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Rory Duckworth – Getting to Kona

Rory Duckworth – Getting to Kona

By natelast|2021-09-23T21:36:18+00:00May 11th, 2018|Focus & Concentration, Mental Skills, Sports, Triathlon|

Key Points & Takeaways Rory Duckworth is without doubt the funnest guy to be around inside the triathlon scene. About 3 years ago him and I connected and 2 months later he had be racing the St George 70.3. What a jerk! ;) Wanted to sit down with him and have him share a few thoughts surrounding our training together in both mental and physical aspects. Here is what came out of the conversation. Nuff said. ;) Rory said that he was really never close to quitting outside of when he was hurt or sick or injured. He said that the really close races where he felt like he had a great race and still did not make the cut, it motivated him and actually pushed him harder. He ended up going to Kona in 2017 after an amazing race in Ironman 140.6 Colorado. Stay focused and believe in the process. Watch other people who are achieving the same thing you want to achieve. Rory said this is one of his big strengths! He says he just likes to have fun, smile, and laugh because it always helps him stay [...]

Indoor Cycling Training – The Body Check

By natelast|2017-10-03T16:32:12+00:00October 3rd, 2017|Athletes, Sports|

Zwift provides a great space for training on the bike. It is indoors so the rider does not have to worry about weather, pot holes, vehicles, or other items completely out of their control. It simply takes all of the environmental variables out of the training and allows the rider to focus entirely on technique. Cadence, efficient stroke patterns, nutrition, and even strategic positioning in racing are a few technical examples of physical technique work. However, what about the mental aspect of cycling? As a mental skills trainer, I have found Zwift to be a unique tool to help athletes deliberately train their mental game In the first installment of this mental training techniques series, we use Zwift to utilize the “body check”. This is used to become more aware of your physical form as well as your mental state. As an overview, the mental skills include the following 5 domains: Emotional control, focus & concentration, self-talk, imagery, and pre-performance priming/routine. Each of these skills play a critical role in optimizing athletic performance potential within athletics. Just like each physical skill (e.g climbing or sprints) within cycling has a variety of techniques, so do the mental skills. Today [...]

Mental Training Using Zwift

By natelast|2017-09-06T10:09:10+00:00September 6th, 2017|Athletes, Sports, Triathlon|

Let's be very clear here, training for any kind of long distance event is straight up difficult. Period. Now, having said this, as a mental skills trainer I am always working with athletes to stay motivated, focused, consistent, and confident in their abilities. I have trained in a slew of applied techniques to facilitate those critical attributes from my Masters at the University of Utah, however, very few were as effective as the combination of training on the Wahoo Kickr and Zwift. A bit of a background story I began my journey in Ironman Training and completion with a call from the Salt Lake Triathlon Club. At this time, my athletic pursuits had slowed to a crawl after a long stint with the game of lacrosse, having played through high school and college, and my body was wrecked. With 2 junk ankles, an ACL repair, and a cracked belief in my body to hold up to anything significant I answered a call from Rory Duckwork, the president of the Salt Lake Tri club, who asked if I would come work with some of the elites in a weekend intensive training down in St. George, Utah. That weekend I covered [...]