As triathletes we are a rare breed. Who would spend every minute of their spare time swimmimng, running and biking. We pride ourselves in that. Even when I was a young boy I remember how every one was impressed at my ability to train a lot and train hard. That made me feel good and special. But the reality is that training long or hard is not that difficult for many of us endurance junkies. We like it and we enjoy the pain. Often if our calves or quads are not sore we feel guilty. We must have not trained hard enough. We must be tapering. That has to be the only reason to not be sore. The problem is that as we begin to learn about training and how to become a better and faster athlete we find that we may have to do some things we do not enjoy. But if we manage to change our attitude and embrace our challenges and fears we allow ourselves to have a huge breakthrough.
As a full time coach for a number of years I have come to that conclusion. Many times what holds athletes back from achieving their potential is something that is very hard for them to do. And if this one thing can be changed and accepted the rewards are huge.
Think about it. What is the one thing that you refuse to do because you think it is not a big deal. However you find yourself unable to do it even if you try. Here is a short list of some of these.
You can not control your food intake. You think you just train more and burn it off.
You can not find time to lift, you feel inadequate in the weight room and hate it.
You can not train easy and will refuse to let any one pass you or beat you in training.
You can not swim masters. Way to many fast people will make you feel inferior.
You can not take a day off. You will get fat and lose your fitness.
You can not train alone at your own pace. You need company.
As you can see many of these things seem simple to do yet for one reason or another they are impossible to do for many. Most of the time it takes a huge effort to overcome whatever phychological barriers are holding us back. If we find a way to conquer it and embrace the change it will many times give us the boost we need to become better athletes. It is not all about going hard and going long. That is easy for almost all of us.