Visualization
We are all acutely aware of how our mindset contributes to or detracts from race performance. Some argue that those goings-on between your ears are not measurable. I disagree. Honest self-observations of your motivation, confidence, thought habits, focus, and visualization ability are well-accepted measurements. Nobody knows you as well as you do.
Joe Friel - Article For Triathlete Magazine
The first edition of The Triathlete’s Training Bible was published in October 1998. I bought that first edition, one month after I signed up for my first Ironman.
In the early editions of Joe’s Tri Bible, there was a Mental Skills Profile. I reviewed the profile and found myself lacking.
Over the years that followed, I turned significant limiters into important strengths. In this section, you have been walked through how I did it…
An understanding of the athlete’s role
The ability to pause before acting on surprises & emotions
Alignment between athletic, life & race goals
A well-tested plan for race day
If the above describes your Mental Skills Profile, then congratulations are in order. You are well ahead of most of your competition.
I had most of the above and, unfortunately, was underperforming on race day.
Visualization was a technique that helped me get more of my fitness to the finish line.
It’s our topic for today.
Starting Out & Falling Short
My first year of triathlon was focused on preparing for Ironman Canada.
Given that I’d signed up for the race before I knew how to swim… (!) preparing for the swim was a key piece of getting me to the finish line.
My swim training progressed well. I had an excellent coach who got me physically ready for my event.
My issues were inside my head.
I didn’t like being in a crowd (still don’t).
My dislike for crowds threw my pacing skills out the window.
My anxiety would increase with my heart rate.
I’d blow up and have to regroup.
Every. Single. Time.
During the Escape of Alcatraz Triathlon, I ended up breaststroking, and gasping, in San Francisco Bay. It was a beautiful morning, but I wasn’t there for aquatic sightseeing. I was there to race.
Ironman Canada went a little better. I’d learned to use backstroke when I panicked. In Lake Okanagan, I had long periods of backstroke with my competition swimming around me.
As Dr Bob noted in Thursday’s article… starting our day with high anxiety and elevated heart rates creates negative downstream effects.
That’s a technical way of saying…
When you blow up, it can take hours to regroup.
My underperformance would continue from the swim, well into my bike leg.
Digestive Problems
Elevated Heart Rate to Power
Difficulty With Uptake Rates
Abdominal Cramping
Breathlessness
Panic attacks are no way to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Kona. Fortunately, I didn’t need to qualify. I was living in Hong Kong and won a lottery slot.
Back in 1999, Ironman was a true mass start.
Elites & Agegroupers
Males & Females
All of us, packed between the pier and the shore. Ocean swim, no wetsuit, the best swimmers in the sport.
Not an environment where I expected to perform well.
But I did, and I’m going to explain how I did it.
See What You Want To Have Happen
Throughout this chapter, I’ve been offering you exercises to:
Notice Thought Patterns
Align Words With Goals
Reality Check Goals To Life Situation
Clearly State What We Want To Have Happen
Most people never do this.
Even fewer go the next step.
Bring Everything Together
Do It
In Our Minds
Repeatedly
This entire process, when repeated, greatly lowers anxiety.
There’s more.
As I prepared for Ironman Hawaii, I removed all choices in my life that created anxiety.
Worth repeating.
If you are anxious then do you have anything to be anxious about?
Are you making poor ethical choices?
Might race anxiety have a deeper cause than racing?
To “solve” my race anxiety:
I needed to sort my larger life.
I needed to retrain my mind.
I needed to learn what appropriate pace feels like.
Seeing Then Believing
By the time I decided to try visualization, I had been reinforcing a pattern of negative experiences. These experiences would start to replay when I was stressed.
The first step was to create a better outcome in my mind.
I started with visualization in bed.
Relaxed, in a dark cool room, I’d play my swim movie with a better outcome.
In the water
In a crowd
People close in
I’m relaxed and executing calmly
I’d play my movie a lot. Many short sessions. Each one, I’m relaxed and executing calmly.
Next was visualization in the environment. In my case, open water. I was living in Hong Kong so got out in the ocean and repeated the process.
In parallel, I taught myself what appropriate pace actually feels like.
Create A Better Outcome In Your Mind
Reality Check Stress vs Effort
I learned…
When we are highly stressed, our subjective perception is wildly inaccurate.
By carefully documenting training and race performances, I saw my heart rate was 30-40 bpm above what my effort felt like.
I had to suck it up and accept whatever was required to keep my heart rate down.
In the water, I wore a heart rate monitor and learned what an appropriate effort felt like.
It felt ridiculously easy.
But it wasn’t easy.
How did I know?
I had to breathe every two strokes.
Increased effort did not materially increase speed.
This applies to novices, and stressed out athletes, in all sports.
Rapid Breathing
Elevated Heart Rate
Limited Increase In Velocity vs Effort
When this profile “feels easy” understand you’ve lost the ability to assess pace.
Benchmarking with pace and heart rate is how I retrained my mind.
To access my EXISTING fitness, I needed to retrain my mind.
October came and I found myself on the start line. Instead of recovering from the swim, it set up my day. My race result was ~30 minutes faster than two months earlier in Canada.
Fitness Makes Everything Easier
A Package Deal
Hopefully, my swim case study illustrates a number of components working together to get a better outcome.
Retraining the mind with visualization.
Lowering anxiety generally, and specifically.
Learning what appropriate effort feels like.
Creating a system to see when you’ve lost the ability to assess pace.
Fitness, especially the ability to recover while moving, makes this learning process easier. As does reinforcing positive experiences.
To get those positive experiences, take time to gradually increase the stress around your race environment.
Smaller Venues
Weaker Field Strengths
Slower Starts
More Benign Conditions…
Prove you can deliver your existing fitness BEFORE seeking outperformance.
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