11 Thoughts To Get The Mind Right to Race

MUSINGS FROM A COACH - 30 SEPTEMBER '25

I wrote this over 13 years ago, and (for the most part), it still holds up. I thought this topic might motivate some to start getting events on the calendar for 2026! And for those still racing in 2025, go get 'em! 

11 Thoughts To Get The Mind Right to Race

I’ve written about athletes who train great but fail to produce time and time again in a race. There are many reasons why this might happen - lack of confidence, not following a plan, feeling as if they don’t deserve to do well, etc. So how can we increase the chances of performing well on race day? On race day, it’s all in the head.

So if we've got our head right for training, how do we get it right for racing? Below is a list of 11 thoughts - certainly not all inclusive - that we want to have before race day:

1) Believe that we deserve to do well. Sound silly?  Actually, this is more common than you’d think.  Many athletes don’t believe they deserve to do well and self-sabotage themselves prior to the race in a number of ways: doing something silly and hurting themselves, trying new equipment or procedures that they’ve never tested, knowingly eating or drinking the wrong things prior to race, etc.  So for some of us, we need to starting believing we deserve to do well. We do!

2) We're the only ones who really care about our time. No kidding. While close friends, family and competitors may act like they care - none of them ever care as much as we do. So performing for someone other than ourselves can seem silly.

3) Don't confuse a realistic goal with a breakout goal. Ah, this is a big one. I like to have athletes set goals periodically throughout the season. All of them are “realistic” goals, as in, what can we do right at that moment, not what we would love to do. So we can set a realistic goal, and then set our "breakout goal" - that “perfect” race where everything outside our control goes your way and we execute the plan perfectly. But let's not confuse the two!

4) Be very thankful of possessing the ability and health to race. All it takes is an injury to remind us how lucky we are to be able to race. Let's not take it for granted. 

5) Don't be afraid to take risks and to fail. Look, just racing is taking a risk. we don’t know exactly how we’ll do on race day as there are too many outside factors out of our control. But in order to have that goal race, or even better, that breakout race, we have to put ourselves out there, take some risks and don’t be afraid to fail! This is a key concept to improve our race IQ.

6) No one race defines who we are as an athlete. Got it? So if we have a bad race, we should learn from it, get over it and move on. See #2.

7) We do this because of the joy it brings us. If it’s not fun, we probably need to re-evaluate why we're doing endurance sports. Is it our fear of failure? Our ego? We should chat with our coach and remember, we're not a professional.

8) While people won't really care about our time, they will remember our attitude before during and after the race. Endurance racing is hard. We all have goals and expectations and often times we miss the mark. It's OK! We only improve through "failure". If we step back and look at the big picture, we see that each time we are lucky enough to race, we actually did do some remarkable things. We should endeavor to celebrate the ability to race and find those successes that most certainly occurred on the day. See #4 & #7.

9) Racing, like any endurance sport, is a learned skill, so it may take time to master. It really does take time to become a skilled racer. So know this, work at it, and think about these 11 tips.

10) There is no such thing as a perfect race. There isn’t! So when a good race comes our way, enjoy it! Let's not be unhappy after the race by picking apart every little thing that could have been better. We should enjoy the moment.

11) Have a plan, execute the plan and know that it's not easy, and that's what makes it special. Sounds simple, but if we can commit to this philosophy, racing can take on an entirely new and excited role in our lives. Guess what, racing hurts.  It’s hard. Believe me, when we cross that finish line, the memory will be forever.  See #1.