In the 1960s, Stanford professor Walter Mischel set out to do an experiment. He tested hundreds of 4 to 5-year-olds on what turned out to be a key component to future success in work, health and life. Researchers brought each subject (a 4 or 5-year-old kid) into a private room and set a single marshmallow down on the table directly in front of them. The researcher then let the child know that they were going leave the room and if they didn’t eat the marshmallow sitting in front of them, they would get another marshmallow when the researcher came back into the room. The researcher then left the room for 15 minutes to let them decide: one marshmallow now or two marshmallows later? DELAYED GRATIFICATION In the past couple years you’ve probably noticed an inordinate amount of articles, podcasts, and TED Talks on the topic of happiness and life satisfaction. When people talk about being “happy,” there two different aspects to this concept. There is happiness that we find on a daily basis through joyful activities, and then there is the happiness we find in having a greater meaning in our life that contributes to overall life satisfaction. There is feeling happiness in your life and then there’s feeling happiness about your life. Happiness about your life sometimes includes going after bigger goals. Pushing yourself to see what you’re truly capable of. Working toward something that brings you both joy (because you enjoyed the pursuit) and satisfaction (because you had to work hard to get it). At some point when you go after a big goal you will be required to trade the immediate perceived reward right now for the bigger reward down the road. Big goals can mean big sacrifices; like not eating the marshmallow sitting in front of you. If you’ve ever had an unfinished goal, you know how frustrating and heartbreaking it can be. You were on the path to your goal, took an unexpected side trip, and never found the road leading back to it. What athletes don’t always know is that when they don’t accomplish a goal, they didn’t necessarily fail at the goal—they more likely failed at their goal-setting strategy. Here are three essential and research-proven goal-setting techniques for delaying gratification and holding out for the bigger reward: HAVE A PLAN You need to know exactly what you want and exactly how you’re going to get it. It’s worth putting in the time to formalize your goal and get specific with your strategy. The more specific you are with your vision and your plan, the more likely you are to take action on it. WRITE IT DOWN AND SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS Athletes who do these two things increase the probability of actually accomplishing their goals. Telling people about your goal and writing it down are added accountability factors that can increase the likelihood that you will follow through with your goals. KNOW YOUR WHY Why this goal and why now? Why is this important to you? How does this goal connect to your values and the person you want to be? When you think to yourself “I don’t know if I can do it today” and you’re trying to find your motivation, connecting to your why can be a powerful reminder of what’s really important to you and helps you make a decision from that place. It helps you hold out for two marshmallows. And speaking of marshmallows—you might be wondering what the kids did when the researcher left the room: Some kids had no problem at all waiting patiently for their second marshmallow. Others immediately grabbed the marshmallow and shoved it in their mouths. And then some of the kids came up with strategies like covering their eyes and sitting on their hands to try and hold out for the bigger reward. What’s really fascinating are the follow-up studies. Over the course of 40 years after the initial experiment, some interesting differences emerged between the children who were able to delay gratification and choose two marshmallows later versus the children who chose one marshmallow immediately. The research from this study and subsequent studies on delayed gratification are pretty clear; the ability to delay immediate gratification is essential for success. You set goals to fulfill dreams, to move from wishing something would happen to making it happen. And when you are truly committed to your goal, there is no amount of marshmallows that will derail you. You know that the bigger reward is waiting for you down the road. This article by Carrie Jackson Cheadle, a professor of sport psychology and expert in Mental Skills Training, was originally published on trainingpeaks.com. TrainingPeaks provides you in-depth analysis, planning tools and coaching services to help you reach your goal. Track your workouts with your Suunto watch. Afterwards analyze your heart rate, power, pace and other data with TrainingPeaks on web or in mobile and progress towards your goals.

