Triathlon Short Course Sports Profile Part 2 - The Mental

The literature surrounding the mental strategies of triathletes is relatively scarce.

However, research shows that approximately 20% of athletes utilise a coach for mental preparation[1]. This shows that potentially the importance of the mental preparedness of athletes and how they mentally approach training and competition is undervalued in the coach-athlete relationship. The headspace of an athlete can drastically affect performance in both training and racing and therefore a high priority should be assigned to athlete happiness and mental strategies to optimise performance. Athlete individually though are more likely to engage in mental strategies with more than 75% reporting they use mental strategies during training or before a race. Athletes’ dominant emotion prior to race start was anxiousness or nervousness [1].

In terms of the mental focus for athletes during training, studies indicate that technique was most commonly the focus for swimming, whereas during cycling and running athletes were more concerned about pace. It was found that athletes predominately focused on how their body is feeling in the moments prior to a race as opposed to thinking about strategy and/or their competitors. Furthermore, athletes mainly used positive self-talk as a mental strategy over visualisation or relaxation [1].

Triathlon is a mentally taxing sport, having to focus on three sports plus the additional stress of strength and conditioning, mobility, recovery, and nutrition. High performing age groupers spend a considerable amount of time every week training and recovering. This can often be on top of work, study, relationships, and other personal responsibilities. The ‘busy’ and often physically demanding weeks of an age grouper can be challenging to manage, placing a toll on the mentality of an athlete. When it comes to racing, triathletes need to be just as mentally strong as physically. The fast past nature of short course racing makes the sport painful, with the ability to grit and suffer critical for athlete success and can be a differentiating factor in closely contested racing.

The mental aspect of triathlon training and racing is often overlooked. Whether it is the mental determination and grit required to push hard in a race; or the mental capacity that is needed to nail your training, there is always a place for mental training.

[1] Dolan SH, Houston M, Martin SB. Survey results of the training, nutrition, and mental preparation of triathletes: Practical implications of findings. Journal of sports sciences. 2011 Jul 1;29(10):1019-28.