Mental Prep | The Blog of David Glover

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True Desire is Never Borrowed

True Desire is Never Borrowed...

A few weeks ago, I started "word of the week" with one of my coaching clients, Peter. Peter, like many of my clients, wants to get to Kona and the Ironman World Championship. He wants to take the more difficult path and qualify by finishing near the top of his age group in another 140.5-mile Ironman race. As his triathlon coach, I'm going to help him get there. The idea behind "word...

Setting Marathon Goals: Client Perspective

Setting Marathon Goals: Client Perspective...

This winter in the Baltimore and Washington DC area – as well as much of the U.S. – has been especially tough for training for longer events like marathons and Ironman triathlons, as we’ve had three snow storms since December and temperatures that have stayed around the freezing mark, making riding and running outdoors difficult and sometimes impossible. Throw in a demanding job (think “constant...

Reflecting back on 2009

Reflecting back on 2009...

With the end of 2009 and the beginning of a New Year fast approaching, now is the time to reflect on 2009 and start looking ahead to 2010. This reflection ritual below is one I received from my friend and executivecoach Margarita Rozenfeld, founder of YES!Circle and Incite International, who I've worked with on and off over the past few years. This ritual is a powerful exercise that can be applied to...

A Navy SEAL and the Ironman Triathlon

A Navy SEAL and the Ironman Triathlon...

As a Naval Academy Graduate (Class of '93) and former Navy submarine officer, I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the Navy SEALs. In my mind, they represent the ultimate in endurance fitness as they train for their missions on the SEa, Air and Land (SEAL). On the navyathletes.com website, which promotes the Navy and especially the Navy's Special Warfare/Operations communities,...

Begin with the End in Mind: Create and Face the Vision

Begin with the End in Mind: Create and Face the Vi...

If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you get there? You won't. Stephen Covey's second habit from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is to "begin with the end in mind." A simple but effective mental preparation tool that I began using a few years ago to help me with my own triathlon goals is a Vision Sheet - a one page sheet, which summarizes my vision of what I...

The Selfishness of Triathlon…or Not?

The Selfishness of Triathlon…or Not?...

Is triathlon a selfish sport…or not? One of my clients who is training for Ironman Arizona on November emailed me the other day regarding his struggle with the "selfishness" of the sport: I have been struggling lately when I realize that the sport we are involved in can be selfish. I train a lot and hence don't give back as often as I should. I took a group of church kids to the Comcast center yesterday...

Race Report: Christiana goes 10:39 at Roth

Race Report: Christiana goes 10:39 at Roth...

Christiana is one of my Ironman coaching clients who I've worked with since 2007. She had qualified and competed in Ironman Hawaii in 2006, incredibly finishing the race while running with a stress fracture. Rather than have me tell her story about her recent 10:39 PR at the Quelle Challenge Ironman in Roth Germany on July 12th, I'd like to share her race write up. If you're even thinking about doing an...

From Coach to Athlete before the big race

From Coach to Athlete before the big race...

What should a coach say to his client the day before the most important triathlon of his life? My client, Bill Beyer, recently competed in Ironman Couer d’Alene (2.4-mile swim / 112-mile bike / 26.2-mile run) on June 21st. This was Bill’s first Ironman in 2 years after a foot injury in 2007 and surgery in 2008. Here’s what I said to Bill before the race: One more thought. You’ve done most of...

Create Your Reality Through Visualization

Create Your Reality Through Visualization...

I’ve heard it said that racing an Ironman is 50% physical and 50% mental. I don’t agree with that ratio for everyone but I do believe mental preparation and the right mental attitude on race day can mean the difference between a poor race and a great race for anyone. I wrote the following article about how to create a “great race” through visualization. The article appeared on the USA Triathlon...

Running through Lists: Being Speedy

Running through Lists: Being Speedy...

David being speedy at the Quelle Challenge in 2007Vickie Elmer from the Washington Post interviewed me recently about being a “speedy” entrepreneur – how do I find time to be an athlete, coach, race director, author, boyfriend, dog owner, etc? How do I be speedy? I create the big picture first - I literally like to draw a picture on a piece of paper – a vision of where I want to be and what I...

Taoist Wisdom: We’ll See

Taoist Wisdom: We’ll See...

