23 Easy Ways to Become a More Mindful Triathlete

“On race day there are three kinds of thoughts: slow thoughts, go thoughts, and no thoughts,” said Psychologist, Joe Hammond at a talk he gave at Carolina Triathlon.

Slow thoughts are about struggling. For example, it’s hot out here. The swim is so long. I’m tired.

Go thoughts are about getting things done. I’ve got this. I’m passing people. I’m running smoothly.

No thoughts mean you are swimming, biking, or running on point, in the groove with no need for conscious thought. You aren’t thinking so much as you are executing. Another way to describe this is mindfulness.

In this post I will give you some tips and resources to start practicing mindfulness in everyday life and while training and racing to achieve a more focused, less distracted mindset.

Moving Toward Mindful Training and Racing

Get a mindfulness mediation app like Headspace or Insight Timer and start doing short, guided meditations every day. Seriously you will notice the difference in just a week or two.

Mindful Swimming

Breathe: Exhale forcefully into the water and don’t outrun your breathing.
Body Scan: Check for tension. Stay relaxed. Fluid.
Mechanics: Focus on sighting, then body position.
Impressions: Don’t just focus on yourself. Watch the other swimmers. It will keep you on course.
Find the Positive: Just being out on the swim course with other triathletes is thrilling.
Mantras: Swimming is winning. One stroke at a time and one buoy at a time.
On race day, count your strokes and sight often. A shorter path is a faster path.

Mindful Cycling

Breathe: Learn to belly breathe. Inhale for three seconds; exhale for three seconds.
Body Scan: Check for tension. How hard are you gripping the handlebars? Are your shoulders tight? Relax.
Mechanics: Do you feel pressure on the pedals throughout the entire circle?
Impressions: Watch the other riders. Let them show you the hazards you need to steer around.
Find the Positive: Celebrate having the courage to be out there
Mantras: Spin up the hills and flow down the hills.
On race day, make certain your bike is in the little chainring and a bigger gear when you put it in the transition area.

Mindful Running

Breathe: Focus on inhaling through your nose and breathing out through your mouth in a calm, measured fashion.
Body Scan: Feel for tightness and pain. Hands are loose.
Mechanics: Pay attention to your posture and form. Be tall.
Impressions: Listen to your breathing and footfalls. Keep both smooth.
Find the Positive: Everyone is dying on the run but no one is quitting. Harness that shared suffering.
Mantras: Stride by stride and mile by mile.
On race day, smile, encourage the other runners, high five people you know.
Finally, remember that the only place you can make changes in your life is in the present moment.

Circular patterns of sand in a zen garden.

What is Mindfulness?

The best definition of mindfulness I came across researching this post was:

Mindfulness is the self-regulation of attention with an attitude of curiosity, openness, and acceptance.

It came from a blog post titled 3 Definitions of Mindfulness That Might Surprise You on the Psychology Today website. Curiosity and openness are important. Acceptance is critical.

The goal is to focus your attention on the present moment with an awareness of your surroundings, actions, thoughts, and feelings without judgment or negative feelings. Really it’s about being able to respond not just react to what’s happening internally and externally.

The whole point of mindfulness meditation and being mindful when you train is to stay in the present moment and be aware of how you are feeling physically and mentally. As a psychologist friend of mine once put it: “You have to disable the autopilot but there is no off switch. You have to disconnect it one wire at a time.”

Mindfulness Meditation for Athletes (5:20 minutes)

Getting Started with Mindfulness

Probably the best way to get started is to get a mindfulness app and start doing a short mindful meditation every day. There are plenty of apps to pick from. Most offer a free trial period and some are totally free but offer in-app purchases if you want to pursue something specific or take a course.

I’m using Headspace which appears to be one of the more popular apps. A good free choice is Insight Timer. Click the link to see a list of meditation apps from MIT Medical. Download an app. Go through the signup process then pick a time and place and start with short guided meditations, say five minutes.

Curious about how mindful you are right now? Click the link to take the quick 15-item University of Pennsylvania Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. It doesn’t give a clear scoring breakdown but higher numbers are better.

What are we trying to accomplish through working on mindfulness? Better focus and better control of our thought processes. Like it or not your mind is like a four-year-old with a permanent marker. Either give it something productive to do and keep an eye on it or get really good at painting and replacing drywall.

To put it more into a triathlon perspective, the better you keep track of body position on the swim, watts on the bike, or cadence on the run the less you will yell at yourself for the minutes you left out on the swim, bike, or run course.

Better Focus Not Perfect Focus

With practice, you will be able to stay in the present moment more and monitor your thoughts and feelings better. This will improve the quality of your training and give you the ability to monitor and steer your thoughts and emotions more on race day. Better is the goal; you will never achieve perfect focus.

For example, I have a tendency to panic in open water races. The combination of race pressure and open water can be overwhelming for me, causing me to have to roll onto my back get my breathing back under control, and then roll back over and get back into the race.

Fear Lives in the Future

Fear is all about the future and what might go wrong. Stay in the present and you insulate yourself from fear. For example, during the swim, I find that the more I concentrate on counting strokes so that I sight regularly, paying attention to my stroke mechanics, and making sure my breathing timing is good, the less likely I am to find myself excessively stressed. If I can stay focused on the present, I don’t have time to worry about what will happen when the fast swimmers in the wave behind me come past or how crowded it will be rounding the next buoy, or how much further I have to swim.

It’s important as you practice mindfulness, whether meditating, training, and racing, to realize that your mind will wander, thoughts will intrude, and your focus will fade in and out. Expect this and gently get back on task. Getting frustrated with yourself is not productive.

Be Nice (to Yourself)

When things get to me or I’m under pressure I pretend I’m talking to one of my friends rather than to myself. So instead of my inner monologue being something like “get your big butt back in gear” it’s more like “you need to pull more watts on the downhills.” You, like me, are probably way harsher with yourself than you would be with someone else. Level up. Treat yourself with the same respect you would give to others.

Have any mindfulness training or race tips you’d like to share? Leave a comment.

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