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For those of you who are new to the list, I write a monthly update to my athletes about a variety of things that come to me on my long rides. On my long ride today, it came to me that I should expand the circulation. So, circulation is wider this month. If you want to be removed from the list then just drop me a line. Likewise, if you have a buddy that might benefit from these thoughts, feel free to forward the message or drop me a line and I will add them to the list. There has been a backlog of things in my head, so this edition will be a little longer than usual. There are a lot of different theories on training. This is just a summary of a few things that work for me. Take what you want and leave the rest... My closing thought relates to Ironman Malaysia. Hats off to Bryan Rhodes for his first Ironman Victory. Having met Bryan a few times the thing that immediately struck me is his powerful sense of self-belief. No one in New Zealand believed that he had a chance against Lothar. However, Bryan has always believed and has been working very hard for years. While others doubted, he believed.
So that's it for another month. As a good buddy of mine likes to say.... |
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A. Thought Patterns - We are what we think.
Something that I have found over the last two years is that more and more, my life tends to follow exactly what I am thinking. This is particularly true in respect to positive areas of my life. As I have focused on reinforcing happy and positive thoughts in my head, my life has become more and more satisfying. I think this is directly relevant to sports. Here are a few examples: Swimming - By believing that we are good swimmers and focusing on the strong areas of our strokes, we reinforce the strengths in our overall strokes. This makes swimming more fun and relaxing. Recovery - My recovery has increased as my thoughts have become more positive. The faster we recover, the quicker we can do more training. I was out for a long brick today, 72 hours after completing a 1/2 IM. After the race, my buddy who finished third actually found my post-race joy a little off putting and asked me if I am ever not happy. I replied, what's to be sad about? The sun is shining and we are racing. Racing - There are times in all races when we will face negative thoughts. By practicing positive thinking at all times, it is easier to "bounce" these thoughts when they arrive. I try to think positive thoughts about all things and all times. It requires effort but I am making progress. Overall - Pacing, HRs and cadences are all tools towards improvement. However, the fastest way to improvement is to experience the joy in every session. Try not to let the quantitative impact the qualitative. Breaking the power of negative thoughts can be tough. Here is what works for me. When I have a negative thought, I accept it, acknowledge it and then "let it go". In my mind, I literally say, "let it go". I don't give myself a bad time for its appearance. I just release it and think about something positive. B. Mental Preparation for Racing I am at the far end of the scale on this one. I will be writing a article on this. This is a rough draft of my article. Goals - For every race I set a series of goals. Some are time based and others are quality based. All my goals are reasonable and achievable. Some are tough to achieve but I know that they are all do-able on a good day. I think this is very important because there is no point in choosing goals that are too distant. When you are in the unknown (for example - your first attempt at any distance), I think it is best to keep your time goals to yourself. Key Words - As the race approaches, certain key words always come to me. I invoke these words during training and racing. When I was trying to qualify last year, I used "Kona" a lot in training. In getting ready for IMNZ this year, my words are: Believe, Power, Warrior, Nine, Focus, Execute. These are just my words and you'll need to find your own. I have words for the situations that I may encounter in the race. The words invoke my goals as well as certain feelings that I have had in training. Signs - If you came into my bedroom right now you would see a large poster on my wall with a lot of little sayings on it. You would also see signs on my windows bed, door frame and light switch. This really makes folks smile but works for me. If you believe your goals then (I think) there is no better way to reinforce them than put them somewhere you can see them everyday. So much of IM racing is mental. I figure it is worth at least 15 minutes in every race I do. Visualisation - I like to visualize myself performing well through all aspects of the race. I tend to focus on the areas where I expect to have the most difficulties. For most of us: (a) the swim start; (b) the second half of the bike; and (c) miles 8-22 of the run. For all my A races, I visit the race site in advance so I can have as vivid an image as possible in my mind. When the actual race comes, these areas are easier because I have anticipated the tough spots. BTW, the mental stuff works well outside of sports as well. I have used it in key negotiations (personal and business). Helped keep me calm. C. Relaxation, Tension and Efficiency One of the nice things about training with people is that they will give you feedback on your technique. Some things that I have been working on: Running - Relax face, neck and shoulders. Most of us hold tension in these areas when we run. When I speed up, you can see my shoulders rise as I tense up. I wouldn't have believed it if there wasn't photographic proof. Look at elite runners and you will see that they are very relaxed. Cycling - A few things here and they come out most in climbing and racing. Watching Lance Armstrong climb is a lot of fun as his technique is amazing. The thing that most impresses me is his face. It is totally focused and relaxed. His head and shoulders never move and his bike only moves in one direction - forward. Swimming - I am a long way from cracking this one and have been trying quite a bit to relax certain areas of my stroke. Not much point in telling you my issues as we all have our challenges. For me, I find that swim frequency has really helped me improve. When we release tension, our biomechanics improve and our HR drops. In a race like Ironman, heartbeats are precious. Anything that you can do to lower your HR rate will improve your endurance and therefore your time. D. Recovery, Illness, Injury and Intensity Training with pros is a lot of fun. Strangely, the professional athletes with whom I have been training are mainly teaching me what not to do. For the record, they are all faster than me so the jury is certainly out on this theory... Some of the elites have a tendency to train themselves into deep fatigue, then pain then injury. Very rarely will they back down from training or racing. Most of them live with constant pain (ranging from minor to major). Now maybe that is what it takes to be the best but isn't really the way I plan on training. This is a long way of saying that so long as you are moving forward, stay calm and alert to warning signs. Give a day early and save a week later. Lots of people (like me in 1999) try to take short cuts by rapid increases in volume and intensity. Mostly this leads to injury and burnout. More is not always better. I lowered my volume last summer and experienced huge improvement. We are all going to face challenges over the next 12 months: financial, emotional and/or physical. Most of us will lose training time to these challenges. A couple of points that are worth repeating:
Things are on track and I am looking forward to a great race. I have two goals: (a) a pro slot for Kona; and (b) a time in the low nine hours. Frankly, I am comfortable with any outcome. Training for this race has already given me so much fun that no matter what happens, my journey to New Zealand has been successful. The race is on March 3rd and you might find that my e-mails replies get a little "brief" around that time. Hope that is OK. I know that your thoughts will be with me. I've bought a place down in Christchurch and have my NZ residency permit. I'll be spending the next few Northern Winters here. I really enjoy the pace of New Zealand. Very relaxing, good people and great training. Two main projects at present:
1] Spring Training Camps with Joe in LA
2] Winter Training Camps in Christchurch, New Zealand
There are two questions that I am trying to answer and your ideas are welcome:
All ideas will be gladly received! |
