As students of sport, Coaches at Team MPI love hearing about how people swim, bike and run as it pertains to triathlon. And by “how”, I mean what do they wear, use and think about during the actual discipline in training? Recently someone asked me if I listen to music while I train. I do, but only for running. They were surprised, so I explained why I love it during the run. That lead me to think about how different my mind behaves in each of triathlon’s three disciplines: swim, bike and run.
My Swim Mind.
Uggg…it’s terrible at any math whatsoever…horrible actually. I LOVE leading a lane, but I always need help keeping track of the set. What it’s good at during the swim, however, is making lists of all the things I have to do for that day, week, etc. and how much I am behind in everything. My Swim Mind also reminds me occasionally of what it takes to really commit to sport as swimming can be fairly intense! During my 51 x 100’s last month (in celebration of turning 51 year old), I thought of all the current athletes I work for and how courageous they have been and are. It was motivating!
My Bike Mind.
Currently I’m immersed in Mountain Biking. When doing this, my mind is fixated on not dying, so everything is in the moment. If I make an error (happens continuously), I think about it for a second, am grateful I’m still alive, and then move on to 10-15 sec in front of me once again. When I brought a GoPro on a ride that I had ridden a dozen times and watched the video later, I was amazed at all the beautiful vistas, incredible scenery and huge drop-offs that were on this ride - I just NEVER see them!
My Run Mind.
If running alone, I listen to music and let my mind live in a music video world. I inevitably, though, come to dream of all the good things I want to do in the world…seriously. I imagine if I had endless money and how philanthropic I would like to be. I think of new coaching motivation sayings or images and am entirely engulfed in my surroundings. It’s a really fantastic experience for me, which provides me with a great high.
Let me be clear, however, that in all of these disciplines, I never stop thinking of my breath, technique and form. Breath. Technique. Form. Interspersed in those three things, though, are the above moments that are unique to each discipline. Maybe that’s why I love doing more than just one sport?
What do you think about?