Ultra-runner Francois D’haene wants to keep his sport modes simple.   “To be able to personalize my watch is very important for me,” Francois D’haene says. On his trail running training sessions from home Francois likes to follow altitude, ascent and duration. For interval sessions he adds a screen with a lap table. In an ultra-race another key metric for Francois is distance. “I don’t want to have 100 things [on my watch screen], I just want to have some important metrics.” In ultra races duration, distance and ascent are key metrics for Francois. Despite being first and foremost a runner, Francois also rides bikes and skis. In cycling, especially on the road, he also wants to see his speed and average speed. When planning a sport mode for ski touring Francois highlights the importance of navigation: He includes a screen with the breadcrumb trail in his ski touring sport mode and usually plans an actual route. These add safety especially in poor weather and in white-out conditions.   LEARN HOW TO CREATE CUSTOM SPORT MODES WITH SUUNTO APP With dozens of pre-installed sport modes Suunto multisport watches are ready to go for nearly any activity. However, should you prefer something different you can create more sport modes – and you are not limited to just one per activity type. This is useful if you want to see different metrics during a race, an interval workout and a long run, for example. Learn how to create a sport mode on the iOS version of Suunto app Learn how to create a sport mode on the Android version of Suunto app   GET SUUNTO APP If you don’t use Suunto app yet, you can learn more and download it here. With the app you can customize sport modes and more on Suunto 9, Suunto 3 Fitness and Suunto Spartan watches.   KEEP YOUR SUUNTO WATCH UPDATED For best performance, ensure that you have the latest software installed in your Suunto 9, Suunto 3 Fitness or Suunto Spartan watch: open SuuntoLink on your computer and connect your watch to your computer with its USB cable. SuuntoLink will prompt for an update if one is available.   Images © Damien Rosso / DROZ Photo

What’s the difference between eating healthy and eating right? For athlete, entrepreneur, coach and nutrition expert Dr. Rick Kattouf II this question cuts right to the heart of the debate on nutrition. “There is a huge difference between eating healthy and eating right,” Kattouf says. “There is a huge difference between feeding the body and fuelling the body. I tell people to stop eating healthy, and they freak out.” Rick has designed his own line of nutritional supplements. © Rick Kattouf An example of what Kattouf calls a healthy meal is grilled chicken on a bed of greens, or a bowl of vegetables, beans with a little tofu. While Kattouf agrees these meals are healthy, he says that doesn’t make them right. Eating right is another matter. Kattouf has credentials to back up his perspective on nutrition for athletes: during four years of pre medicine study and four years of studying optometry he learned about human physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry. The three-time age group national duathlon champion and all-round fitness freak has the performance experience to back up his approach, too. “There’s a lot of people out there chasing one diet after the next, and one thing I am is an anti diet guy,” Kattouf says. “I trademarked the acronym for the word diet: disaster imminent every time®. That’s what a diet is. My nutrition principles haven’t changed since I was at college. And now I’m 47. Reason being is that human physiology is human physiology.” Rick Kattouf’s unchanging principles of nutrition Photo by Danielle Cerullo on Unsplash When Kattouf starts coaching a new athlete he always asks the same three questions: what time of day do they get out of bed, what time of day they work out and what time do they go to bed. Being clear about this is where a proper nutrition plan begins. “But what do most people try to focus on? Calories. It’s not about calories in and calories out. It’s all about three key principles: the proper fuelling frequency, the proper fuelling timing, and the right balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat in every meal and snack.” Photo by Brian Erickson on Unsplash 1. The right ratio Whether it’s a pro athlete, an age group runner or a morbidly obese person he’s coaching, Kattouf sticks to the same basic meal principle; each meal should consist of about 50 to 60 percent carbohydrates, around 15 to 25 percent protein and between 15 to 25 percent fat. “For decades we’ve been living with this concept of a higher protein, lower carb diet,” he says. “The carbs have got the dunce hat on and have been shoved into the corner. But what is the only food that the brain can use as fuel? It’s sugars, glucose, carbs, and when we cut those out we’re going to reduce mental acuity, and not get the results we want.” He says it’s this proper balance of “C-P-F” that plays an important role in stabilising blood sugar, reducing sharp spikes and drops, and helping the body reload. They also help to assist in repairing muscle damage, building muscle, cartilage and bone. These are “macronutrients”, meaning the body needs a large amount of them (and in the right balance) compared to micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. “There are three things we are going to ask ourselves before every meal or snack: what is my carb, what is my protein, what is my fat. If we can answer all three of those we are moving in the right direction,” Kattouf says 2 & 3. Fuelling frequency and timing These two are separate, but closely connected. The proper frequency is about how often to eat throughout the day. For optimal performance Kattouf says every two and a half to three hours upon the first snack at waking. “Fuel your body immediately upon waking, not 30 minutes after, not 60 