What type of athlete
do you want to be?
What
kind of an athlete are you? Do you consider yourself to be an athlete
or just a casual "exerciser?" If you work out five days a week, does
this make you an athlete? How about three days per week? There are many
definitions of an athlete. The Greek word for "contest" was athlos, and
those competing in the games were called athletes. Do you need to
possess above-average physical strength or agility? Do you need to
compete to be considered an athlete?
Your
definition of yourself within the context of your fitness goals is an
important aspect of whether you will succeed. If you are working toward
a goal of maintaining fitness and keeping yourself in good enough
shape, then it is unlikely that you will identify yourself as an
athlete. But what if your goal is to run a few 5 K races or complete
your first triathlon? Then you are in a different world -- a world in
which you will work toward slow, steady improvement in skills, whether
it be speed or endurance. And, a funny thing often happens when you
start competing: You want to do more. It is fun seeing the finish line,
watching the time clock as you hit the finisher's mat and feeling pride
that you completed a race, regardless of the distance.
As you compete in more and more races, your goals may change from the
goal of completing the race and feeling good to wanting to go faster.
Becoming a faster runner, cyclist or swimmer requires work - hard work.
How do you keep yourself going?
As I moved from one level of athlete to another, I was forced to
confront this very question. Working on speed work for running, or on a
particularly grueling drill in swimming, hurt in a way that previous
workouts did not. I am not speaking of the kind of pain that results in
injury; I am speaking, instead, of the kind of discomfort that results
from pushing oneself past previously held expectations of what the body
can do.
Why do this? Confronting this question ultimately resulted in another
question. Just what is my goal? Why push myself if I want to just
complete a race? I now had several races behind me, and I knew that I
would be able to finish the races and triathlon distances I had thus
far attempted. If my goal is just to finish, then I do not really need
to push that hard. I really needed to just continue to maintain my
training, staying steady with the same pace and momentum that I had
brought to all the previous races. Giving myself the choice to do just
that, ironically, pushed me past that very goal. I really want to run
faster. I want to develop better technique in swimming. I want to
become a better cyclist. How did I think I would do this without some
hard work?
Mental toughness is an important attribute of athletes who are able to
push though adversity and persist in the face of obstacles and
setbacks. Athletes with mental toughness respond under pressure, able
to perform consistently with their skill level despite the pressures of
a race or competition situation. Mentally tough athletes look at
difficult situations as challenges and opportunities rather than
becoming intimidated by them, according to R. Smith in the article
"Understanding Sport Behavior" in the Journal of Applied Sport
Psychology. These athletes feel a sense of control over their feelings
and thoughts, and they expect positive outcomes, and, perhaps most
importantly, these athletes have a relatively low fear of failure.
Approaching the task of trying to run faster, I realized that I
generally approached my speed training with the expectation that I
would probably not attain my goal. This fear of failure often becomes a
self-fulfilling prophesy. In fact, the fear itself often promotes
harmful physiological responses that the body generates to protect
itself. When frightened, your body becomes tight, your blood
constricts, and the tension in your body can actually create injury.
Attempting a 400-meter run with a speed goal in mind, I found myself
turning the corner on the track and getting frightened. My breathing
was hard, my stomach was in knots, and my legs were burning. Halfway
around the turn, I would stop, just short of the full 400 meters.
But of what was I actually frightened? I realized that, in actuality, I
was afraid of failing to meet my goal. I lacked confidence in my own
ability to keep pushing despite whatever discomfort I experienced. The
emotions that were aroused in me prior to these speed workouts were an
important clue to what was happening with me. I discovered I was
feeling scared of the physical discomfort these workouts generated, but
I also was frustrated with myself for giving up midway. Almost as soon
as I would stop, I would become angry with myself for not pushing, and
I would tell myself that perhaps I really was not an athlete after all.
However, asking myself some important questions helped. I realized that
although I am an athlete, I still needed to decide what level of
athlete I wanted to be. If I gave myself permission to be patient and
learn slowly, then I could push through and eventually meet my goal.
Paradoxically, some runners advocate a philosophy of "go slower, arrive
sooner" (Lynch and Scott, 1999). This philosophy allows the athlete to
be patient with him/herself, and allow the process of mastery to
unfold. Further, it gave me permission to enjoy the journey and not
just look toward the end goal. If the journey is fun, then not meeting
the end goal is not such a tragedy after all.
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