“CRIT”-ical Thinking for Speed Week
If you or someone you know is participating in USA CRITS Speed Week, this newsletter is especially for you.
For those of you who aren’t into criteriums, don’t live in the southeast, or are simply unenlightened, let me explain: Beginning April 26, there will be seven criterium races in seven southeastern cities within nine days. Possibly because “Speed Nine Days” doesn’t sound so catchy, this series of races is called Speed Week.
Doing just one race can be mentally demanding; doing seven races in nine days can be mentally exhausting. To successfully navigate the mental minefield of these nine days a rider must stay focused, keep motivated, and recover quickly. These mental challenges apply not only to events like Speed Week, but also to stage races, racing on consecutive weekends, or transitioning from one stage to the next in a duathlon or triathlon. So, whether you are packing your suitcase for Speed Week or just thinking about how to cope with transitioning from one event to the next, here are a few items to include in your mental toolkit.
Make a Post-Competition Plan
Most athletes have a pre-competition plan that helps them stay focused before a race. They might eat certain foods, stretch in a particular order, use imagery to visualize their ideal performance, or use breathing exercises to regulate their pre-race jitters. Having a structured and detailed plan helps you stay focused on what’s important before a race, and keeps you from getting derailed by things over which you have no control.
To help you move more smoothly from one from race to the next, consider developing a post-competition plan. Think about the things that you normally do after a race that you have found helpful in the past. Perhaps you’ve reviewed the race with a coach or teammates, used imagery to review what you did right and wrong, or kept a journal of your performance. Make a list of all the physical and mental things you find most valuable after a race. Think about what to do and the order in which to do them. Try your plan out after a training ride. Adjust it so it works best for you. Practice the plan until it becomes second nature. By the time you get to Speed Week you can use your post-competition plan to help you review your race, and then put it aside and move onto the next one.
Set the Right Kind of Goals
You probably have a goal about where you want to place in a race. Maybe you want to be in the top ten, finish in the top half of your age group, be a lap leader in one race, or even win the whole enchilada. Where you finish a race compared to others is called an “outcome goal.” Outcome goals are great to keep you motivated in training, but focusing on them during a race can keep you from paying attention to what you need to be doing to perform your best. In a competition, particularly in a series of events that fall close together like they do in Speed Week, it’s important to focus on goals that have to do with what you want to do, regardless of what others are doing. Having goals such as doing a personal best, beating your time from last year, or finishing strong are the kind of goals that can keep you focused on what’s most important during a competition. Pay
attention to your performance, and the outcomes will take care of themselves. For more information about goal-setting, see my January, 2008 newsletter at http://www.TheExtraGear.com and click on the “newsletter archives” link on the newsletter/podcast page.
Keep a Log
Some people like keeping a sport journal, other people hate it. Although it can be time-consuming, keeping a log of your training, including how you felt and the mental skills you used, can give you valuable information to help you become more aware of what it takes to perform at your peak. But even if you hate keeping a journal, making a brief list of your thoughts after each race can really help you close the book on one event before you open the book on your next one. Obtaining this kind of closure will help you focus your energy on what you need to do today, rather than keeping you weighed down by ruminating about what you failed to do yesterday.
Here’s what you do: After each race take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left side, list all the things that you enjoyed about the race and all the things that you believe you did right. Realize that even in your poorest races there are positive things that you can focus on. Even if you came in last, you can reward yourself for having finished and not giving up. On the right side of the paper, list the things you think went badly and how you would like to do them differently in the future. After you do this, tear the paper down the middle and put your negative comments in an envelope. Write “Do not open until May 5, 2008,” (the day after the last race in Speed Week) on the envelope, put it in your suitcase, and forget about what you’ve written for the next week. Keep the list of all your positive things where you can see them every day.
