The Battle of the Mind!

This morning I hopped on my MTB and rode up to the NMMU grass track for a run workout. I struggled to get going and to get out of the front door and initially I went on a detour via the Cape Receife Lighthouse trying to motivate myself. I arrived at the track and just sat there, all alone under the baking sun and with a gentle breeze causing the leaves to rustle…. I was not in the right frame of mind and I almost turned back before I even got there and once there I almost packed up and returned home.

I had nobody to account to, there was nobody checking to see if I was present, to monitor my times…. so I just sat there, it was quiet, it was serene and I witnessed an almighty battle, an epic battle within my mind. My negative mind (Mr No Good) was trying to overcome my positive mind (Mr Be Good), it was a battle for supremacy far bigger than many others that get fought out within the confines of the sporting engine room. This was more than ‘tomorrow is another day’, this battle got very personal as Mr No Good let me know in no uncertain terms that I was getting older, that I was carrying excess weight, that I wasn’t as fit as I should be and that I wouldn’t be ready for #IMSA70.3 in 40 days time.

It seemed like eternity and truth be told it was at least 30 minutes of deliberations. Each year it does get tougher and I’ve had a few good sporting years, but it is no longer about me and my personal goals…. it is about being an example to my children, it is about aspiring to inspire others, so I was trying to find a way rather than listening to Mr No Good manufacturing another excuse.

I sat there, I listened to my inner voice/s, I witnessed Mr Be Good and Mr No Good fight for supremacy and it would have been much easier to take the easy way out, but I eventually decided to get started and before I knew it I had completed the ten intervals required of me. I had turned my back on what my son calls easy and comfortable and what some people call common sense and it is amazing that once you get going and once you are committed, the task at hand becomes immeasurably easier.

IM requires mental fortitude

The ride home was exhilirating, not because I had run fast (they were quite slow to be honest), not because I had completed the session, but because I had got out the door and got started. Because I had won another mental battle, a battle that was a lot bigger than normal and in the heat of competition you are faced with many, many choices that have to be answered instantaneously…..choices like “Do I keep pushing, or do I slow down?” and you want your mind to be on auto pilot in those circumstances, because if you falter, if you let Mr No Good get the edge you are done and dusted and the opposition are racing off into the distance.

Today’s inner victory was worth a dozen key training sessions and this is the one area that most Ironman athletes need to work on, in an effort to be prepared for the mental battles and the choices that will shape our destiny. When I did a double brick workout with Raynard Tissink, preparing for IMSA 2010 and 2011, I didn’t do 2 x (60km bike followed by 4 x 1 mile) because I felt like it, or enjoyed it, I did it because it calloused my mind and my body for a mental battle that would last all of ten hours.

You can’t prepare for that type of battle doing one hour sessions and you need to realise that on race day, in the heat of the battle you will be faced with many choices, your own mind and that little inner voice is going to question your fortitude, your mental toughness and you had better be prepared for it if you want to achieve your goals. So when you are faced with what seems like a trivial choice of ‘should I or shouldn’t I?’ in training, best you opt for the former and start training your mind, so that when you are fatigued and you are relying on the memory recall button, your mind knows not to throw in the towel.

Today was a basic session comprising 10 x 200m intervals with a 100m jog and the session itself was easy, but the true benefit was in the battle of my mind, because today could have been so different. So too could Ironman!

YES, you Can, you Will, you Want to!!