I don’t like swimming in cold murky lakes.
I don’t like tomatoes.
I didn’t used to like Green Tea.
I don’t like the thought of really tough training sessions – I do like the feeling afterwards.
I didn’t used to like the thought of standing in a room full of people and doing a talk on nutrition – I love it now.
Two words some this up:
Comfort Zone.
This is a first world expression.
In human natures more turbulent past, we would have rarely been in our comfort zone and craved for nothing more.
Now the opposite is true for most.
The fact you are a triathlete or aspiring to be one means you are a bit different, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this.
My personal experience is that the more I am prepared to embrace the new and the scary – the more I get back from life.
That doesn’t always mean pushing harder – sometimes it means the opposite.
To do no training or to eat more can be exactly what the Dr ordered, that in itself can make us uncomfortable and that can make us faster and healthier.
As well as a readiness to step out of our comfort zone, I believe there is one other factor which will ensure our success:
Positivity.
Most of the successful people I know have this trait.
They never see themselves as victims to circumstance (maybe for a little while but then they reframe).
They see lessons learnt.
They see a learning process which will make them better.
They don’t take failure or success to seriously.
This is relevant to you because the scales don’t always go in the right direction and sometimes the garmin can say you are running slower than you’re heart and lungs tell you – and its not because you’re in a tunnel!
This all comes down to mindset.
Probably the most undervalued part of a successful athlete.
You can have an awesome training plan with all your zones figured out.
You can have a solid nutrition plan (designed by me of course).
You can have the best bike.
But…………
as someone once said to me:
“It doesn’t matter how strong someone is, its the top 2 inches that matter the most”
The brain – in case you were wondering!
It’s one of the things I discuss in my new book – “The Triathlete Nutrition Code”
Check it out here:
http://www.nutri-tri.com/e-books/
One way of ensuring that you stay positive and in the right mindset is to start being the person you want to be today.
That means behaving like that person.
I do this daily and I think it works:
Write a list of all the traits, physical and psychological that you think the person you want to be has.
Write it down on paper – the more detail the better.
As soon as you wake up in the morning read it and believe it.
Then live that list every damn day until you become it – it won’t happen overnight!
A bit like the boxer who tells everyone he is going to knock his opponent out – he is convincing himself more than anyone else and if he truly believes it he will do it!
Jamie “Love Life” Leighton