GROW & Attitude

Last night, I went to the Short Course Goal Setting Workshop (held by Tri Alliance) as a coach/observer. It was conducted by both Ollie and Greg (again). There was a significant difference in last night's presentation by both coaches compared to the Long Course one last Tuesday. I guess the majority of the room were filled with newbies, ones who are new to triathlon, just want to train to get through a season of Active Feet (fun) races or the Gatorade and for general fitness. A small handful of short course guys are doing Olympic Distances and even smaller group are part of the advanced crew who are training to race the World Champs (in London 2013 or Canada in 2014). Tri Alliance is the biggest squad in Victoria so when I talk about a small handful, it is still about a dozen or so.

Ollie spoke about the yearly planner and how (similarly to the Long Course group) the first few weeks will be all about technique, then strength and then comes the speed work before race season starts again. Then Greg did his presentation about goal setting and the other slides which I didn't get a chance to talk about in this entry are the following:



GROW



We use the GROW method to keep track of our GOALS.

G - Restate what the goal is - remind yourself what it is and why it is a goal in the first place.

R - Reality - is what you have set something which is achievable. It is great to set a goal (time) quicker than what your current performances are but are the times actually achievable? Do some basic maths or physics.

O - Options - If your circumstances change - what other options do you have to achieve your goal? You may need to change the to suit the reality of the situation.

W - What you need to do to adapt to the changes in your circumstances to achieve your goals.



PIKE Fish Market



The other part of Greg's talk, is all about our attitudes towards our training. 

PLAY - training is hard work but it is also our choice to do the training. Make training a positive part of your day. Something to look forward to. For most triathletes, we have this covered (thats why we go to training), we often "Can't wait to finish work so we can go training", "Hate being sick because I miss out of training". If we didn't enjoy doing it, we would not be (age group) triathletes. One of the positive things about training with a squad/club is that we get to play with a few of our friends who share the same passions.  

MAKE THEIR DAY - Greg talked about this from the coach's perspective - he hopes that every athlete walks away from every session having learnt something - be it a new technique, something about themselves and what they can achieve or even a different mindset about training. As an athlete, you should come away from every training session having learnt something new or being just proud of the session that you have achieved/ticked off the list. Ticking off small victories always makes me happy!

BE THERE - paying 100% of your time and attention to the session. When your mind is elsewhere, you will not get out of the training session for what it was intended to be. Common examples of this is when you are out on a run and it becomes too painful, rather than giving the run session 100%, your mind starts to drift off to spending time in bed or at the pub or cafe where it is comfortable. When your mind does this, your run session is compromised as your body just doesn't want to be there.

After training, it is also important to Be There for your friends and family - give them their part of your time. When you are with them, it is important to switch off the triathlon brain.

CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE - This is similar to what I have written about before. It is our choice to do triathlons (training and racing) so we also choose our attitudes when we train and race. If the weather is bad, we have a choice to think about the positives of training in the wold weather and how it will benefit us on race day or we choose to stay in bed only to regret it later on. Choosing your attitude also plays hand in hand with Control the Controllable which is quoted by many Tri Alliance athletes (firstly by Greg). We can't control the weather or how slippery the roads are, we can only control (choose) how we approach our performance and mindset.

Attitude during a race is also important and it can either make or destroy your race. I am always happy and positive during a race (albeit small sections of the race can be quite difficult to manage). I love seeing my fellow squad members on course and always give them a thumbs up (if I can't call our their names on course). When I hear words of encouragement and support on course - it always lifts me up during a race and it is something which I look forward to (e.g. at the turn around points on course where spectators are located).

We also choose our attitudes and how we behave with the people around us. We have not sacrificed to do this sport, we chose it. No one is forcing us to do this. We then must also choose not to treat our loved ones like sh!t (to put things bluntly) during our training as they are often our biggest supporters. Being able to see their faces during the race is what (personally) gets me over the finish line on race day.