You Are What You Think

How do you become mentally tough? I've read all the triathlon magazines, running articles, an occasional sports psychology book, and all the inspirational athletes' books and I can't remember one of them telling me anything more than to just BE mentally tough. None of them told me how to do it. Here's what I realized over the past few weeks:

A few years ago, I vividly remember heading out of T2 during a race feeling like crap.  I realized it was just some leg cramping that I've felt before and I knew it would go away about 10 minutes into the run.

A few weeks ago I had a crappy 80 mile bike ride in Easton, Maryland.  My head wasn't cooperating with my legs. I knew I could physically go further, but my brain wasn't happy about it.

Two weeks ago we had a ladies only triathlon clinic to review some of the more delicate issues we as women face while competing.  One theme: mental toughness.

Those three things swirled in my head to crystallize what I've always sort of known but haven't really been able to nail down and articulate:  YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK!

Last weekend was a milestone ride for us. 110 miles which I turned into 112, the full Ironman distance. It was a long ride.  Eight hours long without much stopping.  It was the same course as the Easton 80 miler, but instead of a 50 mile loop combined with a 13 mile loop, it was TWO 50 mile loops with a 6 mile loop at the end.  There was wind every way we turned and never it seemed at our backs.

Something got into me, rather into my head, in a very, very good way. I got on the bike just flew. I kept my legs moving despite the wind. In fact, I didn't really feel the wind. I mean, I felt it, it just didn't seem that bad. When I made a turn, I felt the wall of air hit me and just buckled down and pushed harder. I didn't dwell on it. It wasn't something I could do anything to prevent, so I just had to deal with it and move on. Whenever I felt bad, I did a mental inventory of what I was feeling.  Is it physical?  Starting at the top of my head, I worked my way down to isolate just exactly what the problem was.  If I didn't come upon a physical problem, I'd work though my head.  What EXACTLY is it?  After I pinpointed the problem I tried to come up with a solution.  Most every issue resulted in asking myself "what would I do during the race in Arizona?"  (Thanks Marie for the inspiration.)  The answer, every time, was suck it up and keep going.  Eventually I'd minimized the issue to such insignificant proportions that it melted away.  I don't know if this will work for everyone, but it does for me.

I finished that ride well ahead of my expected time and for the first time since signing up for Ironman Arizona, I thought "I can do this. I can F-ING do this. I'm going to FINISH this race!" Everyone says that mental toughness is the key to finishing an Ironman. I've found mine. What tricks do you have to get to your mentally tough place?