the slowest of the rest of us use. They’re just better at them. And they’re better at them because they practice them more.

You wouldn’t show up on race day never having swum before and expect to just “hang tough” when you hit the water. But that’s exactly what we do with our brains. When we don’t train our minds, they flounder when we suddenly demand they learn how to swim mid-race. (It’s a metaphor—don’t overthink it.)   READ MORE