Need some good mantras

my favorite is something said to John MacLean (first wheelchair athlete to do Hawaii Ironman)   "the pain won't last forever but the memories will never fade..."  

 and for the not so serious  abit of Dry your eyes Princess,  suck it up buttercup and Just keep swimming (dory style from finding nemo) always help me.

I somehow tend to end up thinking one foot in front of the other over and over in my head sometimes hwen I'm running.  which leads me onto thinking, each foot is one step closer to the finish.

"The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is of all things most shameful and vile."

--Plato

I have a tendency to use:

  Pain is weakness leaving your body

Pedaling tip = "circles-circles-circles" 

Relaxation tip = "ears-ears-ears"   (i.e. relax/drop your shoulders-don't hunch.) 

"I am strong. I am trained. Success is Mine".  I wrote up a bunch of mantras before I was trying to BQ and this was the one that worked the best.  You might want to try the same.

Whenever the negative voice enters my head, I visualize crossing the finish line, seeing the clock with a number I am striving for and say the mantra until it passes.

When I am on a training run and I really don't want to be: "I am getting stronger. They are getting weaker."

"Trample the weak. Hurdle the dead." 

My favorite: "I got no quit in me."

In July at a sprint tri, I forgot to bring my bike shoes.  In thinking I had to make the best of the (wet/rainy!) bike ride, a popular phrase came to my head; "Make hay while the sun shines."  In other words, I had to pedal as efficiently in my running shoes on the flats and downhills as possible.  I certainly couldn't stand up and attack.  I also had to run as efficiently and fast as I could to make up for the bike time.  I pulled a 7th out of 26 in my AG. 

I still think of that phrase in training and in competition.

My sig line.  I have that on a plaque on my wall at home.  Also, "Chicks dig scars".  Finally "I ain't got time to bleed".

I used somebody's sig found on BT during my last run: "Pain is Mandatory; suffering is optional."  It gave me a lot more of an optimistic view. 

For the bike, I like "no worries, I'll see 'em on the run"

I say this not because running is my best discipline, but rather because the vast majority of athletes in any race forget that triathlon consists of 3 disciplines and blow their legs up on the bike, at an expense for the run that far outweighs any time gains on the bike.

I also like "no regrets" when I'm battling a tough section later in the race... and I know that means if I walk now I'll hate that I did it very soon after the battle is over. 

Also like "it's supposed to hurt" to help make pain a positive stimulus.

"Quitters never win. Winners never quit.  I'm not a quitter. I'm a winner."

We say that at the end of our Tae Kwon Do class.  I find myself using taht when I'm in a tough spot and need a mental boost. 

I like the phrase from the Jimmy Buffett song "The Great Filling Station Hold Up" It goes like this, "Wish I was somewhere other than here, down in some honkey tonk sippin on a beer. This gets me through and reminds me that it is supposed to be fun. I usually have an ice cold Sillver Bullet after my hard days.

chevy57 

Floppy man boobs.

Blatantly stolen from an ad in one of the tri magazines, but I say it to myself whenever it starts to hurt. It motivates me every time I think about that prospect.

"The bike sets up your run" - Coach Troy.

"Time to run, 1 mile!" - and then take the run as 1 mile at a time! also, Coach Troy 

"Pain is temporary, Pride is forever"

 "Suck it up, Buttercup!"

and my all time favorite that I use more in training than in races:

 Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker.
   "What does not destroy me, makes me stronger."
-Friedrich Nietzsche, Götzen-Dämmerung (1899)