Finding yourself in ‘the suck?’ Fight your way out!

I was sitting on the concrete steps in Town Square on Sunday morning at the conclusion of a three-day triathlon camp preparing for the St. George Ironman 70.3 North American Pro Championships, when I heard Nathan Last, a Salt Lake City sports psychologist consultant, refer to a state of mind every athlete has felt at one point of his or her life: “the suck” (N. Detling, personal communication, 2014)

When I first heard this, I hadn’t really registered what “the suck” meant, but after he explained it, I realized it was a concept that rang true for both amateur and professional athletes, and it is a problem that, if not controlled, can bring an athlete down quicker than you would imagine.

“The suck”  is that state of mind where you fill yourself with negative self-talk and…