In previous blogs I’ve discussed various mental skills training techniques. Let’s step back for a moment and look at why you might benefit from building mental skills into your training and what it can do for you as a rider on race day. I’ll also look at what can be one of the most debilitating aspects of athlete psychology – negative thoughts – and how to deal with them.
© Bob MacGregor
Why Bother with Mental Skills Training?
Naturally, we place a lot of time and effort on physical training. Professional athletes in particular spend hours training for their specific sport. For cyclists that means hours of saddle time, some extremely high intensity training sessions that are both physically and mentally demanding, as well as relevant off the bike training, such as weight lifting. But when it comes to racing that can only get you so far. So what can take you that extra mile? That’s where the mind really comes into play.
The aim of mental skills training is to help you to be mentally at your best under the pressure of competitive performance. Practicing mental skills during your training can help you to exert some control over your mental processes at key times, such as training, preparing and, crucially, when competing.
It is important to recognise that your state of mind in these situations is not fixed, but open to change, modification and improvement. This is essentially what mental skills training is about; recognising and challenging what’s going on in your mind and then changing, modifying and improving our state of mind.
Mental Skills Training for Race Day
Competition naturally places the mind and body under stress and we all react to that differently. How you respond to this pressure depends upon how well you understand this process and how quickly and efficiently you can develop an appropriate mental response, rather than an unhealthy or negative response.
Healthy approaches to mental preparation involve seeing competition as a challenge rather than a threat. If the mind and body are in a threat state you will not be best prepared for the event. If instead, the race is framed as a challenge to overcome, you’re already looking at it in a more positive way.
Recognise that it is not the race that creates pressure, it is our perception of it. We often build things up in our minds ahead of time – that race circuit is hard, the competition is really steep, I’m not fit enough.
Think about how you have approached races in the past. Is there anything you think you did well and anything you could have done better? Write those down. For anything you could have done better, state what you will do next time to improve the situation.
Mental skills training is about developing your own resources to manage pressure. Having a log that you can refer back to is a good starting point.
Creating a good race day warm up routine is absolutely critical, both from a physical and mental perspective. Part of the key to it is the word routine. Establish a set schedule that you work to and a mental tick list of tasks to complete, to get yourself in the zone mentally and physically. It will help you get the start line in the best possible state and focused on the race in hand.
Dealing with Negative Thoughts
We spend a great deal of time “in our head”, doing what we usually call “thinking”, most often about the past or future, but rarely about the present.
This can cause problems in relation to competition. As I’ve said, ideally competition should be perceived as a challenge rather than a threat, but we are always at risk of negative thinking when we place ourselves under stress. When facing either a hard training session or section of a race, inevitably thoughts like “can I do this”, “it seems really difficult” or “what is my coach going to say if I don’t do this session?” can pop into our head. Remember we are wired to avoid pain and discomfort, so naturally we will tend to respond by looking for an escape route, which is why the negative and self-doubting thoughts creep in.
It is really important to recognise these negative thoughts for what they are – just our body’s attempt to avoid discomfort, and not ideas to be taken seriously. The mind is a great limiter of extreme physical activity (as mentioned when discussing Marcora in previous blogs) and in reality we can usually go harder, further or faster physically.
So if negative thoughts intrude, notice them, acknowledge them and let them go without paying attention to them. Try to stay “in the moment” and focus on your immediate environment instead. Check in on how your body is feeling, what is happening in the race or session etc. Practise these techniques on training rides so it becomes second nature. Letting negative thoughts go without letting them affect you takes practice, so start today!
