Whenever you take part in or spectate at a 5k, marathon, triathlon, Spartan race, or any type of endurance event, there are two kinds of people that are contestants:

As I already mentioned, it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with your results on the scoresheet, i.e., it doesn’t have to be about “winning” or “placing”.   It’s all about comparing your results with your vision and goals, and the effort you are putting forth leading up to and during the event:

• Your goal could be performance.  It could be performance in comparison to others (i.e., winning or placing), or it could be performance compared with yourself.  Maybe you are looking to set a personal best, or do better than the last race, or maybe you’ve been injured and you are looking to get back to a time that may be no where close to your best, but will be an accomplishment.
• Your goal could be mastering the activity.  Maybe simply FINISHING means you’ve been racing, regardless of the time.  For example, I’m a runner and triathlete, but the races in which I participate are short: 5k – 1/2 marathons and sprint and olympic triathlons.  If I ever set a goal of competing in a marathon, just FINISHING will be a HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT for me.  I will be racing simply by finishing.  The same would be true if I set a goal of 1/2 or full Ironman triathlon.  If I finish, I will have been racing.

The RACING MINDSET can be applied to everything you do:

• Your business
• Your career
• Your health and fitness
• Your family
• Your life

How to apply the RACING MINDSET to your life?

It’s actually very similar to the concept that I put forth in “Are you amateur or a pro?”.  It takes vision and goals, intentionality, discipline and effort.  Here is how to get the RACING MINDSET:

• Find the inspiration and the vision
• Have a goal or goals associated with that vision
• Make a plan to reach that goal
• Work the plan…everyday (the Slight Edge!)
• Maximum effort, don’t let yourself off the hook…during your preparation and especially on race day!

This is how it’s done.  Find your vision, make the plan, and start racing.

A Case Study

Recently, I was at a Spartan Sprint race in which my oldest son was participating.  He’s a college student who is a good runner and in fabulous shape, but had never done an event that combined endurance plus strength obstacles.  On our hour long ride to the mountain for the race, I could sense his nervousness of the unknown, but I knew he was trained and ready.  He had no idea what to expect (except for the limited advice and coaching that I could give him from my previous experience), but he did have a definite time goal set of under 2 hours.  That was his goal since the time he signed up. Now we’re at the mountain, all registered, and checking out what we can see of the course.  His start time: 12:30…the hottest time of the day.  Now it’s 12:15, time to slam the Preworkout and get into the cattle shoot and test himself against his physical and mental preparation!  As the 100 or so contestants in this heat were shuttled into the starting area, there was plenty of high-fives and fist bumps, as well as more than a few anxious faces as they stared up the grueling ski hill that was their first challenge of the race.  The announcements were made, the “Aroo!!’s” were yelled and he was off! He took off up the ski slope and I lost him over the first ridge.  I was so excited for him! Unfortunately, the only way I could follow him was via sparse text updates until he got towards the end.  The updates were agonizingly slow, but finally I got news that he was heading to the buckets challenge, so I scampered across the mountain to see if I could catch a glimpse and get some pictures.  Sure enough, just before he got there, at about 1 hour and 35 minutes after his race start, not only was I able to watch him, I actually met him with some much needed water and Energy.  We spoke briefly as he rested for just a couple minutes and then he was off — “Gotta beat 2 hours!” Now I was able to follow his progress in person over the last couple of obstacles.  The last tough obstacle was a mud slicked, ring traverse.  He got up on them, slipped off…tried once more and slipped off again.  His hands were simply spent, and could no longer hold on. So he ran to the burpee zone to get his 30 burpees in.  “How much time?….about 3 minutes”.  Burpees done…sprint to the mud wall to slide under and then sprint to the fire jump and the finish line.  I was so proud!!  Now spent, with hands on knees, medal around neck, and his hapless father bungling toward him, I hear, breathlessly: “Hey Dad…I think I may have done it…What’s my official time”? So we headed over the tent with the results…1:59:36….BAM!  He did it!      On the ride home, we stopped for some much needed nourishment.  As we got out of the car and closed the doors I hear, “Wait, Dad…can you unlock the doors again?”.  “Sure, what did you forget?” “My medal!  I’m wearing this the rest of today, to work tomorrow, and maybe all week!”. You see, he was RACING!  He earned that medal and he had every right to be proud of it.  Regardless of how he did against the other people (he actually did quite well and came in 3rd in his age group), he had set his own goal, and he accomplished it.  If he had not set that goal, its likely that:

• He doesn’t sprint in between the last couple of obstacles.
• He doesn’t keep looking at the time to see where he’s at.
• He doesn’t push himself beyond what he normally would.
• He’s not nearly as proud of that medal.

That’s how its done.  You set the goals and then your mind helps you and pushes you.  Sometimes even beyond what you think you can ever do.  Now he already has new goals set for the next race.  He’s figured out that he could easily shave 10 minutes off that time with no change to his training, plus he knows for what he needs to train better. Setting goals…making a plan…giving maximum effort. I hope this helped you in some way, and if so, please share it with others, and please connect with me.  I would love to hear your thoughts and the experiences you’ve had as well. Now get out there and RACE!!