Triathlon and Ego states

Triathlon and Ego states. An integration of mind and body.

As a psychotherapist I study the human psyche for a living. As a triathlete I love investing time and energy into my body. This post is an advanced look at a triathletes' mind and body integration.This post specifically addresses the psychological states that may drive an athlete to compete in this sport.

Why do they do it? Why does a human being put their body through the torture of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and then follow that up by a marathon. This is a question a spectator at an Ironman event may ask themselves and it is a good question. An even better question would be: why did the athlete complete the hundreds of hours necessary just to get to the starting line? Why would someone commit so much time to an endurance event, which itself will be extremely painful?

The answer “why do you do it?” is a question that most triathletes have been asked and they most likely have a stock answer or set of answers that they reply with. These answers may include “I'm competitive”, “I needed a goal”, or even “I did it on a whim”. However, this triathlete in his most quiet moments (usually in a swimming pool or on a long run) may struggle with identifying the core reason that led him or her to engage in this behavior. The truth is that there may not be a core reason, a more likely explanation is a complex series of psychological elements that led this athlete to the sport of triathlon.

A psychological theory known as transactional analysis explained that humans have three primary states of one's personality. These three states are parent, adult and child. Below is a very brief overview of the three states:

Parent: This part of your personality is the judgmental part. This part sets rules and limitations. It sets these on you as well as other people. This is the part of your personality that is like your parents inside of you still guiding your life. Feelings from this part of your personality may include guilt and responsibility. The guidelines may come from your parents or from your experiences in life.

Adult: This is the objective element to your personality. This part makes decisions logically based on information. It often has to balance between the parent part and the child part. Feelings from this area may be known as “Ok”.

Child: Every individual was once younger than they are now. The child part of the personality brings up feelings from when they were a child. This can include childlike characteristics such as joy, excitement, energy, simplicity, impatience, and even petulance.

A triathlete may make a decision to become a triathlete from a child state. This decision would be motivated by perhaps excitement, competition, a need to impress others, or the joy of competition. This state is likely a starting point for many triathletes. Sitting at the finish line for a triathlon transmits a certain energy, this sparks excitement and childlike imagination. Decisions from the child state will focus on feeling and may sound like “I love the feeling of the swim start” or “nothing is like the rush at the finish line”. A triathlete may also make a decision from a parent state, decisions from this state may sound like “I need to set a goal for myself” or “it seemed like something I had to do”. A decision to compete from this part of your personality may be more rare. The third area that the decision may come from is the adult state, decisions from this state will try to logic or reason the involvement in the sport. Reasons may include “I need to be more healthy” or “I had friends who got me involved”.

A decision made from any of your personality states is equally good and no one reason is better than another. What a triathlete needs to be aware of is when one of the three states begins to control the whole process or when a triathlete neglects one of the three personality states. For example, lets say a triathlete races just for child based competitiveness and joy. This child state may find planning and organizing (parent behaviors) to be boring and non-motivating. This triathlete may enjoy racing only and may spend limited time training, this triathlete is likely to burn out quickly in the sport. A second example is that a triathletes' planning and organizing of training sessions takes over their involvement in the sport. Out of this parent state an individual may find the joy and energy of the sport slipping away from them, they may indeed feel guilty if they don't improve or miss training sessions. Another painful experience can happen when someone approaches the sport only from a logical and objective perspective only. This approach may make complete logical sense to them and others but this athlete may find their career short lived as they find their interest slipping over time.

The most healthy approach for a triathlete is to keep all three of these personality traits involved in their triathlon training. Setting limits and guidelines for training is beneficial and necessary (Parent state). Also necessary is to find and stay attached to the childlike joy, passion, and energy of the sport (Child state). The third element is to keep your adult state engaged, this part of your self can balance between the joy and the pressure. This part can make sure you continue to train while not swinging too far towards exuberance or guilt.

Here's to an excellent pre-season for all of us!

~ Dan

Reference for more information on transactional analysis: "Games People Play" by Eric Berne, M.D.

Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3

So here is my race recap for the Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3 event. This event was my first triathlon beyond an Olympic length triathlon. Coming into this event I was feeling very successful in terms of my past events, finishing in the top 3 in my age group in each of my previous four triathlons this season. However, I knew that this event was a completely different animal and I did not know how my body would perform after three hours into a race. My goals for this race were quite different from these previous races. All I wanted to do was finish the race with a consistent output and to finish under six hours.
This race was extra special to me because my brothers came with me to Everett Washington to be my support team. It was fun to room with them and venture into Seattle / Bellevue / Everett over the days leading up to the event. Having their support at the event led to a lot of good times and a very relaxed feeling going into the event.
My race really starts for me the night before the event. I can have some real difficulties with sleeping before a race. However at this event I slept surprisingly well. I went through my typical gear check and fell asleep quickly. I had one of the best night sleeps that I have ever had before a race, and actually a surprisingly good night sleep considering the low quality hotel that we were sleeping in.

