Our adult team had their first big race of the season and our coaches have been working with their individual athletes to process the race. In doing so, Coach Sally Fraser had several thoughts that I asked her to share in this week’s message – enjoy and learn! – Coach Michael
What Can You Learn?
Feeling dissatisfied, picking apart your race second by second and wishing you had a re-do. All of these scenarios can happen throughout a race career but the important thing to contemplate no matter which one was yours is “What can I learn from this experience in order to continue improving?”
Whether it was the perfect race or a complete melt down, there are valuable lessons to be gleaned, so take some time for a race recap and see what you can discover. If your race went perfectly look back and review what happened to create this outcome. Had you been super consistent in training? Have you been more focused on good nutrition lately? Did you practice transitions a lot leading up to the race day? Was your mental focus dialed in and positive or did you practice visualization? Discover what led to your perfect race and remember this for next time! Hold onto those powerful feelings of everything running perfectly so you can recall those feelings during your next event!
If you were on the opposite spectrum and your race did not go so smoothly, give yourself some time to deal with possible negative emotions but then complete this same process of review with a calm, objective mindset. Was your performance truly not on par or does it just “feel” that way. Are you basing your judgement of the race on your actual splits and paces or are you basing it on your overall placement compared to other athletes? Remember, you should be comparing your race to YOUR other performance standards and not basing it on who showed up that day with faster times than you. Review your training leading up to the race, was it consistent? Are you coming off injury or an illness that may have set you back a bit? Were you mentally not in the flow and giving yourself negative feedback? Think about each part of the race and what you can do to improve it for next time. Even if your race did not go as planned it is a valuable tool you can use to improve for your next race.
No matter which way your race went always focus on enjoying the process. The daily training, the camaraderie of teammates, the health and fitness you create…a race is one day, but being a triathlete is a way of life!”
Sally Fraser
Adult & Youth Coach,
Endorphin Fitness