Mindset Tools I Learned from Completing an Iron Man Triathlon
Iron Man triathlons require so much more than just physical preparation. Completing an event of this magnitude requires the right mindset. Here I lay out 3 strategies to cultivate a high-performance mindset: visualization, goal setting, and controlling the situation by fighting what you see.
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. — Earl Nightingale
Six hours and 51 minutes. That is how long it took me to swim, bike, and run through the Iron Man 70.3 triathlon in Galveston, TX. From the outside, these events can seem impossible. They are easily perceived to be for the elite, for the people that train countless hours for years on end. Honestly, even after completing my first Iron Man 70.3 three years ago and knowing what the experience was like, I still felt this way. I had a feeling of deja vu as I stood in the same swim start group as I did previously. Once again, I thought to myself whether I prepared enough to take on such a massive undertaking or whether I’d suffer the same agonizing fate as before.
Standing on the dock, watching the swimmers jump one by one into Offats Bayou, I nervously wondered if I could’ve trained more, or would I end up in another panic attack 200m in like I did in 2019.
In an attempt to prevent this, I studied, read, and trained a few skills that made this race not only easier but more enjoyable. When the buzzer went off, and it was my turn to start, I was ready, mentally and physically. Rather than jumping in the water and experiencing a shock to my system, as I did previously, I emerged from the 6 foot saltwater plunge to the sensation that I had been there a thousand times before.
In the months leading up to the race, I focused intently on both the physical aspect of this race and the mental one. In the pool, I payed attention to the areas that were the highest threat to me. A fear of open water was by far the biggest one, but without a lake or ocean nearby to train in, I was left to work on this in the pool. I pinpointed the root of the issue to my problem of being unable to stay calm and focused in the present moment. It seemed, every time I got in the water, my heart rate and breathing would become erratic.
In my first Iron Man, I started off in a frenzy trying to keep up with the group I started with. Because of this, I completely lost track of myself and the sensations I was feeling. By the time I noticed what I’d done, it was too late, and I needed to stop so my heart rate and breathing would slow down. To add to this pain, I hadn’t envisioned what 1.2 miles of swimming looked like. So, as I pulled my head out of the water to take a breath, I was greeted with the immensity of the task in front of me. This added a mental load on top of what I was already feeling physically. From there I sunk into a cycle of negative thoughts, weighing me down further and further until I could barely stay afloat.
Going into the Galveston race, I was fully aware of this fact. After placing my bike at my transition station, Bib #1868, I walked to the swim start. As I approached the water and saw the same colored buoys laid out a mile in front of me, the same sensations washed over me once again: panic, rapid heart rate, feeling frozen, small, and helpless. The difference between this moment and the same one 3 years ago was I didn't let it take hold of me.
While scouring the internet one day, I read an article about Michael Phelps and how he prepared for his races. A key strategy he and his coach swear by is visualization. Phelps would sit next to the pool and think through every detail of his swim, convincing his mind that he is actually doing it and allowing himself to work through different scenarios with varying methods without wearing down his body.
As I stood next to the swim start the day before the race, I did just that. I visualized the highest threat of the race for me, the swim start, and all the sensations I would feel as I jumped in the water: the feeling of the cold saltwater as I become submerged for the first time, floating to the surface and accepting that I am now beginning the race, starting in a slow methodical pace and controlling my breathing, and above all, focusing on myself and blocking out the noise and commotion of the hundreds of other swimmers surrounding me and exchanging blows as we all kick and swing our arms to get ahead.
I went through this situation a hundred different ways in the 15 minutes I stood on that windy dock before returning to my car. I thought about it going well and feeling strong. I thought about what I would do if I felt overwhelmed and froze up. I thought about what I would say to myself to maintain or regain my composure and carry me through to the end.
After some time, I felt a feeling of ease wash over me. The grandiosity of the undertaking in front of me felt a little bit smaller and I was now comfortable to walk away, feeling much more prepared for the next morning.
When I arrived the following morning, the same calm feeling surrounded me. A weight was lifted. However, after overcoming one obstacle in an iron man, there is always another one waiting for you on the other side. After starting the swim off on a strong note thanks to the visualization, I began to experience a new challenge: the 6+ hours of pain waiting for me as I exited the swim.
For a challenge so large, I found it impossible to think about it in its entirety, and the further I got into the race, the more pain I experienced and the less I could focus on what was to come. As I pushed through mile after mile on the bike, I went from measuring my progress in 5 mile increments to 3 mile increments to 1 mile increments to getting through the next pedal stroke and the next and the next and the next.
As I faced a nasty headwind, working with all its might to hold me back, and legs full of lactic acid, burning and begging me to slow down, I needed to divert my attention to something in my control: moving forward.
Goals play a critical role in events like this. One of the most motivating and fun parts of doing athletic events is having something to strive for and improve upon. However, not all goals are equal, and goals that are set during pre-race planning may differ once the day begins and all the externals get a say in my performance.
I had goals set for the swim, bike and run. I put in the work in the months leading up to the race, and I was ready to push to my limits and meet my goals, but the thing about goal setting is it is done outside of the event. When I set my goals, I did it based on my training times in a different environment on days where I may have been feeling better or worse than on race day. I set my goals with the idea of a perfect race in mind, and although that happens sometimes, I am always ready to adjust based on what the day, my body, or mind throw at me.
Mike Tyson famously said “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” This is as true in triathlons as it is in boxing. Perfectionism is a trait amongst high performers and I believe the people willingly paying to put themselves through 70+ miles of pain meet that category. However, perfectionism works great for planning and setting high goals and pushing to become the best, but it falls short in execution. On the day of the race, I am a proponent of “fighting what I see” as we say in the F-16 community.
Fighting what I see means accepting whatever I experience that day, be it a bad weather day, a poor night of sleep, or a problem with my bike and finding a solution based on what I can control in that very moment. A flat tire may cost me the goal I set out for myself on the bike, but it doesn't need to cost me the whole race. I set out to achieve these goals when the race begins, but I am not hard on myself if I fall short or something holds me back.
In a race that isn’t a sprint, or a marathon, but a full fledged 5+ hour iron man triathlon, there is no time to hold ourselves back. By arriving at the start line on race day mentally prepared through visualization, with goals set that we can continually break down into smaller actionable steps, and ready to accept the reality of the situation by focusing on what we can control, we can achieve not only an Iron Man, but any large task in front of us.
These strategies aren’t limited to triathlons. I use these same strategies every day in my job as a pilot and I see other high achievers using them in other fields as well. Regardless of what you want to achieve, with the right preparation and systems in place, anything is possible.
- Visualize what you are afraid of or what you want to achieve
- Set goals that you want to strive for and break them up into actionable steps
- Plan for perfection but fight what you see
