Exploring the Stability of Self-Compassion, Self-Criticism, and Grit in Professional Triathletes Within Training

Professional triathletes need to navigate a fine line of training for three sports along with the mental and physical challenges of trying to meet standards of performance in order to be successful. The purpose of my research was to observe, through an exploratory through a single case design (SCD) study, whether self-criticism, self-compassion, and grit fluctuate for professional triathletes over a 3-week training period in which they are trying to achieve performance standards. Two professional long distance triathletes completed pre- and post-test measures of self-compassion, along with daily reports of these same measures. A visual analysis of daily measures was performed, recealing a general lack of stability in the variables examined both within and across participants. While one of the two athletes did not meet standards on two consecutive days as a naturally occurring intervention point, differences in stability before and after not meeting standards were challenging to interpret and demonstrate the complexity in athletes’ experiences related to trying to achieve performance standards. It remains for future research to determine whether the daily fluctuations I observed are representative of “true” daily changes in the constructs themselves or a result of measurement error associated with using single-time measures (or a combination of both)