Mental skills for doing hard things
Often, how we approach things can be an indicator of how successful we will be. The old ‘if you can believe it, you can achieve it!’ or ‘if you think you can, or if you think you can’t; you’re probably right!’. Cycling and endurance sport is no exception, and some of the best athletes will tell you that mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness when it comes to performing well.
Here we will go through some mental hacks to have you training and performing at your best.
Set achievable goals
Sounds weird, but mental training can be brought into the processes that occur every day, and are best practiced frequently so you don’t get to a big event and FREAK OUT! Goal setting is one way you can build both your fitness and your confidence in one hit! Goal setting on a micro level may be hitting all your targets in a single workout, at the middle level it may be looking at a consistent week or block of training and at the big picture level may be placing well at a race or levelling up your race grading. By having daily, weekly and longer term goals, you incrementally take small steps to achieve big things. Without some goals, it’s hard to get to the top level of the skyscraper. But if you have built a series of staircases it’s much more achievable! Want more on setting yourself up for success? Check it out here
2. Get the head talk right
There’s a bunch of evidence that talking to yourself can be beneficial, and definitely not necessarily a sign you need some mental health intervention! In fact, most of us have an inner dialogue going on but how we use it can be for good or evil…
Both motivational (you can do it!) and instructional (look ahead, lean into the corner etc) self talk is effective in increasing performance in both gross and fine motor tasks. Next time you are faced with a challenging ride (some Mt Coot-tha repeats? a hard road ride?) try lighting it up with some positive self talk.
some good options include:
-”i love bike riding!”
-“you can do it”
-”everybody is suffering”
-“keep pedalling”
This pic was from a 325km overnight event. Some positive, very simple head talk phrases kept me going!
3. Mentally prepare
Mentally preparing for an event is as important as doing the training, but luckily for you, if you have been doing the training you have already inadvertantly been doing some mental work. Every tough ride you get though puts some mental coins in the money bank to pull out when the going gets tough. Mentally preparing can be doing things like:
-knowing the course and elevation, key climbs and when they will happen
-understanding the pace you need to ride at and what that feels like
-embracing that there will probably be some uncomfortable or challenging times in the event, and not letting that fluster you
-putting together a nutrition plan so your brain keeps happy!
While going into the event wildly optimistic but without a plan can sometimes work out, if you’re thrust into unexpected adversity, you may be less likely to push through those hard times. So get ready for all manner of things to happen, and get ready for some discomfort but understand that’s what makes endurance sport so great; pushing your limits and overcoming adversity, and doing things you didn’t think you were capable of!
4. Perfect is the enemy of good
This is a great quote I like to use with some of my athletes that are high on the self-criticism if they haven’t done exactly the amount of hours or efforts I have set in a week. While yes, we need to have some progressive stimulus to get better, we can get lost in the minutiae and miss the big picture. Success in endurance sport is based upon consistency, so if you miss one session it’s probably ok. If you have a bit of time off because of injury or illness, it’s probably ok.
Everyone out there who is cramming training into busy work, life and family commitments will have to, at some stage, compromise on something. Usually training is the less ‘critical’ part of their life and a session is sometimes missed or modified. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and one session won’t make or break your year.
5. In the moment crisis hacks
Sometimes, whether it be because things have gotten really hard in training or an event, you’re tired, you haven’t fuelled well or you have had some misadventure, things can get all too much. This is the point where people crack and ‘lose it’ and it can be tempting to not continue. But this is the point where champions are made, it’s how we deal with this kind of adversity that separates those who are very successful from those who float on by.
If you’re in this space tip one is to recognise it and hold off on any rash decisions right now. “Wow this is big feeling”. Tip two is to go through a list of what you need to do “Do I need food, water, caffeine, to lower the intensity a bit, or fix my bike”. Tip three is to fix what you can, and for stuff you can’t fix, commit to just five more minutes/one more rep/one more hill/the next feed zone. When you get there, go through the list again and see if you need to do anything else, set the next goal and be on your way.
Your brain is set up to be protective, endurance sport isn’t easy and that’s why so few of us are elite athletes! There is a level of tolerating discomfort and overcoming your brain telling you to ‘stop’ that is required. Remember, all suffering will stop eventually. Maybe it’s after that gel you were very much in need of, or it may be at the end of the race. But this too, will pass.
A national marathon series race in the desert….I had missed a feed and was very dehydrated…almost delirious and my bike had some minor mechanical issues. Breaking the race into tiny segments and self talk on repeat got me to the end retaining the lead. But at this point things were very grim!