Using Imagery to Bolster Performance

By |2021-09-28T17:37:34+00:00June 7th, 2018|Imagery, Mental Skills, Triathlon|

I had the privilege of being invited to appear on the ‘Age grouper for life podcast’ - the ultimate source for living the triathlon lifestyle, where USAT certified coaches Collin and Elliot discuss the most optimal training techniques to get athletes you where they want to be mentally and physically. The topic of how much of a role does the mental side of things affects tri-athletes or athletes in general during competition came up. The aspect of utilizing imagery as a psychological advantage to bolster performance was one aspect of the discussion that was particularly interesting. Imagery, often confused with visualization or imagination, is a cognitive process fundamental to motor learning and performance. This is an interesting facet of mental skills particularly because all humans practice imagery in some way whether we are aware of it or not. Imagery has been proven to help athletic performance It is a well-known performance-enhancing strategy and extensively used in applied fields, particularly sport, dance, and exercise psychology (for a review, see Cumming & Ramsey, 2009; Murphy, Nordin, & Cumming, 2008; Weinberg, 2008). Sure you have the naysayers that liken imagery to superstition, but it has been proven to have tangible positive [...]

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Rory Duckworth – Getting to Kona

By |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 [...]

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From First Sprint to Kona – The Fundamental Mental Skill

By |2021-09-24T18:43:24+00:00December 28th, 2017|Athletes, Triathlon|

As a mental skills trainer, I have been able to work with elite athletes in most every sport and in my experience and education there has been a single mental skill that is fundamental to any level of performance, especially in triathlon. What’s the skill? Well let’s see if you can guess it. You need this skill to combat negative self talk and keep you from going into the negativity hurricane. You use this skill, I would hope, at the beginning of every race. You can depend on this skill to help you be the most well rested on race day. Do you have an idea of the skill we are talking about here? The skill is emotional control and it is all about keeping directive to the emotions and energy that course through us on a day to day basis. When we let our emotions rule our process or run our actions you can be sure that you will find yourself in a bad place. Ok, so in my opinion (aka not scientifically proven...) this is the most important fundamental skill within athletics and performance and interestingly enough, athletes at every level can work on it from [...]

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Mental Training Using Zwift

By |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 [...]

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