7 Ways to Kill Your Comfort Zone

"You guys go ahead. My calf feels a bit funny. I'll stretch out and catch up".

My calf felt fine. I was being a chicken. This group ran 7-minute miles on rolling hills, and though I would have been able to keep up, it would have been very challenging. So I opted out altogether.

If you are like me, you probably have a dozen stories similar to this one. Whether they're about signing up for a hard race, riding with a new group or joining a masters swim class, they all center around one thing—pushing outside of your comfort zone, the imaginary fence that stops us from exploring, challenging and bettering ourselves.

To paraphrase Simon Marshall, author of The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion, your comfort zone is like an emotional cast for a leg that's not broken. That emotional cast gives you a reason stay on our side of the fence, away from the unknown and the uneasy.

But triathlon is not an easy sport, and the only way to get to that new level is to do something different—something beyond the imaginary fence. Below are seven ways to finally kill your comfort zone and reach peak performance.

Discuss This Article