Yes, this may seem somewhat juvenile, but it really works. It’s important for you to learn from your mistakes, but especially when you’re competing in one event after another, it’s critical that you don’t get bogged down by ruminating over them. This technique is a ritual that will give you the opportunity to learn from your mistakes after the racing is over while keeping you focused on what you’ve been doing right so that you can maintain a positive attitude for the rest of the week.
Learn How to Psych Down and Psych Up
If you’re racing every day, it’s imperative that you use your recovery time wisely. Having a recovery drink, taking a cold bath, or getting a massage can all help you recover physically. It’s equally important, however, that you give your mind a break between races. This is especially true for events such as Speed Week, when you may be spending each night in a different hotel in an unfamiliar city. If you can’t shut you mind off, you won’t be able to get a good sleep before the next race.
To help you psych down, begin practicing relaxation techniques now. If you have ever used progressive relaxation, meditation, or other relaxation procedures, take some time now to knock the rust off of these skills so that you can use them effectively when you need them the most. If you have never used relaxation training before, try this out for several nights when you go to sleep:
Lie comfortably in bed with your eyes closed. Take several slow, deep breaths, and as you slowly exhale say the word “relax” to yourself. Release the tension in your body, and clear your mind of everything but your breathing. If you find yourself getting distracted by your thoughts, just let them float in to your mind and float out again. Don’t force it; just let it happen. Having this passive attitude is one of the most important components in relaxation training. As you continue breathing slowly and deeply, take a mental inventory of your body, and pay particular attention to the muscle groups that tend to hold your tension, such as your neck and shoulders. If you enjoy imagery, you might also try imagining a peaceful place in your mind, like the ocean or a mountain meadow. Use all your senses to imagine this scene as vividly as possible, and as you do so, let yourself relax completely.
As the week rolls on, you might find that you have the opposite problem: Your legs feel heavy, you care less about where you finish, and you might even have thoughts of quitting. These are signs that you need psyching up. To increase your energy before a race, try taking several quick, deep breaths. As simple as this seems, rapid breathing activates you nervous system and can help you feel more energized. If you listen to music before a race, consider making a new playlist of fast-paced, motivating music to listen to before those last few races. Also, think of some cue words or phrases that help you get energized. Make these meaningful and personal to you. If saying, “Cowboy up!” makes you feel like a dork, then think of other things you can tell yourself when you need to get psyched up before or during a race. Using imagery can also be very helpful. Imagine yourself racing at full-throttle, picture a rider you admire, or even visualize an animal or machine that can help you increase your intensity. I often imagine a train as I’m chugging up a hard climb, but a picturing a cheetah or Lance may work better for you.
Practice your psyching up routine in training and your psyching down technique each night for a week. Tweak your techniques so that they work best for you, and you will be able to manage your intensity and race at your peak during Speed Week.
Do a “Pre-brief”
Finally, it’s important to use your team as a resource before and after the race. It’s common for a team to debrief after the racing is over, but to stop some problems before they start, try doing a “pre-brief.”
Sit down with your team before you leave for the races, and discuss how you are working together as a team. I’m not suggesting you get all warm and fuzzy, talk about caring and sharing, or end the meeting in a group hug; I’m suggesting that you talk about any issues that might come up during the week that could be a problem. If you have to sleep in a motel with the bathroom fan on, this is the time to bring it up. If you perform better by spending some time alone before a race rather than getting too worked up at the team pep talk, you should make your team aware of this too. If you have any concerns about your role on the team or being ready for a race, let your team know how they could help you out. Deal with this stuff now and you won’t have to deal with it later after something has become a problem.
I know, some of suggestions take time, require practice, and may even sound uncomfortably “touchy feeling.” On the other hand, if you have a good post-competition plan, focus on performance goals, keep a log of your performances, practice energy management skills, and communicate well with your teammates, you can focus on what’s really important – your next race!
If you have a question or a topic you’d like to see covered in a future newsletter, email me at Dana@TheExtraGear.com. I’m also available to do talks or teleconferences to groups of athletes who want to improve their mental skills, so contact me for details if you’re interested.
Until next month, Ride Smart!
