Attitude.

It's become increasingly clear to me the role that attitude plays in professional athletics. I have yet to qualify for my professional triathlete license, but I feel fairly confident that I have the ability to do so, and on top of that to make money at some point in the sport. Personally, I don't see why you would embark on the road of poverty and endless training hours if you didn't feel it could pay the bills at some point. It just isn't practical otherwise.

I spent some time talking about attitude with Nate Ansbaugh, one of my best friends, and training partner, on our long ride/run workout today. We discussed the difference in attitude between people we've trained with over the years and how it related to their success, or otherwise. It seemed that the people with the best attitudes, the ones you could simply sense their intensity and will to win or excel in whatever the task laid ahead of them, were inevitably the ones that realized their dreams. I've trained with athletes who simply didn't believe they were talented and before races had already decided who was going to beat them. I've also trained with people who didn't outwardly admit they were prepared to loose, but that tried to muster so much bravado and trash-talk that it was clear they would rather talk about what COULD happen than to go out and put the chips on the table.

I'm not really going anywhere special with this, but I think we should all take time to look inwardly at ourselves and ask; "What are my goals? What is my attitude like? Do the two align?" It's fine to have a "whatever happens" attitude if you want to get in shape, but if you want to truly push boundaries, and find out what your body is capable of, whether it's qualify for Kona, USAT Nationals, or get a 5k PR, attitude makes all the difference. And not just on the day of the race, keeping a positive attitude in training is critical to building the confidence needed to maintain a positive attitude in races.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes. You've probably heard it before, but I've heard it hundreds of times. My youth swim coach would read it to us at least once a week and it was one of the pillars of his coaching philosophy. Only just recently have I realized its full power and meaning as I see its lines played out in my life. I hope you get something out of it.

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

-Charles R. Swindoll