Physical training is easy and technical training is fun but mental training is the hardest part. I mean to really do that. Of course every race you run is kind of mental training and the tougher the race, the better. You go through your routines, you give a few thoughts about what you're up to do when you get the map and you try to focus on your own race and ignore everything else. Yeah it works, but in order to do your best when it really matters requires great mental capacity. Some have it and others train it. Most top athletes actually put some hours to mental training and some even use mental coaches.
I've always been kind of lazy with mental training and raise my hand as a sign of weakness when it comes to that. Maybe I've been a bit arrogant, maybe I've seen it as a waste of time, maybe I've been always to busy with work or maybe it's just pure laziness. Surely I've done some mental training, but seldom of my own initiative. There's always been a teacher, a coach or a psychologist who has advised me to do something. Then I've conscientiously accomplished whatever I've been asked to. Just what a good schoolgirl ought to do. But that's about it.
However, it is not said that everyone needs to do the same to gain the same objective. We're all individuals and we train physically different too. Principals may be similar but there's always some individual variation. So the mental preparation may vary a great deal from person to person as well. I believe this reflects our personality and therefore the variation between individuals is even greater than in physical training. Or this is just me seeking acceptance for my way of doing things. Might be the truth but anyway I just had a kind of important presentation for which I used two weeks to prepare and once taking that time and putting myself through that pressure I realized how the process was like preparing yourself to an important race. You try to assimilate all possible information there is before the actual event, you go through your own plan in your mind, and you try to imagine the situations you may face during your performance.
It is actually quite seldom that I feel that nervous and anxious before any race. Usually I have some butterflies in the stomach before big races but it is most often a positive and waiting feeling whereas the feeling before a major presentation is seldom that joyous. But what I realized was that putting yourself through any situation where you're under pressure and you need to perform well can be compared to mental training. I think there is a clear gain-gain situation there. Growing in a competitive milieu (learning to compete at any sport at early age) gives you mental strength that you can use in your "normal life" and, vice versa, the situations you face at your work can train you mentally for your goals at sport. That's what I believe.