minutes after, immediately upon waking and then every two to three hours thereafter throughout the day, depending on your goals,” Kattouf says. The proper timing is about fuelling before, during and after a workout. Having a well balanced snack immediately before a workout and one immediately after is a good start. Especially for endurance athletes, fuelling during is equally important. Rick’s quick and easy balanced meal 2/3 cup oats1 slice whole grain bread1 TBSP peanut butter3 egg whites Breakdown: 457 calories52% carbohydrate23% protein25% fat     READ MORE FUELLING THE ENGINE: A COMMONSENSE APPROACH TO NUTRITION FUELLING THE ENGINE: TALKING NUTRITION WITH ULTRA RUNNER LUCY BARTHOLOMEW FUELLING THE ENGINE: TALKING NUTRITION WITH TRIATHLETE MEL HAUSCHILDT FUELLING THE ENGINE: TALKING NUTRITION WITH TRAIL RUNNER EMELIE FORSBERG   Lead photos by rawpixel and Eaters Collective on Unsplash

When Cody Beals became a triathlete cycling was his weakest discipline. At high school, he was a District All Star in cross country, and a good swimmer. But cycling wasn’t his thing. The reverse is now true – cycling is his strongest discipline. And it was a data driven approach to his training that made the difference. For proof, the 28-year-old from Guelph, Ontario won two full distance Ironmans, the first and second of his career. At his first, Ironman Mont Tremblant, he set the bike course and overall course records. “I undertook a deliberate process of figuring out how to get my cycling up to a world class level,” Beals says. “The biggest thing was getting a power meter – it was a huge revelation! I was wasting so much time on the bike just soft pedalling. With a power meter I learned to make every minute of my riding count.” © Welle Media Beals has always been a data freak. He was top of his class at high school, and top of a prestigious physics programme while at university. Back then, he began capturing and analyzing data almost obsessively. “I made my own monster spreadsheet to track every single last aspect of my life,” he says. “My sleep, my mood, my training – everything. That was when I was a self coached athlete. Even though I was making mistakes, a data approach was always something I believed in.” After university, Beals has worked in statistics and data analysis, and is using his mastery of these skills to optimise his training. His coach, David Tilbury-Davis, shares a data based training philosophy, and the two work together on that basis. All Beals’s swim, bike and run training is measured and monitored. “The data tells the most compelling story,” he says. Data analysis has also helped Beals in other ways. Having a Suunto 9 to capture his training runs shows Beals what’s really going on with this runs, not just what he thinks – two very different things. Perceived exertion doesn’t necessarily equate to good performance. “I've learned through data that how you feel about something sometimes bares no relation to how you're actually performing,” Beals explains. “How I'm feeling is another data point, but it's not the most important. In the absence of power, pace or heart rate data you're just left guessing. The coach can provide part of the reality check, the rest of the reality check comes from these devices and the data they collect.” © Welle Media While how he feels about a workout isn’t the most important factor, conversely it is a potentially telling data point. Feeling over the moon isn’t necessarily a good sign, while feeling average isn’t always a bad one. “I like that the Suunto 9 will prompt you for how you're feeling after each workout, he says. “That's something I have started monitoring more closely. What I've learned is that in a lot of my best training blocks, with almost every single workout, I will feel very medium. “People assume if you're crushing it leading up to an Ironman, you're feeling great about every session, or maybe some people would assume you are so tired and fatigued that every session is brutally hard. “The reality is that when I'm putting in my best training blocks, I'm just very stable. Everyday is pretty unremarkable. I'm not putting up epic training sessions. My mood isn't swinging around wildly. It's just day in day out consistency.” This and other insights help Beals and his coach from avoiding overtraining syndrome, which Beals says is too often a badge of honour in the world of triathalon. “It's kind of celebrated when athletes can push themselves to extreme lengths in training, but I will tell you that any moron can overtrain themselves,” Beals says. “The hard part is the deliberate, methodical application of training load and on the flip side recovery to reach your true potential.” Lead image: © Ventum   READ MORE: SLAYING HIS DEMONS: A PRO TRIATHLETE’S JOURNEY TO FINDING BALANCE  

For an increasing number of people today nutrition isn’t only a question of what food we eat, it’s also about where that food has come from and how it’s been produced. When she's not in the mountains, you can find Emelie in her garden or preparing delicious meals. © Matti Bernitz Eating seasonally For Swedish mountain running champion Emelie Forsberg sustainability plays an important role in her decision making around diet. For this reason Forsberg eats seasonally. “In the winter, for example, I try not to buy fruit or anything transported from far away places,” she says. “For me, the seasons are something to go through.” Fall, she says, is a time to begin spending more time indoors, thinking, reading and reflecting, slowing down after the summer. Winter, Forsberg says, is a time for taking care of oneself, resting, and recharging. Spring is a time of awakening, coming out of hibernation, and using more energy. Summer is a time of fun and intensity. Forsberg eats different foods during each season. “I really enjoy eating in the winter,” she says. “For breakfast, I