Channeling previous difficulties to attain success

I was speaking with a close friend who is stepping up to her first half Ironman this weekend about the taper and race planning. It has been fabulous to see this young lady come so far in the past months to the point of her current fitness where I feel she will even outdo her own expectations.

Key to race prep for me is always spending at least some of your last week in your own head and in a positive frame of mind. Once your training is done you will know that it is taper time as you will start to get antsy, your legs will start to twitch a bit and you will just be ready to take on the race.

Once you’ve jumped in at the gun, it is important not to fly off the handle and go out too quickly. Distance events are precisely that – distance events. There will always be a few idiots in any race who will go out like a bull out of a gate. Let these individuals go and think only of your race. Pace yourself nicely from the start and let those clowns surge ahead. Time will ultimately tell if they are stronger than you or if you will be cleaning them up in the last few K of the event. I have often found that in my case it is the latter.

Personally I also find that flying under the radar always allows one to relax and perform at an optimum.

Trust in your training and listen to your body and what it wants in terms of nutrition.

Above all though there is a small trick that I use to trick the mind when things become tough in any event or when it starts to hurt. I always cast my mind back to other difficult situations in my life that I have managed to overcome and channel that resilience to overcome the current hurt and pain.

In this regard, I find sometimes that hurt and pain that you may have been feeling is ideal to not only channel success, but to help to set aside that hurt from your life once and for all. I ran one of my best times after really being hurt in the past. That even helped me to also get past that time in my life.

If this is not enough then I also use the phrase that I was taught by a very wise Scottish coach who helped me through Comrades:

‘The urge to quit something in life or in sport will come but once..Once you have defeated it, like a coward it will not return for another fight’.

Rise above – channel your previous difficulties and ACHIEVE! -- Sean Muller