David Glover and Peter SpringerWe’ll See… My good friend and fellow cyclist, Peter Springer, shared this story to his friends in his “Goodbye” email that he sent out to announce his move from Richmond, VA to Charlotte, NC. I used to ride with Peter when I worked for Capital One. We would ride in the dark late after work or early before work to avoid traffic. We once spent a Sunday biking 167...

Move First; Think Later

Move First; Think Later...

In the words of one of my Bikram Yoga instructors, Reggie Meneses: "Move first, think later. It's very liberating. Avoid paralysis by analysis." So what does it mean? As triathletes, we tend to over analyze the simple decisions we need to make. For example, we debate in our minds questions such as: Do I sign up for this race because my friend PR's on this course? Should I ride an extra 10 minutes...

Self-empowerment: Breaking out of the “I Have to” Pattern

Self-empowerment: Breaking out of the “I Hav...

Brad Rex, Race Announcer“There is only one thing you have to do in life.” - Brad Rex, race announcer Brad Rex, who I jokingly refer to as my “uncle from California,” dabbles in a lot of different things: cycling, rowing, race announcing, sailing, environmental restoration, etc. Since meeting him years ago at the Great Floridian Triathlon where he announced and I raced, we’ve become good...

Back in the Game of Triathlon

Back in the Game of Triathlon...

…..a quick break from writing more about hiking the Swiss Alps….. Big cows in Switzerland! Well, I did it. I committed. I signed up for a half iron triathlon next month: Patriots Half on September 6th in Williamsburg, VA. The event is run by my good friends at Set Up Events. I’m excited to visit Williamsburg plus Krista Schultz (my girlfriend) will be racing the international on Sunday so we get...

The Big Blue Square: A Tool for Optimal Sports Performance

The Big Blue Square: A Tool for Optimal Sports Per...

Photo: David finishing sub-9 hours at the Quelle Challenge in Roth, Germany in 2007 (Photographer: Courtney Johnson) This past year was an outstanding year for me as an athlete – I set personal best times in both the marathon and Ironman-distance triathlon while winning the Vineman Triathlon overall at the age of 36, an age when most athletes would be considered “over the hill.” There were a number...

The 4-Hour Workweek: a Must Read for All Time-starved Triathletes (and Others)

The 4-Hour Workweek: a Must Read for All Time-star...

“Thanks to Tim Ferriss, I have more time in my life to travel, spend time with family, and write book blurbs. This is a dazzling and highly useful work.” - A. J. Jacobs, editor-at-large of Esquire Magazine and author of The Know-It-All At a holiday party in December, I was telling telling a friend about a few of the great books I had recently read like Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly...

The Inner Game of Marathon, Triathlon, etc.

The Inner Game of Marathon, Triathlon, etc....

In my continued search for self-enlightenment and a more meaningful life, I began reading a plethora of “self-help” books…or, rather, as I prefer to call them “self-discovery” books starting with The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. My latest read has been the The Inner Game of Work by W. Timothy Gallwey (also the author of The Inner Game of...

The minimalist approach to triathlon training (or anything else for that matter)

The minimalist approach to triathlon training (or ...

I consider myself a minimalist when it comes to triathlon training. I know this may sound strange and somewhat contradictory to anyone who knows me personally as my triathlon training volume is up in the 20+ hour range per week during peak weeks in the spring and summer, which, admittedly, is quite a lot of time. Photo: Me at Roth in 2007 (Photo by: Courtney Johnson) Yet, I still claim that I am a minimalist because...

Understanding the “Why?”

Understanding the “Why?”...

“Why am I doing this?” I ask myself repeatedly every day. “What is the ‘why’ that drives me forward and provides the meaning for the ‘things’ I’m doing like racing Silverman in November?” I can’t answer the “Why?” question with a solid answer right now. Because I can’t answer the question, I don’t have a compelling reason to race Silverman. When...

Finding Flow: A State of Optimal Experience

Finding Flow: A State of Optimal Experience...

“What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” - Unknown author Greetings from Roth, Germany, the site of the Quelle Challenge! I arrived here on Friday morning with my bike case on the same flight so already a more positive experience this year. Why am I racing in the Quelle Challenge (Roth) versus another Ironman-distance race? “Those who want to go to Hawaii, take part in Frankfurt...

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