A while back I wrote a blog post about how the one thing that would makes us reach our triathlon potential is the same thing which .is the hardest to overcome.

Last week we at MarkAllenOnline visited the Zipp factory in Indianapolis, Indiana. There I listened to Mark Allen talk about the challenge of overcoming oneself. We basically need to get out of our own way he said. We often blame others for our own problems but the reality is that we are often wrong. We just need to look in the mirror and face our own reality.

Coaching beginners or middle of the pack people is relatively simple. That is because there are so many things that they can do better. They will often improve with a few changes. It can be better nutrition, better training, smart pacing etc. This is even easier if they let themselves be coached. Do not think that because someone pays for a coach it means they want to be coached. Trust me on that one.
On the other hand coaching elite people is a little more difficult. That is because they are doing most things right. Only a few things will really make a significant difference. Yet identifying what those are and then getting the athlete to do them is a huge challenge for a coach. People do not like to change. What’s a coach to do?

My coaching style is a little more blunt and direct. I am not much of a cheerleader. When I coached kids I was more of a cheerleader but with adults I now like to tell them the truth. This sometimes gets me in trouble.

Let me go back a few years. I once coached an athlete that was constantly sick, injured or too tired to train. I tried as best as possible to not discourage the athlete from thinking the goal was not achievable. The athlete really liked me because of that. Well this athlete got a big DNF on race day. I tell you what. There was not much “I like my coach” coming my way anymore. Needless to say that was the last time I handed out much encouragement to someone that does not train properly. I get paid so that an athlete gets results and not to be a cheerleader I decided.

I know what you are thinking. You have to balance cheerleading with the truth. I know.

So now when I find an athlete that is not doing the training right or does not train. I remind him and tell him so. One athlete quit one day and told me I needed to be more encouraging. Oh well. Better that than acting like nothing is wrong. The truth hurts sometimes.

When I was in high school I applied to go to college at MIT. Part of that process was an interview with an MIT graduate. He asked me why I thought I could do well at MIT. I told him that it was because I loved numbers and science. I liked it so much I will do well at it I said. Well young man he said. To do well at MIT you will have to do well at many things you will not like. There are some words of wisdom if I ever heard some. This not only applied to MIT but to triathlon success and to life in general.

So the moral of this post is to try to think about what you can do yourself that you refuse to do even though something may tell you it may be a good idea. Get out of your own way. Even Mark Allen had to do this in order to win Hawaii. It is often not about beating others, it is about overcoming one self. That is often our biggest obstacle. Yet we like to blame others. We blame our parents, our spouse, our coaches, our genes or whatever. Think about it the next time you start blaming something or someone. The first step is identifying what you could do better. The next step is doing something about it. I believe doing this is the true sign of a mature adult.