with Coach Jonathan Puskas

Success in sport is often littered with unexpected challenges, doubt, and fear. Whether your goal is to complete your first sprint triathlon or race in the Ironman World Championships, the right frame of mind and mental focus can make the difference between success and failure. As an athlete, mental training unifies body and mind, enabling us to make the right decisions, stay focused and strive for excellence. Here are a few mental training tips to help you during training and racing:

Visualization – As the name implies, athletes should create a mental picture of themselves succeeding (before, during, and finishing the event). Some examples of areas worth visualization include pre-race preparations, the swim start, outstanding transitions, and finishing with a smile. The more you practice visualization, the better you’ll get. At the very least we suggest for the week prior to your event that you spend 10 minutes each day visualizing the race from start to finish.

Positive Affirmation – This isn’t a bad late-night television skit. It’s a valuable tool for success inside and outside triathlon. As humans, we often become our own self-description. Therefore, athletes should strive to create positive thoughts. Positive affirmations are done in sessions where you are relaxed and you review your goals with success in mind. "I can finish this swim; I am a strong biker; I am light on my feet; and, I am having fun" are powerful examples of positive thinking which you can draw on when the going gets tough. Although this might sound silly, your performance can be improved simply by programming a positive attitude.

Goal Emphasis/Positive Self-Talk – We tend to minimize our goals when in groups. However, stating your goals publicly and positively emphasizing your preparations can solidify your confidence for your event. Rather than make excuses before your race, look back at what you HAVE accomplished in training and simply let the race "flow." When the race is completed, look back honestly and congratulate yourself on the effort while recognizing areas for future improvement.

By combining visualization, positive affirmation, and goal emphasis, you will give yourself the greatest chance of successfully achieving the realistic goals established earlier in the season. Those who say "I can’t", often won’t. Those who say, "I can", will at least give themselves the opportunity to excel.

Zinta Zarins, UC Berkeley Bearathlon, 3rd Woman, 1st Bike Split

John Blasquez, Early Bird Criterium, 1st 35+ Open

Gianni Ponzi increases his VO2max by almost 10% and threshold power by almost 30 watts in only 5 months while training on the Individual Program

Craig Stowers upgraded from Category 5 to Category 4

Wenzel Coaching has teamed up with quality bike company Van Dessel to bring a training camp to riders who purchase their top road and multi-sport bikes. The way it works is simple: Buy the Van Dessel Solstice road bike or Project WR tt bike and receive a three or four day training camp in Half Moon Bay, CA as part of your purchase! All you have to do is get yourself there! Camp will include bike fitting, optional testing, coached training rides, lectures, and all lodging, in hotel breakfasts, and dinners out on the town! Camp dates are March 15th or 16th through the 19th.

More details can be found on the Wenzel Coaching and Van Dessel sites now!

Melissa Sanborn lives in Oregon and has a wealth of experience including five years of national and international level road-racing experience. During these years, she earned several National Calendar podium appearances, including winning the Tour of Somerville and winning the 2004 American Criterium Championship Series.

She has raced throughout the world including the Tour of Tuscany and the Holland Ladies Tour as well as World Cup races in Germany and Holland in 2004 and Montreal in 2005. In the 2005 season her hard work paid off and she earned a contract to ride with the Subway Professional Cycling Team.

As a coach, she draws from her own experience on and off the bike in setting and achieving goals and overcoming obstacles to help others who are also passionate about their sport. She enjoys working with athletes of all levels whether they compete full time or balance their training with a full time or part time job and family life.

Dave lives in Amherst, MA and coaches riders throughout the East Coast and beyond. He has a Master's Degree in Exercise Science with a concentration in Exercise Physiology, and is an American College of Sports Medicine certified Health/Fitness Instructor. With his science background and many years of racing experience, he is able to help athletes build a bridge from the lab to the races by blending science with training in the "real world". He is also working as the coach of the up and coming UMASS Cycling Team.

As a coach, Dave strives to help athletes achieve both balance and consistency in their racing and training. As a father of an infant, he understands the difficulties faced by many cyclists struggling to balance their jobs, family, or school with their racing goals.

His own racing career began on the road, racing both USCF and collegiate events including the Collegiate National Championships. Dave has also competed in mountain bike races and, more recently, his racing focus has turned to cyclocross.

with coach David Peckinpaugh, M.S.

In most regions, the racing season has already started or is just around the corner. Therefore, it is important to decide if you are ready to race. Many racers have the attitude that they will just start racing to get in shape and believe the common misperception that racing is the best training. These same riders often spend several months of hard training and racing where most rides turn into a "mini-race". By May or June, they are often then wondering why they are burned out and are ready to pack it in for the season.

This pitfall can be avoided by following a carefully laid out training program that is designed to get the racer to the start line of their first race with adequate fitness for the category in which they are racing. If a rider is just starting the base phase, we generally recommend at least 6 weeks and up to 8 or more weeks of training at an endurance pace to establish an aerobic fitness foundation to build on. Most sport scientists agree that riders with a well developed aerobic system tend to find a higher peak and can maintain fitness longer into the season.

From there, we usually recommend around a month of moderate intensity intervals followed by a month of race pace intervals near your lactate threshold to prepare you for the intensity of a race.

The goal of this type of program is to be sure that you are ready to race and can maintain race pace intensity before starting your first race. It is not a lot of fun to show up to a race you aren't ready for only to have you feeling miserable. For many riders, this type of negative experience may turn them away from the sport over the long term. Many riders also respond to a poor start in racing by just doing more and more hard training only to find themselves overtrained or burned out in several weeks or months.

If you have been following your plan consistently up to this point and you feel you are ready to race then go for it! In general terms, being ready to race means you can ride at or near your lactate threshold heart rate or power output for at least 30 minutes within a longer ride (or longer for riders in higher categories). Your endurance should be at a level that you can ride for at least an hour or more beyond the total duration of your event.

What should you do if you don't feel you are ready to start racing? First, discuss your options with your coach to determine what is best for you based on your fitness and your goals. If you don't feel you are ready, it may be in your best interest to wait to start racing. Delaying the start of racing can help you get more out of your racing experiences and give you a strong foundation to build upon for the remainder of your season.

Whenever your race seasons starts...Good Luck!

The Training Store at Wenzel Coaching has many items available. Among the items available: cycling clothing for adults and kids, water bottles, hats, Bike Racing 101 books, and more!

Check out the Wenzel Coaching wear!