Lionel Sanders talks mental side of triathlon, explains how winning ‘starts in the mind’

You know that triathlon is a mental game. Your brain may tell you to slow down, but that doesn’t mean your body physically needs to. It is one thing to know that triathlon requires mental strength, but it’s another thing entirely to be able to implement that and put it into action. Lionel Sanders talks about this in his latest YouTube video as he dives into how winning (or reaching any goals in your triathlon journey) starts in your mind.

Sanders is one of the best triathletes in the world, but he even still struggles with the mental side of the sport, and it is an ongoing challenge to tweak and perfect his headspace as he works through each season. In his most recent vlog, he talks about his goal of winning Ironman 70.3 Oceanside next April. He won Oceanside this year, but he says he knows that it will be an extremely tall order to defend his title.

“It’s not an Olympic year, so you’re very likely going to have a lot of ITU guys there,” Sanders says. He adds that it’s the first race of the Ironman Pro Series calendar, making it even more of a draw for the world’s top racers. From there, Sanders explains what he will have to do in order to have a shot at beating the athletes who are sure to show up in Oceanside.

He knows he has to hit a certain swim time to be within striking distance as they set out onto the bike, he has to be able to push a high wattage in order to catch the leaders, and then he has to be able to run a blistering half-marathon if he just wants a chance to grab the win. That is the foundation on which he builds his mental game, and it starts months out from the actual race.

“First, you have to believe you can win,” he says, “and in order to believe you can win, you have to be able to visualize a pathway that deep inside you actually can see yourself doing.” For his journey to Oceanside, he breaks his training down into three-week segments leading up to the race day. He will have stepping stones that he knows he has to hit by the end of each training block if he has any hope of reaching his goals on race day.

You might not have a goal to win a race or even win your age group, but it really doesn’t matter, because Sanders’s approach can be used for any level of triathlete. You have goals for every race you enter, so you can set out a path to reach those goals, just like Sanders does, breaking down benchmarks you want to reach at certain points in your training.

“What you’ve just visualized, basically, in this whole thought experiment is the physical demand that you’re going to ask of yourself [on race day],” Sanders says. This is not going to be easy, of course, but he says that’s good. He expects to have tough times when he questions himself and lacks belief in his abilities, but he says that is “right before the point where you’re going to go to the next level.” That is the point when you’ll have to listen to whatever limits your brain is telling you that you’ve reached and then power forward anyway.

“You’re never near the limits of your actual capacity,” Sanders says. “You are always holding yourself far back from your actual capacity.”

Sanders is starting his mental training now for Oceanside. The race isn’t until April, but he knows that to get where he needs to be on race day—both mentally and physically—he has to begin the journey now. You might not have your goals set for 2025 just yet, but whenever you do decide on them, know that it’s not too early to start your preparation. You’re not where you need to be yet, but with careful planning and consistent work, you’ll get there in time for your race.