1. Mental Skills for Triathlon
Iowa HEAT Workshop
Cathryn Lucas-Carr

2. About Me! PhD student in Health & Sports Studies
Working toward AASP certification as a Sport Psychology Consultant
Runner & triathlete!!!

3. Why Mental Skills for Triathlon?
Triathlon – 3 sports (or 4 if you count the transitions!!!) in one
Do you have a discipline that you’d say is your weakness?
You might find that mental skills will help!
Lots of time out on the course stuck inside our own heads!!
“Maintain your strengths, train your weaknesses”

4. Mental Skills for Physical Activity & Competition
Focus & Concentration
Negative Thought Stoppage & Positive Self-Talk
Overcoming Mistakes or Setbacks
Relaxation, Visualization & Imagery
Controlling Emotions & Anxiety
Goal Setting
Training Strategies
Race Strategies

5. Focus & Concentration
Internal, Narrow External, Narrow (Rehearse) (Act/React) Internal, Wide External, Wide (Analyze) (Assess)

6. Focus & Concentration Workshop Practice
Walkabout
Which were you able to better concentrate during?
During periods with “no distractions,” did you find your mind wandering?
What did you think about?

7. Focus & Concentration Practice at Home Practice while training
Counting breaths w/ and w/o distractions
Word searches w/ and w/o distractions
Practice while training
Think about a specific topic for 30 seconds without interruption (build from there!)
Bring your focus to various parts of your body, and complete “status checks”
Play “I spy” games while training

8. What happens when the workouts are just really tough???
Internal Thoughts
Focus specifically on how your body is feeling or technique
Control breathing, count strides, strokes, RPMs
External Thoughts
Turn your attention away from screaming lungs/muscles
Have a “go to” thinking subject
Play internal decorator to the houses you pass
Other Strategies
Break the workout/race into do-able sections
Mantras

9. Mantras
Short, self-affirming phrases to help you stay focused and/or get you through the tough spots
Keep it Short & Simple
One sentence or less
Keep it Positive
Moving toward a goal or challenge
Keep it Energized
Use action verbs or adjectives
Provide Instructions for yourself
Get up this hill!

10. Negative Thought Stoppage & Positive Self-Talk
Self-talk is a way we internalize our environment, thoughts, and behaviors.
Our self-talk often reflects our mood, and can often spiral out of control. This is called negative self-talk.
With negative self-talk, many athletes talk themselves out of a good performance.
We can develop positive self-talk

11. Negative Self-Talk How can we stop negative self talk?
We can learn to recognize our triggers and intercept negative self-talk before it begins!
We can create positive affirmations to reinforce our confidence!
We can replace our negative thoughts with positive ones!
Learning positive self-talk can keep us relaxed in a variety of situations!

12. Negative Thought Stoppage
Specific strategies for reversing negative self-talk
Recognizing when we are starting have negative thoughts
Thought stoppage w/ physical or verbal cue
Replacing a negative thought with a positive affirmation
Performance reviews and achievement reminders

13. Visualization & Imagery
What is Imagery?
Seeing yourself performing & rehearsing a skill
Imagining yourself competing in a specific situation
Not just seeing: Incorporate sounds, smells, tastes, & feelings
Reproduction of ALL sensory information that produces a skill

14. How do you do visualization?
Maintain a positive approach. Picture yourself completing the skills well, the perfect pass or shot.
Image in ‘real time’. Imagine yourself completing the skill at the speed you would normally complete it. Timing is a critical part of sport, and getting your body prepared for ‘real time’ situations will help you when those situations arise.
Feel the movements. Focus on how all the muscles involved feel during that skill, how your equipment feels. You should really feel as if you are in the situation.

15. Practice Transition Visualization
1st: visualize the set-up of your transition
2nd: visualize yourself going through the transition, from the swim exit, to your transition space, and out the bike start.
Visualizing a problem or setback can help you stay calm and deal with it when it happens
Taking care of a flat tire
Your reaction to “dead legs” on the run
Where are your shoes, your bike, your water?
What does the air smell like?
Take a drink of your gatorade, taste the sweetness on your lips.
There are many people around you setting up. What does it sounds like?

16. Relaxation Staying relaxed is a good way to ensure a good performance.
As with the other mental skills we must PRACTICE relaxation
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is a good way to learn how to feel when your muscles are relaxed
Then you can do “targeted spot checks”

17. Thank You!!!!