Mental Training
Mental Skills Training: WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET
By Cheryl D. Hart A
utumn is my favorite time of year — brilliant colors, crisp air and perfect running weather. Weary in the aftermath of training and competition, most triathletes welcome fall and the end of their prime racing season with a sigh of relief. This period of physical rest is important for allowing the body to rejuvenate. It’s also the ideal time to develop the mental muscles necessary for peak performance. And believe it or not, development of those mental muscles begins with day-dreaming. Let your imagination soar. Allow yourself to experience the magic of thinking big without any pressure or expectations. Dreams are not commitments but possibilities. All human accomplishments start with a dream or a vision. Dreams of excellence precede reality. Having a vision for your future increases the likelihood of realizing your dreams for athletic success. This vision brings the clarity of why, when and how you will move toward your goals. Mental imagery involves athletes imagining performing well and successfully. This visualization or imagery process is one of the most essential tools used in mental skills training. It is important that you first know exactly what you wish to accomplish before attempting to see yourself achieving that goal. In your mind’s eye, you are enjoying the athletic event and feeling a sense of satisfaction with your performance. To begin: close your eyes and clear your mind. Enter fully into the image, incorporating as many senses as possible. In order for visualization to work effectively, it must be vivid. You should see, hear, feel, touch, smell and perform as you would like to perform in real life.
Next, bring in the appropriate emotion or meaning attached to the image. Guide yourself through the whole event with perfection, experiencing complete control of your body and mind. If you make a mistake while visualizing the performance, go back and make the necessary corrections until you have led yourself through an entire performance with complete satisfaction. Rehearse how you could and will react positively to a variety of adverse situations. This is a skill that requires practice. You can recreate past successes or imagine a new event with a satisfying performance to prepare for a positive experience.
Every time you see yourself performing exactly the way you want to perform, you create patterns in your brain. It’s like a blueprint that tells the muscles when and how to move and with how much exertion. With mastered visualization, the exact same muscles fire when performing a skill mentally as when performed in reality. Imagery can be used as a motivational tool. Before and during training sessions and competitions calling forth images of your goals serves as a vivid reminder of exactly what you are trying to
“Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.”
— Orison Swett Marden
accomplish in an event and why it will matter in the end. If these are aligned, this increases the intensity of your focus and effort. Visualization is also effective in perfecting skills. The most successful athletes see and feel themselves performing successfully on a consistent and regular basis. Through visualization athletes become familiar with the competition site (reducing pre- competitive jitters), mastering a technical skill, or a race day strategy.
Mental imagery is useful for developing self-confidence, coping with new situations before encountering them and dealing with stress-related reactions such as muscle tension and loss of focus. Rather than avoiding your inadequacies, begin by imagining yourself overcoming whatever you consider to be your greatest weakness.
Season after season, I’ve discovered that autumn is the perfect time of year for developing mental techniques. Athletes are in a more relaxed state and particularly open to mental imagery — seeing with clarity in their mind’s eye.
Daydreaming and mental imagery go hand in hand. Breathe deeply the autumn air, close your eyes and dream big dreams. See yourself as strong, powerful and fast, for as Flip Wilson once said, “What you see is what you get.”
Cheryl D. Hart, M.S., is the owner of 2nd Wind Motivation. She is a sport psychology consultant, motivational speaker and instructor of sport & exercise psychology at the University of Louisville. She conducts sessions nationwide. Call (502) 693-7443, email
offrunnin@yahoo.com, or visit
www.2ndWindMotivation.com
76 USA TRIATHLON FALL 2011
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