As an athlete self doubt is a normal feeling and is actually “business as usual” to us as coaches. We know pushing your limits, finding your “why” and being consistent is hard work. Its only natural that time to time you feel anxiety about your training and racing performances. Our coaches have put together this write up for you to remove the emotion and be logical about where you are, where you stand and how to find confidence.
Training-your Self doubt
Where it comes from: Fear of performing in training may be due to unreal exceptions. Make sure that you and your coach are on the same page as to what is possible. If a session seems to hard you may need to have your thresholds adjusted or simply take a rest and reset day.
Fear of hitting the numbers: .....during training you are growing the most when you are somewhat tired and not neccesarily when you feel like a million bucks! $. Pushing through good fatigue is neccessary to get to the next level so long as it does not produce injury. Most sessions will be as follows; "as good as usual", "not quite as good as usual", or "slightly better than usual"! ...its the consistency over time and through the rough patches that growth happens. Dont worry what the numbers are "telling you", rather get excited when you are NOT hitting the numbers as this is likely when you are growing the most! : )
Self doubt due to potential for injury; While a more rare fear it is possible to not want to push ones self in training for fear that you may be sidelined by an injury. This is another opportunity for discussion with your coach that may be real or not. If you are training hard and are not sleeping for instance, your coach may find a harder workout “normal” and “doable” when in reality you cannot produce because you are unduly tired. In these circumstances we would never want you to get injured or push through bad pain. It is better to gain confidence slowly over time with your training and durability. What you are able to do in year one vs year five is substantially different from both a training and race perspective.
Self doubts due to training inconsistency; This is a most common scenario where goals and training time can be out of alignment. Dont worry what you are capable of now, focus on the future and what you can control. Often times season planning with your coach is a next best step towards relieving the self doubt pressure.
Grab hold of small wins along the way; Shorter harder training sessions and races are opportunities to gain confidence along the way to your “A” priority race. Use these to fuel your fire and as well as critical pace, power, and heart rate bests in your training data.
Racing-your self doubt
More common and more challenging are doubts about raceday performances. One way to look at it, “the greater the fear you have of failing, the more you have to lose and thus potential you actually have created” —Coach Cliff
Trust the process; Recognize that during training, high levels of fatigue mask what is possible for raceday. Once you are fresh and tapered you can produce more out of your body on raceday.
Performance fears; These come again from misaligned communications about what is possible on raceday. Your coach and you should know exactly where you stand and when in doubt ask them what they think.
Racing self doubt is 100% natural and a part of racing; Your body needs to prepare you for battle and without the nerves, adrenaline and fear your body would not have a proper physiological response to racing. If you didn’t have this fight or flight reaction your body would actually go into the race with low energy, fairly “limp” and unable to push upwards towards your potential. Embrace the fears!
Course dynamics and fear; Such fears of drowning in open water or fear of descending on a bike are very real. There is only one way to overcome them, experience. You and your coach should craft an approach far enough in advance of your races to have enough confidence to enter the event. We recommend setting your key races far enough in advance to have ample time to be prepared.
Going to long to quick? Stepping up distances is a logical endurance progression and biting off more than you can chew can create raceday anxiety. You may want to discuss the proper approach to planning a season with your coach that creates proper benchmarks along the way to be tested and read.
From all of the coaches and athletes at Tristar Athletes, know this…. we have all had the very same fears in training and racing that you have! You are not alone, reach out to our team and ask questions and gain experience. The more you can engage these topics the better you will feel about your ability to perform.
Good luck racing and training from the Tristar Coaches 👨🏻💻
Meet the Coaching Team
