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The Mental Game Of Triathlon

  • By Triathlete.com
  • Published Jun 22, 2011
  • Updated Jun 24, 2011 at 12:39 AM UTC
  • The greats in our sport all have a mental edge over the competition. Chris “Macca” McCormack’s 2010 Ironman World Championship win is a perfect example of this, as he had to mentally out-duel Germany’s Andreas Raelert to achieve the victory. Illustration by N.C. Winters.
  • There must be a persistent focus on doing the work and mastering the task at hand rather than the dream of winning. Illustration by N.C. Winters.
  • There’s a subtle reason why the best pros and age groupers manage to stay on top: the mind. Illustration by N.C. Winters.

There’s a subtle reason why the best manage to stay on top: the mind.

Written by: Torbjorn Sindballe

There’s a subtle reason why the best pros and age groupers manage to stay on top: the mind. Illustration by N.C. Winters.

This story originally appeared in the March/April issue of Inside Triathlon.

The controversial coach Brett Sutton has churned out many world and Ironman champions. Many of his athletes—past and present—are perennial podium finishers and the best of the best.

While Sutton is well known for his outstanding results, what he is perhaps less famous for is his ability to instill mental toughness into his athletes—for his psychology.

“When you go for eight or nine hours [in an Ironman], there are a lot of places with dark and unlit streets,” he said. “People don’t train athletes to go to those places.”

With Sutton, every athlete is unique, and he treats everyone differently, being a teddy bear to some and authoritarian to others, he said. When Chrissie Wellington showed up at his Team TBB training camp in the Philippines in early 2007, Sutton “challenged her at every inch,” he said. So much so, that the “first three months were horrendous.” Because Wellington had only given herself a 12-month window to succeed in triathlon, Sutton “hit her with everything that takes 12 months, psychologically, in a month and a half.”

He says he helped her narrow her focus and develop an approach to training that was like “a laser beam, every day.” He says he helped her become OK with not having a steady paycheck. And he says he helped her tap into her love of adventure, making triathlon a journey for her. After three months of constant combat, something clicked, and Sutton’s task became a breeze.

While Sutton has many detractors—those who say he breaks more athletes than he creates—no one can take away what came from his time with Wellington. During that time, he unlocked the talent of one of the greatest athletes in Ironman history.

Sutton’s relationship with Wellington is a perfect example of what the right psychology can do for an athlete. And while few of us have access to the world’s best psychologists, there are mental tools out there for all of us to use.

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