What is your mindset when exercising?
Is your head full of self doubt over your abilities?
Did you know that the mental "Wall" is the biggest hurdle during any exercise or activity?!
Here is a little about my preparation for the bike leg in the half iron man last year.
But before I get into that, a little about my own mindset.
I'm quite competitive by nature but unlike some I also have a very cool, calm and collected mindset I also enjoy the competition even if I am not winning!
So yes I'm one of those annoying people that is usually grinning from ear to ear while exercising or playing sports. On the squash court this leads to no end of frustration from my opponents as I happily run from end to end several times and never give up.
Back to the Ironman, a running colleague of mine wanted to compete in a team and asked me if I wanted to do the bike leg, "Sean, You're fit, did you want to ride in the half Ironman?"
"Sure!" I replied.
I didn't even think twice about it, I was helping a friend out, it was something new and interesting I hadn't done before and sounded like fun!
Most importantly though I didn't even consider that I couldn't go the distance, my mindset was that I was fit and healthy and with some regular riding I could complete the bike leg.
My training over the next few months (after I found a road bike on Facebook marketplace) consisted of one long ride of approximately 50km per week plus regular commuting by bike.
Two weeks before the event I did my first ever 90km ride to sort out hydration and fuel (food!) for race day and then three days before race day I did half (1 lap) of the official course to familiarise myself with it.
I managed to break a spoke on the practice lap and spent the next couple of days frantically getting a replacement wheel!
From a physical fitness perspective this would usually be a bare minimum training regime for something like this, more of a maintenance regime, normally it is recommended to complete several training rides of around 80% distance (72km) for several weeks leading up to it.
What with a busy and full life though, which also included running, squash, kayaking, bootcamp and bushwalking, I didn't have the time to put in that sort of training so I relied upon my overall fitness and mindset, that I could complete the race in a pretty reasonable time!
For me I have a natural positivity towards my abilities in sports and exercise, I'm not saying that doubts don't arise from time to time but I have the mental tools to quickly overcome these and get on with it! The main tool that I use is the pure enjoyment of what I am doing, what my body is capable of and my awareness of any feedback it is giving me to adjust my intensity accordingly to achieve the goal.
Come race day I was positioned in the transition area between some pretty serious competitors, and I don't mean professionals, I mean they were taking everything very seriously!
We actually had a very good swimmer so I left the transition before them, I even had time to congratulate our swimmer and ask how she felt which surprised the serious people either side.
I took off fast, spurred on by the excitement that a field of competitors brings but soon fell into a rhythm a little slower and more maintainable. The race was on!
I thoroughly enjoyed most of the 90km, except at around the 70km mark I began cramping in my hamstrings and glutes quite badly. This was my mental "Wall" this is where the doubts started creeping in, had I prepared enough? Had I hydrated enough? Should I push through the cramps and risk an injury? If that happened would I even finish the race and let my team down? These types of thoughts are common amongst many athlete and can spell the end of the race. I listened to my body though and stopped for five minutes to stretch rather than trying to push through and possibly cause an injury. This gave me a chance to hydrate and fuel up as well as, resetting my mindset. Reminding myself that it was only another 20km to go, they were just muscle cramps due to low electrolytes. I targeted the glutes, hamstrings and calves with the stretches and switched to just drinking electrolytes (sports drink) for the remainder. This few minutes of resetting my mindset and looking after my body meant I was able to not only finish but finish stronger and probably achieve a better time than had I kept going.
While riding I had fun playing catch with the volunteers collecting used water bottles in the disposal zones, with some great catches as I threw the bottles to them. As well as a bit of commentary with one particular rider when we kept overtaking each other about ten times during the final lap and even trying to chase the serious one who had been beside me in the transition when he finally overtook me in the beginning of the second lap.
I finished the bike leg in quite a respectable time (for an amateur) of 3hrs 14mins with an average speed of about 28km/hour holding my own against riders on bikes worth more than 20 times mine and training regimes into the hundreds of hours.
Our team then went on to finish in 5hrs 56min coming 75th overall and 37th (out of 51) in the mixed teams category.
And what did I do after the race?
Well after stretching for quite a while and drinking plenty of water, I cheered my team mate on during the run leg and as a team we ran down the finishing chute. After that we all enjoyed a well earned beer together!
My experience here is by no means a boast, this was not a result of coming from no training, I lead a very active lifestyle with many varied forms of exercise. If I had had the time to train regularly and concentrate entirely on riding I have no doubt that I could have shaved quite a few minutes off. But it serves as an example of what can be achieved by a positive and confident mindset which I firmly believe is more than half the struggle when doing any physical activity particularly if it is new to you.
So remember, your body is stronger, more resilient and capable than you give it credit for and above all enjoy it! Whatever the activity, find the joy in moving your body and achieving things you might not have thought possible!