A pessimistic triathlete will always dwell on the unpleasant aspects of the sport. Everyone else knows they exist, but they focus their experiences on the thrill of triathlon to enjoy the benefits of the sport.
If you’re more of a glass-half-empty triathlete generating negative thoughts about your efforts, then fill up your water bottle using these nine tactics to get through the nasty parts of triathlon.
-
Realize that a day of triathlon is better than a great day of fishing!
-
Learn the finer points of triathlon such as its personalized support structure, teamwork, training, discipline, fine-tuning nutrition, and race selection strategy to experience the best the sport has to offer for participants. Apply the knowledge frequently to get the most out of the sport.
-
Acknowledge the pain, setbacks, awkward positions, travel delays and unexpected events that happen in triathlon, but showing determination in the sport can be leveraged to address similar issues elsewhere.
-
Accept the “suck” as part of success, no whining allowed.
-
Learn from disappointments by modifying actions, demonstrating adaptability, and delivering better results in future races.
-
Hone required complementary soft job skills such as building relationships, handling disagreements, and leveraging networks. Try different approaches in a triathlon setting to determine the optimal methods. Any unusual approach can be changed with minimal collateral consequences that can be much worse to develop in the workplace when a mistake would be a fatal career setback.
-
Embrace the discipline of challenging workouts that produce strong minds, emotional levels, and great bodies.
-
Recognize that the self-inflicted pain of great effort is temporary and that your accomplishments last a lifetime of soothing memories.
-
Celebrate that expensive triathlons require some really cool gear and can lure you to some cool, exotic places around the world.
Running in triathlons doesn’t create a self-induced over-the-counter drug that keeps people happy all the time. As a triathlete, your mood will fluctuate throughout the day and during your training routine from race to race. You’ll brand yourself on big training days as unbeatable, while challenging distance, speed, or that combination on race days will humiliate all but the mythical elite triathletes into questioning themselves about the possible self-inflicted abuse. In these stinky days of triathlon training or racing, rise above your selfishness and immerse yourself in the sunny side of the sport. Think about the high of achievement, the low of body weight, the speed of the body, and the fun of a rewarding ride. You are the hero of your chosen sport and probably to others in your family, among your friends and others on your team.
Challenge yourself to think beyond the micro aspects of work, sports, family and social content. Think about the best to appreciate the macro enjoyment, accomplishment and achievements of triathlon in life.
Do you want to do a triathlon or are you choosing an athletic lifestyle where you travel places, experience different cultures, interact with goal-driven people with a lot of talent and mental, physical and emotional energy?
Everything in life requires an effort that includes a little disgust. To truly enjoy the great triathlon experiences of people, places, achievements, food, culture, along with great times away from the comfort of your office, home, and road, you have to know the worst. Negative feelings shouldn’t last long. The good side of triathlon will be remembered and relived for years in your mind. On the other hand, we are all the time in life on Earth. The alternative is fishing…Worms anyone?