Here, we have an exclusive interview with Nordic Oil ambassador; Dr Tamsin Lewis, offering professional and sound advice, on performance psychology.

‘How can we train our brain to cope with the physical and mental demands that come with training and racing?’

It is without doubt, that the very best athletes in each sport have an extremely strong mind-set. An athlete’s race performance and outcome is arguably determined not only by their physical performance, but how they succeed due to their mentally toughness. Whilst evidence suggests that your genes and early life adversity can build mental resilience – think overcoming trauma/illness, social adversity – mental toughness can be trained.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Racing is painful for most who race competitively – but how we deal with that pain – what we choose to associate with it – can be the deciding factor on whether we PB or DNF.

Pain is for most, temporary – but it doesn’t ‘feel’ very temporary when you are immersed in the burn, ache, throb of the moment.
Studies show that if we can associate pain with positive imagery/ emotions then it becomes more tolerable and hence performance improves.

Shifting the mindset so that when pain comes we shift to thinking about positive imagery – perhaps the loved ones who have supported you in the months leading into the race. Perhaps it’s recreating the feeling of crossing the line with a PB/Qualification/Beating your rival. Shifting the focusing EXTERNALLY instead of internally (focusing on the pain, its location, intensity, cause). Discomfort is a positive sensation – it will help you achieve your goals. Psychological ‘tricks’ such as externalisation of pain/discomfort must be rehearsed in training. The more we re-enforce imagery/emotion associations the stronger and more reproducible they become.

You’re out on the bike on a cold, wet day.

Hungry, aching muscles, yet you continue to plough on, perhaps faster as the desire to get home intensifies. Times like these strengthen you.

Picture times in training where you have overcome adversity – perhaps turned a session around – where you felt rotten and then came good. When you felt good and surprised yourself with your pace/times/ endurance. Focus on these and the emotions you felt at the time. Adding colour and sound, intensifies the imagery.

REPEAT.

Visualize the results and outcome you are aiming for:

To perform at your peak and optimize the result you are striving for, positive reinforcement through visualization is key.
Bring that finish line to life with colours and sounds – feel the relief, the sense of reward after hard effort, the people that will be proud of you.

Positive mental imagery through the cognitive process; including your planning and perception of the race through each discipline, will provide you with a prepared race structure. This will naturally increase your self- confidence and motor performance.

The key to using psychological strategies is to repeat them whether this is a few times a day, or in a single training session. For instance practicing your sprint starts in a pool session. You won’t just practice this once, but reinforce positive visualization before going into each rep! This reinforces the implementation, and conditions the response so that when it is needed it is automatic.

In a race ‘warm up’ visualize back to a training session or race where you felt strong, confident, happy and inner belief in yourself. Draw on these thought processes and the energy and drive associated at this time to motivate you. Practice this in training and at race pace sessions; to replicate in race conditions.

Stay in the moment

It’s important to note that “moments pass” during a race. Don’t let your mind drift; short term goals within the race and each discipline is important. Positive – goal orientated statements; I can/I have/I will/ technical pointers; keeping body relaxed wit controlled breathing;

A lot of athletes use personal mantras attached to their bike/water bottle/watch to reinforce positive thoughts, try it out! You must learn in training, positive statements that you say to yourself to get through a hard set, or long ride in the rain, use this in race conditions too! The person who often comes out on top, and has the best performance, is the one who can stay in the moment and handle the pressures of racing and those surrounding them.

A study on Australian athletes, demonstrated that when the athletes were using ‘present moment thinking’ by using clear, controlled confidence cues, as a result, they performed at their optimal performance state (Anderson et al, 2014). 

Take control

This can come under many sections. Lets separate it into swim, bike, run and nutrition.

Swim: This is where your mind can start going into over- drive. Standing next to your competitors. Looking out into the sea, lake or loch where the journey of the race will begin. How do you deal with the pre-race nerves, the dreaded mass swim start? This can all be practiced in training, or the ‘minor’ races. Learning how to deal with nerves and staying cool under pressure. Practicing breathing in a calm manor, it helps count your strokes in a race start, try counting to 20 a few times, then before you know it your 500m into a the race!

Bike: Firstly, as soon as you exit the swim, the wetsuit will be coming off in transition. Make sure you practice this in training, whether this is at your local pool, or in your back garden. It sounds simple, but getting a wetsuit off-under pressure with athletes around you, can take up valuable seconds and even minutes! Make sure you are confident with conditions that you might face within the bike section. Whether this is riding in strong winds and rain, dealing with a puncture in the race or practicing the non-drafting rule.

