One of my favorite things about Ironman World Championships week is “Breakfast with Bob Kona Edition” series by Bob Babbitt on YouTube. I love his down-to-earth interviews with the greatest of the greatest on the Big Island. One of my favorite interviews so far is  with 2015 Ironman World Champ Jan Frodeno.

In the first 3 minutes Jan pretty much tells you that his mental training was key to winning a gold medal at the Olympics, and since that time he has been crushing records!

Jan: “Yeah that’s the thing about mental training and mental things you know, whether you think you can do something or you can’t you are probably right, and I did believe I could do it, I trained for it and I visualized it probably a hundred thousands of times…”

I love that athletes of his caliber casually mention that visualization and the mental training that go along with this physical training. I hope this continues in our sport and that the sport psychology and mental skills training become just as important as sport nutrition, triathlon coaching and gear selection.  Don’t sleep on the mental aspect of your training because as you can see the WORLDS BEST in our sport don’t!

Throwback tidbit: Did you know that Frederik Van Lierde the 2013 Ironman World Champion had a sport psychologist a part of his team the year he won Kona!

Other Kona Related Blog Goodies:

Pain and “The Second Arrow” in Triathlon

Surrounding Yourself With Excellence

Kona Mental Skills Tip#5: It’s Time…To Go Inward

Kona Mental Skills Tip #4: You Signed Up for This

A Few Tips for Racing with a Successful Mindset

Post-Kona and Evaluate Your Environments