Whether it is a race, a workout or even
just a piece within a workout, I believe that it is really important to finish
what you start. After two World Cup
regattas, the biggest SUP race so far this year, and three months of
training I’ve seen enough to remind me how extremely important it is to avoid
quitting in a race or any part of a workout.
When I was racing canoe I was extremely
competitive and driven and rarely quit in a race, especially in the early
stages of my international career. I
must confess that in the late stages of my career, when for the first time I
faced a real challenge in domestic races, I quit a couple of times when I fell
behind in races and it looked like I wouldn’t win. I felt like shit immediately after for doing
it. Even to this day, 20 years later, it
bothers me when I think about it. I’m
certainly not haunted by it, but when I’m reminded of it or think about those
races for some particular reason, it eats at me.
The most important reason you should never
quit is that it is habit forming. Once
you’ve done it the first time it becomes easier to do the second time. And if you’ve done it a couple of times it
becomes a lot more likely you’ll do it again. It doesn’t mater whether it is in
a race or a workout.
I’ve seen talented athletes in both sprint
and SUP fall into the trap of quitting in races once they start to face a
little adversity. It’s so easy to do,
especially when they’ve already done it once or twice before and a pattern
develops. When you consider that most
races, whether they are 1000m sprint races or 12 mile SUP races, are anything
but easy and there are lots of moments in races where you have to face challenges,
you can see that it can be a constant struggle to keep yourself going if you
are weak enough to let the thought of giving in to them cross your mind. These tough moments taunt you and dare you to
keep going. They tell you it’d just be
easier if you quit. And if you’ve become
weak and have succumbed to them once, you’re more likely to do it again.
The best way to protect yourself from
falling victim to these tough moments is to make yourself bulletproof to them
by developing the mental strength to keep any negative self-talk during races
at bay. You can practice this by
immediately replacing a negative thought with a positive one every time you
realize you’re thinking negatively. I’ve
also found it particularly useful to remember that when you’re hurting in a
race, or having trouble facing a particular challenge, the people you are
racing are hurting just as much and are struggling to face the same challenge
as well. The adversity you feel you are
facing is actually not unique to you. If
you consider that, and then challenge yourself to hang on and make the others you’re
racing against crack first, you pretty quickly find yourself in the right
mindset to paddle right through the tough times. Fortunately, just like quitting is easier to
do the second time, so too is paddling through any adversity. When you’ve done it really well once and
actually realize what you’ve done, it does wonders for your confidence. You feel like you are unbreakable and
mentally strong enough to face anything, and that confidence makes the next
time easier.
To a large extent my experience has shown
me that the concept of self-fulfilling prophecies is true in a sport sense. If you are worried before you start your race
about the challenges you’ll face, they are likely to seem like big, difficult
challenges for you to overcome when they arise. What you fear might happen actually tends to happen.
If you have a positive outlook and are full of confidence that you can
face any challenges, you are more likely to have less problems dealing with
them and everything is more likely to unfold favourably.
It isn’t just in your races that it is
important to never quit, but also in your training. You should have a training plan and so you
should know what your workout is going to be well before you push off the beach
and start paddling. This should allow
you to be mentally prepared to deal with the challenges, pain and discomfort
you’ll face in the workout. If you’re
mentally ready there should be no excuse for stopping part way though and
deciding that you’ll do something easier because your heart isn’t into doing
the hard workout you started.
If you do stop in your training session
and either head back to shore or do something easier, you’re doing something
that you’ll be more likely to do in the future because you’ve already done it
once. You’ll be surprised how quickly a
pattern forms and it suddenly becomes acceptable for you to do something that
is certain to prevent you from achieving success. Let’s face it. If you are always taking the easy path in
training you aren’t going to be very good on race day.
Even quitting an individual piece in an
interval workout is bad. In my opinion
intervals should be done with a similar mental intensity as a race. While they aren’t often done at physical race
intensity, there are always things to concentrate and focus on in a mental
sense. If you practice training with the
focus you need in a race then it comes to you naturally when you are actually
racing and need that intense focus.
Conversely, if your focus is so weak in training that you let that
negative voice in your head get too loud and it convinces you to quit, then you
are more likely to quit in a race as well.
Certainly there are exceptions to the “never
quit rule”. If you suffer an injury it
is often foolish to try to go on. You
could be dealing with a protracted period of time away from training if you try
to fight through it and make the injury worse than it might have otherwise
been. Inclement weather may be another
intelligent reason to quit. If there is
an electrical storm the last place you want to be is on the water. Or if conditions are getting way beyond your
ability it might well be prudent to cut your workout short and head in, or at
least find calmer water. If you limit
yourself to quitting only in these exceptional circumstances you should be in
no danger of developing any bad habits.
If I reflect back on my own career, I was
at my strongest as a racer when I was my strongest and toughest mentally. If I reflect back on all the athletes I have
seen perform up close, the ones who have done the best most consistently are
the ones who have always fought hard in races and respected their training plans
no matter what. They know no other
way.
If you don’t think you are up to a hard
workout, or if your heart really isn’t into a race, then you are better off not
even getting on your board and trying.
Do something else entirely rather than risk stopping part way though the
workout or race. If you’re not into it
you shouldn’t be out there in the first place.
Another thing you can do is cut down your workout before you go out so
you won’t have to bail on all or part of it once you’ve started. At least this way you won’t end up doing
something that can quickly form a terrible pattern.
In my opinion quitting in a race isn’t just
harmful to you, it’s also disrespectful to your fellow competitors and to sport
in general. The essence of sport is to
try your best. When you don’t you not
only cheat yourself, you also cheat the other athletes who were looking forward
to racing you. And if you’re in an event
for which you had to qualify, you’re cheating the athlete who just missed
qualifying and would have given anything to have a chance to race hard in that
race.
So this week’s Tip of the Week is
simple. Finish what you start.