Run: We all know the ‘jelly leg’ feeling right? Like your legs aren’t actually attached to your body, and feeling slightly out of control? Science has provided data, that actually, fatigue can all be within the mindset. There is a theory however, that in fatigue during endurance events, not a product of bodily shutdown, but of the brain.

The traditional model of fatigue focused idea that the muscles in the legs and arms begin to fail due to lack of oxygen, glycogen or electrolytes and so we therefore slow down as a result. However, Tim Noakes, professor of

exercise and sports science at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, has credited a pioneering new model of fatigue, referred to as the Central Governor Model (CGM). This model suggests that physical exertion is controlled by the brain and not by the peripheral muscles. When the brain senses that reserves are getting low, it begins to shut down muscle fibre recruitment in order to protect the heart from damage done by a lack of oxygen around the body. Therefore its not parts of your body giving way beneath you, but it is actually your brain telling your muscles to take it easy to avoid a potential physical catastrophe. However, there is always an “emergency reserve” maintained in the muscles.

Some people can push their central governor’s further than others. Call it being ‘nails’, call it ‘insane’. It is a form of self-harm at the end of the day and some of us like to self-preserve more than others.

Remember the intensity/duration to which one is willing hurt is often dictated by the motivation to perform at that given time.

I am always reminded after a race how quickly the pain goes away – despite me being highly uncomfortable at times. Focus forward.
We can pick up the pieces afterwards

Remember that time when you thought you couldn’t keep going any longer – but did?

Training in adverse conditions shifts the central governor and what it will ‘allow’ your body to do.

Nutrition: This must be practiced in training, but what people often forget, is that this must be practice at race pace. Your body copes differently to taking in nutrition in race conditions and at pace and taking in nutrition.

Ways to help take control in the four areas above are these simple processes:

1. Form: It’s hard to run properly when your legs feel like lead, but thinking about form cues will increase efficiency and help recruit the strongest muscles for the job

2. Fuel and fluid: It seems obvious, but ensure you take on fluids and fuel to support your racing and training. Practicing your nutrition at race pace can help ensure your body knows how to deal with taking in fuel in race conditions. Fuelling at each aid station can effectively save your race! The brain runs on glycogen, so motivation requires a steady stream of quick sugar

3. Chunking the race: Sometimes it’s as simple as counting steps, or reaching the next lamppost. Chunking a section within the race will allow you to get through each stage. Sometimes counting to a 100 in a race is a challenge, and can help take your mind off fatigue in the muscles

4.Think about why you are racing: It’s important to reiterate through the race, why you signed up in the first place. Whether that is for a charity, personal achievement or qualification for the World Championships. Keeping these cues at the back of your mind drives you that little bit more towards the finish line.

 Summary:

Winners build success on failure and learn from their mistakes, in both training and racing. This makes you as an athlete stronger, but allows you to learn to bounce back better, when facing adversity and tough times during a race.

Goal setting is vital to keep you focused through training and small goals to aim towards in the race.
Ideally goal setting should start at the beginning of your winter period, and build through, adapt and change accordingly with guidance from others such as a coach, ensuring your goals are realistic. Not only this, goals must be set through out each stage of the race, without just looking at the race as a whole. But breaking it down into sections and trusting the process.

Performance psychology is ultimately about the elimination of doubt. BELIEF.
If you don’t believe in the outcome, goal, aims and targets, you are almost certain that you will not achieve this.

Envisage the perfect performance, draw on positive previous experiences and discard the negative.

The final note to take away is that every athlete is an individual; you need to find what works for you, practice this in training, and use it in racing.

Ask yourself – What Motivates You?

Why do you do the sport? Draw on this in tough times.

To make sure you get to the start line in optimal psychological and physiological shape, Tamsin set up www.CuroSeven.com and now works with a team designed to optimise.

Follow her on Twitter @Sportiedoc.

Nordic Oil is proud to support Dr Tamsin Lewis, for more information on Omega 3 and Vitamin D products visit http://www.nordicoil.co.uk. Follow the team on twitter for news and offers.

FILED UNDER: Training TAGS: improve / Ironman / performance psychology / Tamsin-Lewis / Triathlon