PBs are great, but little things trump it all

By Head Coach Scotty Farrell

​As a coach, in a nutshell, I’m in the business of getting my athletes to go faster. Most of us just want to go faster and this is great in all… but the longer I’m in this sport, the more I realize it’s about so much more than just that.

Going back ten years to when I started in the sport, I remember being so hung up about not seeing any improvements right off the bat. Week after week, my mates keep dropping me and it seemed like I wasn’t getting any faster, despite training my backside off and being super consistent. Sure, there were the old
tri crew that passed on the occasional piece of wisdom like ‘just keep spinning’ or ‘stick at it, it’ll happen’ but at the time, those were never the words I wanted to hear. I was so focused on the end result that I really ignored the fundamentals that in hindsight, are the crux of what really matters in triathlon and life for that matter. 

I see it regularly today… we are all so into the numbers and ticking off times to massage our egos, that we neglect to fall in love with the process of it all. I’m by no means discounting the amazing feelings of notching up a PB or cracking a goal time… but what I am suggesting is that we need to take a moment to remember how lucky we are and how good it is to be doing such a healthy sport and dig a little deeper than the numbers to focus more on that magical thing we call ‘the process’.

Coach Rich recently wrote about the need for sacrifice, sustainability and consistency in order to achieve success and I’m 100% behind those ideals! Today though, let’s take a step back and look at the big picture… cast your views over the process of it all and how awesome it is! It’s easy to get caught up in the doldrums of our daily routines and forget to see the roses amongst the thorns. Celebrate the small things, enjoy the moments and the smiles, they are what you’ll remember just as much as the victories. 

When life get’s the better of me and the stress levels rise I try to ground myself by regularly writing down the things I am grateful for… the little things, the water in the tap, the light in my fridge, my bike ;-). I’ve also recently gone back to training in a swim squad environment… for me this is a couple of sessions per week where I get to switch off, do as I’m told, go hard and smile my way through it with some likely legends. We’ve talked about it before, but we really are the product of the people we spend the most time with… so why not surround yourself with gurus and guns… it’ll eventually rub off right!? I think it will. Maybe one day you’ll be the gun or the guru too!

I challenge you to think about your goals and the way you approach your next race with a grateful attitude and a new found love for the process. For if you focus your attention on all the little things along the way and you practice consistently, you will achieve success in your life. The feels that come from finishing a session, a big week of training or a race knowing you nailed the process along the way, can be just as rewarding if we remember to smell the roses and feel the feels along the way. 

Internalise it, control your journey, love it, be grateful and it will give back to you all that you deserve!

“It’s a slow process, but quitting won’t speed it up”
Coach SF