C.S.I. Reference Articles

Preparing For Competition

The sun rises and you awake and feel it. You feel the tension and anxiety forming in the pit of your gut. The announcer is testing his equipment in the distance and you force down the carbohydrate/protein meal in front of you. Your mates around you are nervously quiet as they stare at the start finish line banners. Today is not any other day. Today is Event day!

You have hit the weight room and you have trained till body parts bled. You have pushed the limits beyond physical pain, chasing down the imaginative “racers” who are always in front of you. Now, is when it all comes down to just a few minutes, are you prepared?

Preparing for the competition is a skill all in itself from physical to the psychological and everything in between. Achieving peak performance can be broken into three categories. Each must be practiced, developed and performed for victory to be at your grasp.

Physical skills - This is where your daily practice will show. Have you put the time road and in the water and perfected each move from start to finish. You have honed your muscles to be both flexible and strong to handle the strain of competition. However, on “game day” what you need to do is prepare your body for “battle”. Properly warm up your body 1-2 hours prior to competition. Lightly jog, jump rope, or ride a bike to get your body’s core temperature up. You will know this has happened when you break into a light sweat. Then put on your head phones and begin to stretch the muscles that you will be using, in triathlons, all of them. Begin with the largest muscles such as your legs, back and chest. Then work to the smaller ones such as forearms and hands. Take your time. This should be done slowly and smoothly and is meant to bring about flexibility and strength.

Be sure to stay well hydrated in the heat. Once you are thirsty you are at 5-10% dehydration and have lost up to 20% performance. Drink one to two large mouthfuls of water every 15-20 minutes throughout the day.

Emotional skills - Time to regulate anxiety and stress. Sure this is normal for competition but too much can be detrimental. Focus on why you are here and why you love competing. Find the passion for your sport and for doing what you do. What drives you to get up everyday and train. Find the self-confidence you have when you are talking to your friends about what you do and focus on that. Transfer this passion to the performance and think of nothing else while you are out there.

Cognitive skills - You must now clearly define your goals and objectives for the day. Use visualization skills to see you gliding through your performance (if you can’t see yourself doing it, then you won’t). Practice this skill on a daily basis to perfect it. This can be done while you are stretching. Close your eyes and tune out all noises and other interruptions. Picture yourself on the course making perfect strokes and cycling away from the packs. See how you look, feel how it feels, smell how it smells and hear how it sounds. Concentrate on the here and now and focus on the task at hand. Visualize the positive expectation of successful outcomes.

By practicing these skills, competition will be what it is supposed to be, FUN!
I will see you at the finish line.