Mental toughness is required during training and during racing to get the best performances. In triathlon, especially the gruelling nature of it favours those who have practised and developed mental strength. All the elites do mental strength training, and they all wish they had started sooner.

1. HOW TO MASSIVELY
IMPROVE MENTAL
PERFORMANCE IN
TRIATHLON

2. Triathlon has MORE than
three disciplines.
Credit: Dan Pupius on Flicker.

3. We must master:
* Nutrition
* Mental performance
* Transition
* Recovery/taper
as well as swim, bike,
run!

4. Most triathletes know of the benefits of
mental toughness in both training AND
racing but very few do the (easy and
quick) mental training to develop it.

5. Just by training and pushing yourself
when it hurts will improve it a bit, but this
by itself is not enough if you really want to
see the results you are capable of.

6. All the pros do mind
training systematically
and build it into their
program. It can be the
main difference between
winning and losing.

7. Develop mental strength to
enable you to:
• train harder during
sessions
• focus on your performance
• manage your self talk (very
important!)
• manage and enhance your
motivation
• sharpen your skills and
technique
• overcome race day stress

8. Lack of mental training is the #1
reason for poor performance

9. *Focus on how your body is
performing.
*Focus on your posture, your
form, your technique.
*Flood your brain with
positive self-talk and positive
mantras.
Do NOT allow any negative
thoughts to enter your brain.
MENTAL TRAINING DURING
TRAINING SESSIONS

10. * Sit in comfortable, quiet
setting.
* Deep breathing to relax and
focus.
* Visualise yourself training.
* Focus on perfect technique
and feeling effortless.
MENTAL TRAINING DURING
DEDICATED SESSIONS
(10 MINUTES A DAY)

11. • Visualise yourself getting to
the race feeling confident.
• Standing at the start line in
control.
• Easy transitions.
• Performing the race in
control and feeling strong.
MENTAL TRAINING FOR
RACE DAY

12. Control and eliminate
negative self-talk.
90% of the
things we
worry about
never happen!

13. “Why did I sign up to this?”
“Everyone looks faster than me”
“I am feeling sick, tired, cold”
“I hate the swim- what if I
drown?”
“I’ll probably get disqualified”
“I hate hills- I’m too fat”
and many, many more….
COMMON EXAMPLES OF
NEGATIVE SELF-TALK
(VERY DESTRUCTIVE)

14. “I am feeling strong”
“I am well prepared”
“I can’t wait”
“I am so excited”
“I love hills”
“No matter what happens today
I will finish proud of myself.”
REPLACE THESE IMMEDIATELY
WITH POSITIVE SELF-TALK

15. You must practice positive self-talk-
if you do not consciously train these
thoughts, the negative voice in your
head will win.

16. A set of actions and thoughts you
do on race morning to focus how
amazing and how strong you feel.
This needs to be practised you
when you need it, you can
immediately get “in the zone.”
DEVELOP A PRE RACE RITUAL

17. Power of the mind is
limitless.
We are only just unlocking
its powers.
If you do NOT train it to help
you, it will destroy your
training effectiveness and
your race performances.

18. In your mind you can practice perfect technique
with no errors, no fatigue, no poor form.
Practice does not make perfect.
PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.

19. Studies comparing participants in a weight
lifting program made gains of 30% in strength.
A group that JUST visualized weight lifting,
made gains of 13% by doing nothing -just
thinking about it!
Mental focus helps sharpen neural pathways
and lead to physical gains.

20. Add this power of the mind
in your weekly schedule -
10 minutes a day
And use it to focus more
clearly on your body and
performance as you are
training.

21. to download FREE e book on
exactly how I used these mental training
strategies to take 21 minutes off my triathlon
race time.
www.triathlon-hacks.com
sam@triathlon-hacks.com