Quitting is Not an Option

Quitting is Not an Option

by Pam Kallio,
USAT Level II Coach, USA Cycling Level II Coach

The Navy Seals and other Special Forces units in the US Military have similar sayings. “Quitting is not an option”. Who hasn’t had the thought…The fleeting thought to quit a bad race, or if not actually quit, give up mentally. I can think of several different cases as of late where friends, athletes, and people I coach have had this thought – a bad race – a hard day..What keeps one person going no matter what and another gives up. In my book quitting is not an option…you cannot mentally or physically quit a race because of a bad day. Only if you are truly physically injured should you quit. I have seen Pros run barefoot because they forgot running shoes, carry bikes because they had no spare tire, and complete the run even if they were completely out of the race for the sake of finishing. I have seen athletes crawl across the finish line because their bodies lacked the power to stand and walk or run over. I have seen Jr Athletes dig deep because they knew that not to would be letting themselves down – and I have seen Parent/Athletes keep driving on because of the impression that quitting would leave on their children. I remember seeing Karen Smyers on National TV at Kona stop on the run and throw up – then walk – then jog and then 15 or 20 minutes later she was back to running. Crissy Wellingon last year after a flat and no CO2 cartridge got passed by her competitors – all of them – but then a team mate threw her a spare CO2 – and she was off again – not defeated mentally but pursuing all those who had passed her to Win the title again. Champions keep on..that’s what makes them champions.

It’s happened to all of us, we train hard, think we are prepared, ready for a PR or the podium in our “A” race, and then we don’t perform the way we think we should have - we have a bad race. Or at least “we” think it was a bad race, in view of what our expectations of ourselves are, and even though our friends and family say “good job” we know deep inside that we expected better of ourselves.

So – it’s time to pick yourself up, learn a lesson or two from that “bad race” and move on. Easier said than done sometimes though isn’t it? Well, I am here to tell you that this happens to everyone. The younger you are the easier it will be to learn and move on – the older we become and the more baggage we have in our personal lives this simple act can become a tremendous hurdle. Most everyone has read Norman Vincent Peale’s “ The Power of Positive Thinking” and Henry Ford said “if you think you can you can, if you think you can’t you can’t.” Lance Armstrong said “ It’s not about the bike – It’s not about the crowds, it’s about what’s inside”.

It happens to the age grouper and it happens to the Olympic World Champions. Michael Johnson wrote of how he kept a positive image and learned from mistakes. Mark Allen and Dave Scott have done the same.

Here are my simple tips to take the lessons from the bad race and move on to positive actions for the next one.

Write it Down
1. Evaluate your race on two sheets of paper– on one sheet your heading is “What went right” on the other sheet your heading is “ What went wrong?”.

2. Start with the Positive – so write down line by line everything that went right, for instance:

What went right?

a. my nutrition plan worked exactly as I wanted it to – 250 cal per hour using xxx formula
b. I recovered well mentally after getting kicked in the face in the swim
c. I improved my swim time and my practice has paid off

3. Once you have written down all the positives from the race – the things that went well that you would like to repeat, on your second page give some honest consideration to what did not go well. The difference here is that after you write down each thing that did not go well – you will write a positive statement of what you will do differently next time to achieve a different result. Einstein said the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, so the key here is what action you are going to take next time to ensure a different end result. Use an action verb in your statement.

What Went Wrong?

a. My bike did not shift gears properly. I am going to learn how to adjust my derailleur myself so that I do not have to count on local bike support.
b. I let too much emotional stuff influence the outcome of my race. I will be more aware of the amount of energy that this takes from me and not put myself in this position again.
c. I let parts of the race dictate my energy. I will stay focused and “in the moment”.
d. And so forth……

4. After you have done this – make a NEW list of the action items that you are going to do – your “ take aways” from the lessons learned – keep the “What went right” list and crumple up and throw away the “what went wrong list”. It is history – water under the bridge. Physically throw it away and throw it out of your mind also.

5. Take the positive – Good items to repeat next time, take the positive action items that you will do to erase the “bad” so it does not repeat, and move on to your next training session with confidence.

A fellow competitor once told me that we have a finite amount of energy, and whether we choose to spend it in the mental, spiritual, emotional, or physical realms of energy is our choice – but there is only a finite amount…so what does this mean to the athlete in training and racing??

If we only have a finite amount of energy, we need to choose wisely how to disperse it; work, family, friends, and training, all take a portion of our “energy”. If we spend too much on emotional energy, there may not be enough there for the physical energy needed to race or train well, and vice versa – if we spend too much physical energy training we may not have enough left to deal with work or family emotional issues… which leaves us feeling guilty that we aren’t spending enough emotional energy with our kids, spouse, etc…which in turn takes more energy worrying about it…and it begins to spiral…

So – the point being, it’s up to us to decide where to spend the energy we have, stressing over a bad workout or a bad race only compounds the energy debt and leaves less to put where we need it..Moving forward and spending some quality time with friends and family – the ones who support us the most with our almost “insane” addiction to this sport.

No article would be complete without my reference to the importance of rest, nutrition and recovery and the key role that MAP plays in this. I am a firm believer that MAP allows my body to recovery well and train and race hard.

Train well, Stay Positive and Race Hard.

Pam Kallio
USAT L2 Triathlon coach
USA L2 cycling coach

Order MAP