Triathlon: CTS MultiSport - Mental Prep for IM - How it Can Make or Break Your Race By Lance Watson

"Ironman's not a triathlon, it's a life experience. To take that away is what kills us …… We know our obligation is to the athletes - to fulfill that dream."
- Graham Fraser, Ironman North America

Ironman is more than a triathlon, more than a simple race comprised of three disciplines. Any Ironman finisher will tell you that Ironman is a face-to-face meeting with your deepest and darkest fears as well as your most brilliant hopes. It is a day, which encompasses a lifetime. The myriad of emotions, which course through your veins, may never again feel so vivid.

With the threat of forest fires bearing down on the town of Penticton, in the heart of British Columbia, many people thought that 2003 edition of Ironman Canada would not happen. On Friday, only two days before the race was to take place, the flames from one of the many forest fires that were ravaging the formerly green countryside were only feet from the bike course that was to be traveled by some 2000 athletes. Not even to mention that at times the air in Penticton was so thick with smoke that you couldn't see more that 100 meters in any direction. The thought of canceling the race was so prevalent in the minds of the race officials that there were evacuation plans in place for all the athletes should the fires begin to endanger the town of Penticton itself. And yet, through all this, the athletes had to remain ready. There were professional triathletes competing for their livelihood, for their next paycheque, their means of sustenance. There were athletes who had vowed to themselves that they would return to conquer this beast. And there were athletes there who were to experience, for the first time, all that is Ironman.

For everything to come to a head - the fires, the changed course, the smoke infiltrating their lungs, the possibility of a cancelled dream - for all this to exist simultaneously and have the athletes remained focused on having the best race of their life was almost too much to bear. And yet, for those people that were successful at the 2003 Ironman Canada, that is what happened. They remained focused and relaxed; they let the hurricane of events unfold around them while they remained calm within themselves. Ironman is made or broken in the mind of the athlete and perhaps never before has that been illustrated as vividly as with the 2003 Ironman Canada.

While it seemed that the world was swirling around and rumors were being propagated that the race was changed or that it would be cancelled or that the smoke made it too dangerous to go on, CTS athlete Lisa Bentley remained focused on the task at hand. This year was to be her first Ironman victory on home soil, as well as a good prep for the Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kona. The fact that airplanes were flying overhead to carry water to douse flames in nearby towns did not change any of that. If she had let her mind wander to the many different possibilities that could transpire, like any other person, she would have been a nervous wreck. However, while there was a possibility that the race could go on, Lisa kept her focused awareness.

Focused awareness refers to the ability to block out distractions fully and focus on the task at hand. Tom Evans, eventual runner-up to Raynard Tissink, lives in a community very close to Penticton, and he had a pink ribbon on his door. This was not a sign of good luck, but rather a indication that he and had his family had to be ready to evacuate their home in less than an hour if the fires were to encroach upon his town, Naramata. Tom needed to be able to block out the thoughts of his home and life going up in flames so he could have the race of his life. Focused awareness allows one to determine what is important for success and act upon it. This awareness is not forced; it is as though you are trying without trying. Tom did not consciously decide to stay focused and remain undistracted, he just did it. This is something that comes with time and practice, with life and race experience, with the realization that on this one day you need to put everything aside and become part of your race. You have complete control.

You have complete control. You control your body and your thoughts. You control the way it moves and how it feels. You control the thoughts that enter your mind. Self talk is an incredibly important aspect of racing Ironman. As much support as you have had leading up to the race, you are going to be alone with 2000 other people out there, trying to cover 141 miles as fast as you possibly can. The athletes that completed Ironman Canada this year had as many excuses as they wanted for why they had a bad day; however, those that didn't have a bad day didn't need an excuse. They did not look outside themselves, but rather they looked within and spoke to the person there. They said incredibly positive things, even when things weren't going well physiologically. The power of positive thought and positive self-talk cannot be underestimated. Lisa Bentley has been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, a condition in which her lungs are greatly affected by poor air quality. This did not prevent her from running a blazingly fast 2:59:56 marathon through thick smoky air. Don't ever look for excuses, but rather solutions.

Mental preparation is just as important as physical preparation when it comes to racing Ironman. If you are not mentally ready for the race, you will not finish the race, regardless of your fitness level. It is just too demanding a race for anyone who is not mentally ready for the challenge. You need to prepare yourself for the unexpected. Forest fires do not usually fall into the category of "the unexpected" too often, but when the fires were getting worse throughout the month of August, athletes had to prepare themselves for what it would be like to race in those conditions. The prepared athlete did not wonder what to do if the race was cancelled, but rather what he/she was going to do in order to race well in the smoky conditions. You need to go through all the possible scenarios before a race: losing goggles in the swim, a flat tire on the bike, or cramping on the run, to name just a few. Once you have considered all the possible occurrences, you need to determine how you will react, what your course of action will be, and how you continue after overcoming the obstacle. When it has been considered before the race, should the obstacle occur, it will be nothing more than a bump in the road. The prepared athlete not only expects the unexpected, but also knows how to overcome it.

The foundation upon which all this rests is confidence; confidence that you are ready, confidence that you can perform the way that you believe. Without confidence in yourself, your best laid plans will wither away when you are first confronted with adversity. You have to believe that you are the best athlete you can be. You have to believe that you have the ability to race strong. You have to believe that you are going to conquer Ironman. Doubt tests faith, and faith is the belief in something that you cannot prove. You are real and you are proof - doubt is not an option. Confidence is everything. Confidence is Tom Evans placing second with his home about to be engulfed in flames. Confidence is Lisa Bentley running in conditions that she wouldn't tell her doctors about. Confidence is training for Ironman. Racing it is mental.

CTS Multisport Head Coach Lance Watson is the personal coach of Olympic Champions Simon Whitfield and Brigitte McMahon; Ironman star Lisa Bentley; and top ranked Olympic Distance athletes Laura Reback and Greg Bennett, to name a few. He can be reached at lwatson@trainright.com.