Perhaps the most powerful mental tool to build your confidence is positive self-talk. What you say to yourself away from triathlon, when you’re training, and during races impacts what you think, how you feel, and how you perform in training and on race day. Whatever you think more of—whether positive or negative—will determine the road [...]
Have you ever entered a race not feeling very confident about your ability to achieve your race goals that day? We’ve all been there, to be sure. And what likely happened was that your race didn’t go the way you wanted, that is to say, you were slower than you had hoped to be. The [...]
Episode #31: Emotions-Part II of my Train Your Mind for Athletic Success podcast is the second of three episodes that explore the powerful influence of emotions on sports performance. One of the great obstacles you will experience as an athlete, particularly in your training efforts, can be summarized as what I call the negative emotional [...]
Since Covid-19 early in 2020, I’ve been working with a number of athletes, from junior-elites to collegians to Olympians and pros. Though the pandemic has been a truly awful experience, it has also given many athletes the opportunity to focus on aspects of their sports lives that they had been neglecting, including mental training. Of [...]
Episode #30: Emotions-Part I of my Train Your Mind for Athletic Success podcast is the first of three episodes that explore the powerful influence of emotions on sports performance. Emotions play a vital, yet often underappreciated, role in athletic performance. In fact, emotions aren’t just important in sports, but, even more so, in our lives [...]
As the winter approaches, I’ve been working with a number of racers, from U16s up to World Cuppers. Of course, I’ve introduced them to the immense value of traditional mental training tools such as self-talk, imagery, and routines. At the same time, a real emphasis in my work this summer and fall has been on [...]
Episode #29: What is Mindset? of my Train Your Mind for Athletic Success podcast explores the impact of mindset on sports performance. “Mindset,” is an essential and little addressed contributor to athletic success and a mental area that has only come to light in my work with elite athletes during the past few years. This [...]
Episode #28: Focus Tools of my Train Your Mind for Athletic Success podcast is the second of two episodes in which I explore the impact of focus on sports performance. This podcast will introduce you to a variety of focus tools that you can add to your mental toolbox that will help you to stay focused [...]
Episode #27: What is Focus? of my Train Your Mind for Athletic Success podcast is the first of two episodes in which I explore the impact of focus on sports performance. Focus is the most misunderstood mental factor among athletes. Most athletes think of focus as concentrating on one thing for a long time. Simply [...]
This article, the third in a four-part series that is part of the conversation about development in U.S. ski racing initiated by Dan Leever and Ski Racing Media, will focus on how, based on my 35+ years of specializing in the psychology of ski racing, our sport can best leverage mental training as part of [...]
