Last year at Ironman Canada, all eleven of my family and supporters wore red t-shirts with “Relax, Have Fun, Trust Your Training!” emblazoned on the back. This had been my mantra through the long, hard training days and weeks leading up to my first ironman distance triathlon, as well as in the preparatory races I entered in the spring and summer. The message encapsulated my primary goals, as well as a race-day reminder that the hard part was already done. It worked. It helped me focus and relax when things got tough, and I found that the message hit other athletes in the back of the head in just the right way, too, judging from all the positive comments we got in Penticton.

This year, I want and need something different. I still want to relax and have fun, of course. And I still trust my training going into a race (it’s too late to fret about it at that point anyway). However, this year I want to compete at a higher level than I have in the past. No, Lori, I’m not gunning for your podium spot, but I would like to challenge the leaders in my age group and qualify for Ironman Hawaii. With that goal in mind, my motivational mantra needs a different tone, and I’ve been casting about for the perfect one for some time now. In the process, I’ve discovered several that have helped boost me out of training slumps and periods of low confidence.

Apart from my wonderful husband (who still wears last year’s shirt from time to time), there is no-one here in Japan to sport these messages on t-shirts for me, so I have created a variety of graphic files that I use as desktop patterns on my computer. Seeing these every day, and choosing or creating the day’s desktop helps to keep me focused and motivated.

WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN/LOG

While not strictly a message or a mantra, it is very useful to have my training plan directly in front of me for a few hours every day. I put a colourful checkmark on the completed workouts, and a depressing x through the ones I wasn’t able to do.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO!

When you run, you’re a runner; when you cycle, you’re a cyclist; and when you swim you’re a swimmer. When you do all of them each week and intend to compete, you’re a triathlete. When you’re slouched on the couch eating corn chips and watching bad tv, you’re none of the above. And, no, you can’t use the injured or recovery excuse; stretching and visualization are what you do then. I know this one smacks of pop-psych, but I lifted it from John Jerome’s book The Elements of Effort.

The age group winner is training today. Are you?
This pretty much speaks for itself. It gets me out the door in a real hurry.

StrongSmoothSurgeEasyPower
This stream of five words has worked beautifully to focus my attention in meditation and visualization of performance; I see myself gliding effortlessly through each stage of the IMC course. I like the individual meanings of the words, as well as the sound of the three “s” words, with “strong, smooth” identifying the type of “surge” I will apply, followed by an “easy” burst of “power.”

DON'T BE AFRAID OF YOURSELF

When I have a really great workout or race, the bar is raised for the next one, but if I maintain a state of mediocrity, then I avoid the responsibility and effort that come with success. Sick, huh? Yeah, but I also think I am not alone in being slightly fearful of just how fit/fast/good/etc I can get. By reminding myself not to fear myself and what I can or cannot achieve, I allow some room for both progression and plateaus, and recognize the value in both.

THE MIDDLE COUNTS TOO!

The beginning of the workout is easy, because I’m fresh, and the end of the workout is fine, too, because, as the incomparable Amy White says “I can smell the barn!” But all that stuff in the middle can be a real grind. This is where my swimming stroke starts to deteriorate through inattention, and I miscount my laps; my spin gets square and I start swearing at my saddle manufacturer; my stride shortens, my shoulders slump, and I start noticing all the sane people walking. This is where mental focus can really make a difference; I remind myself that in every stroke I take, in every turn of the crank, in every step, form counts, not just in that last push across the finish line in front of all the spectators.

PHOTO FINISH!

This one is unlikely to be of much use to anyone else in its present form, but perhaps you have a story from your past that elicits a similar mantra. When I was a competitive rower, there was one crew of four guys in our club who were unmatched in both exuberance and gracelessness in the boat. They had a blast every training session and race, but rarely placed. When they did, their explanation was that it was a PHOTO finish: Pull Hard On The Oar. In other words, sometimes you just have to gut it out--guts over talent can sometimes take the race. Works for training, too.

In addition to desktop pictures like these, I have a lot of different motivational phrases and reminders written on masking tape on my aerobars. I’m not going to tell you what those messages are; I have to keep some secrets!

So, which of these mantras will be the one that gets me to and through Ironman Canada this year? Haven’t decided yet; it might be none of them. But if you’re in Penticton this August and you see a bunch of people walking around with a familiar saying on the backs of their shirts, please say “Hi!” to my folks.