Regardless of event, distance, or fitness level, the endurance sports community is one based heavily on goal-setting and self-reflection. Naturally, this way of thinking can lead to immense celebratory highs following successes and, unfortunately, disappointing lows following a poor performance. In some instances, the latter can even resemble the stages of grief.
Therefore, constantly learning from setbacks is crucial for resetting perspective, regaining motivation, and maintaining a healthy training mindset and quality of life for the future.
Putting restraints on reflection
After a competition, the reflection process – no matter how long or in-depth – is an inevitable part of one’s training cycle. Looking back on a performance gives an athlete the chance to absorb crucial lessons, solidify favorable memories, and better understand their abilities to inform new goals. However, if one comes up short of their goals or generally competes at an undesirable level, this process can quickly become muddied and toxic. Since endurance sports are often personal and solitary in nature, poor performance can be an easy gateway into self-loathing and wallowing beyond constructive self-criticism. One may feel insecure, embarrassed, or angry when reliving the race, dissolving into rooting those experiences in vivid emotional self-sabotage.
Rather, one should put clear limitations on their post-competition reflection, allowing themselves just enough mental space to process the bad performance, compartmentalize it, and channel it into the next training block. This approach requires both mindfulness and restraint, techniques that can benefit many other aspects of the training lifestyle.
Controlling the controllable
A key part of this mental rewiring is to dedicate primary attention to controllable post-competition factors. For instance, even though the performance itself has been recorded and is out of one’s hands, that same competitor can at least focus on physical recovery, new training regimen construction, and mental recalibration. This process will vary by athlete, but broadly speaking, one should keep the present highlighted over the past to ultimately benefit the future.
Focusing forward
Finally, post-competition disappointment should culminate in a new plan – whether that is attempting the failed event or competition again or pursuing an entirely new goal. One of the benefits of most endurance sports is that, in most cases, there is always an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start over; this should remain a point of comfort for disillusioned athletes and a timeless spurring force to get back to work.
Once an athlete has a fresh perspective and a clarified plan for future training, they will be ready to finally put their setback behind them, reaping the lessons of the experience for a more positive, productive tomorrow.