The race morning came and everything went very smooth. We found our parking lot, set up transition, and I had about a half hour to spare before the event. Watching the pros start is always fun and a good way to get some nerves out. Soon it was time to hit the lake. When my wave was called I was near the front and walked down the dock to jump into the lake. Jumping off the dock into the water was actually a disgusting experience. When I jumped off the dock my feet went into about six inches of mud and debris. The water was gross with basically mud all around me and no visibility. The group had to tread water for about four minutes before the race start. I positioned myself at the front of the group. When the director started the race the craziness was on.
The swim was a little hectic. I thought that due to this being a more established race that the swimmers would be able to swim more straight, but I was wrong. The swimmers were all over the place at the beginning of the swim and I hate the swimmers who go sideways in front of me. After pushing a few out of the way I continued on. This race was interesting because there was a wave before me and waves that came after me. Usually when I am in a race I tend to get into a rhythm and tend to find several other swimmers going a similar pace as myself (the faster swimmers move on and the slower swimmers fall back). In this race I kept catching swimmers from the earlier wave and kept getting passed by fast swimmers from the wave behind me. It was difficult to get into a rhythm and find a pack that I could work with. My swim time was not as fast as I had hopped (40 minutes), but I definitely conserved energy and was swimming well below my typical energy output on the swim, I believed that the few minutes I could gain on the swim were not worth the output. Coming out of the water I hit transition, found my bike and made a relaxed transition. I took my time and made sure I had all my food and gear as I went out onto the course. My typical bike transition is about 1:15 this transition was greater than 3 minutes!


Out onto the bike! As I hit the bike, I was feeling really strong. I knew I needed to be careful about my output on the early portion of the ride. My goal for the bike was to finish it under three hours (well within my ability), and I believed that if I was on a strong day I could come in as much as 15 minutes under my three hour goal. Through the first lap of the course I was really having a blast. There were many strong riders to mix it up with, and I was having a blast passing the other riders on the course. Through the first loop of the course I was well ahead of my goal pace and was on course to hit my dream 2:45 bike time. About ten miles into the second loop of the bike course I began to fade. My legs felt heavy and my stomach was upset. This course was very hilly and I was struggling with finding the power to propel myself up the hills. I was repeatedly getting passed. The last 12 miles of the bike was very difficult for me. I couldn't wait for the bike to get over so that I could stand up and try to get my stomach to calm down. The last 5 miles of the bike course I was in real pain and was probably averaging an anemic 14 mph. When I finally finished the bike course (3:08 - 8 minutes off of goal pace), I was exhausted and wondering what kind of pain was ahead of me on the run...

Heading out onto the run I had no idea what to expect of my body. I had been out on the course for four hours and I didn't know how my body was going to respond over the next two hours. I was happy that I was close to my target time and I had dreams that if I was strong on the run I could still run down my six hour goal. The first mile of the run is always difficult for me and it is a time for my body to adjust. After the first mile I started feeling better, my stomach was feeling better, and I thought that I could have a very good run.

At about five miles into the run I was feeling even stronger and was starting to increase my pace a little on the run. I had been taking a lot of time at the water stops, and I thought that I could continue to slowly increase my pace. At mile 7 I began to feel very strong and my body was responding very well as the race was advancing. About a mile later my body decided that it had enough. I was more than five hours into the race and my body was beginning to call it quits. My symptoms were: light headed, dizzy, and nauseous. At mile 9 I was starting to walk every three or four minutes, and I was concerned about falling over. I spent some extra time in aid stations and tried to get my body back under control. At about 9.5 miles a fellow runner gave me some encouragement and talked with me about Livestrong for about thirty seconds. This little conversation brought me back to consciousness and I felt a little more in control. At mile ten I thought to myself "only 5k!". The final 5k of this race is half up a hill and half down a hill. I decided that I was going to have to do some serious walking if I wanted to finish the run. I walked most of the climb and then let myself lose on the descent back to the finish. On the way in it felt good to actually be running and finally passing people again. I held a nice pace into the finish line and made a triumphant finish!

My time on the run was 2:24 and my overall time was 6 hours and 20 minutes. The results were a little behind what I had hoped, but it was a great test and a great preparation for Coeur d'Alene Ironman 2011!