eat porridge with berries on top. I’m living in Scandinavia, and we have many berries and greens, and a lot of herbs. In the winter we eat a lot of potatoes. The best is eating potatoes with olive oil and salt! In summer, we have smoothies, more salads, and colder foods.” Straight from the earth Forsberg is also an avid gardener. Her dream is to become as self sufficient as possible. Leafy greens, beans, potatoes, berries, carrots, you name it, Forsberg is growing it. Gardening, working with the earth, being in harmony with the seasons, is a form of spirituality for Forsberg. She believes the fresher it is the better. © Kilian Jornet Relaxed eating Listening to her body is a big part of how she eats, rather than following meal plans. “I never have a meal plan,” she says. “In the beginning you need to get into a routine, but now I don’t even think about it anymore. You just need to use your imagination. Some people get obsessed about eating healthy. I’m not like that. I’m relaxed in the way I’m eating.” Bean power She is a big fan of beans, and admits to eating them at least once a day. “Even bean cakes and bean cookies,” she laughs. “Like, everything beans – 10 different types of beans, five different types of lentils! When you are vegetarian it’s important to know where you are getting your protein from.” Easy, go-to meals Forsberg stores a lot of food in her freezer, including bean burger patties. If it’s going to be a busy week she’ll make a big meal on Monday and store it to have again later in the week. “I like to have back up meals. “I also make pesto out of everything, any type of green, even the tops of carrots,” she says. “A bit of garlic, olive oil, sun seed flower, nuts and seeds, and I eat it with pasta. I was eating it with bean pasta just now! Salad with carrot and lentil patties Salad (green salad, rocket, carrots, beets, brussels and onion from the garden) Patties: 3 carrots, grated4 dl of red lentils; slightly cooked, can be a bit hard.1/2 an onion2 tbsp spoon of tahinia little parsleychili, salt and black pepperMix it all together and fry, or bake them in the oven! Lead image: Photo by Blair Fraser on Unsplash.

Eating well is essential for athletes. The bigger your goal, the more nutrition has to play a central part of your training plan. Take shortcuts on how you eat, and you’ll eventually pay for it. But the topic of diet, what we should and shouldn’t eat, has become touchy and confusing. There are all sorts of diets out there – paleolithic, vegan, gluten-free, low carb, high carb – each one with advocates claiming their way is the one true way. Matias Anthoni prefers a common sense approach to nutrition. “Nowadays it’s become a big topic, and everyone has his or her own opinion, and it seems hard to find the real truth,” says Matias Anthoni, Suunto’s in-house personal trainer. “It’s become trendy to follow a kind of diet.” Anthoni, 26, has a Bachelor in Sports and Health Promotion, and gives nutritional advice to Suunto employees, as well as personal fitness training. He takes a simple, “nonsectarian” approach to nutrition, rather than buying into the hype of one diet over another. “As long as you get the nutrients it doesn’t really matter what diet you follow,” he says. “You can teach your body to thrive on different diets. The body is quite adaptable. But we do need certain basics. The question I always ask is, would my grandma recognize it as food?” Here are Anthoni’s five down-to-earth tips for good nutrition: 1. Start with your meal rhythm This is the first topic Anthoni’s raises with his clients during a consultation. Just improving how often you eat can improve what you eat. Many of his clients skip meals or have long breaks between meals; this results in blood sugar levels dropping, then tiredness, and then cravings and impulses for unhealthy snacks.“With a more steady meal rhythm you avoid big spikes in the blood levels, make better decisions, and are less likely to just reach for a chocolate bar,” he says. Meals should be about three hours apart, and consist of a good breakfast, lunch and dinner, with smaller, healthy snacks in between. “It leads to healthier choices and you’ll have more energy,” Anthoni says. 2. Plan ahead “You can’t be a top athlete if you are eating poorly; it’s not just about training, it’s about eating as well,” Anthoni says. “It really helps if you plan your meals like you plan your training. Know what you are going to buy and know what you are going to make. When you come home from work, or after a training session, it’s all ready to go.” 3. Follow the Nordic plate model Anthoni says in Finland there’s a traditional “plate model” or a way to divide your plate into three sections: one half should be salad and vegetables, one quarter should be carbohydrates, and one quarter protein. This balanced plate ensures you will get enough of all the key nutrients. 4. Eat quality food Quality can seem like a vague notion, so Anthoni recommends a common sense approach here, too. “Have a look at your plate – are there all the colours – red, green, yellow?” he asks. “Are you eating the same thing every day?” Anthoni suggests finding and following basic nutrition guidelines. “They provide a good start, and then make small changes to fit yourself from there,” he says. 5. There’s no one size fits all diet Deciding what to eat depends on your goals. “The more you move the more you need,” Anthoni says. “If your goal is building muscle mass, then you need more protein. If you are an endurance athlete, eating enough carbohydrates becomes more important. There is no one size fits all, no one plan can fit everyone. You need to have your own plan.” Lead image: Photo by Roosa Kulju on Unsplash. READ MORE Fuelling the engine: talking nutrition with ultra runner Lucy Bartholomew Fuelling the engine: talking nutrition with triathlete Mel Hauschildt