From the Editor (10.1.2011)  Some of you may begin hearing about Dave Scott and Mark Allen’s concerns over the upcoming release of Matt Fitzgerald’s depiction of  (“IronWar”, VeloPress, 2011).  They feel strongly enough about the piece to sue the author and VeloPress for defamation of character and state flat out that there are erroneous stories and misrepresentations galore in the text.  They both reaffirm their non-participation in the project, and state that Fitzgerald’s sensationalism takes stylistic license and is fiction, at best.  Long before this story, Podium recorded this Podcast with Dave Scott back in 2007.  Its worth a replay on its own merit, but in light of these revelations regarding Fitzgerald’s depiction its worth listening to again.  How cool would it be to hear the story from Mark Allen’s point of view.  Maybe Mark would like to contribute his interview to make this a matched set?  Mark………?

The beauty of this interview is the incredible depth of  knowledge and experience Dave Scott provides in discussing all manner of mental toughness.  That he and Mark Allen had such an epic race is testament to grit, skill, training, mental focus throughout the 9 hours of the most rigorous physical challenge one can imagine.  This interview is a must read for any IronMan competitor or for that matter ANY endurance athlete wanting to know about the techniques they used, the focus they were able to muster, the attitudes by which they raced, as well as the respect and appreciation for being able to compete at such a level.

Thanks Dave – Come on, Mark….we’d love to hear from you as well. 

Check out their Websites:  Dave Scott, Inc.com and Mark Allen Online.com

Scroll down to read the text or Click Here to listen to the PODCAST OF: 

THE DAVE SCOTT INTERVIEW PART 1

THE DAVE SCOTT INTERVIEW PART 2

THE DAVE SCOTT INTERVIEW PART 3e

Stay tuned after the printing of the interview to see the Ben Van James Channel’s YouTube Video of the entire race, complete with all the side stories and amazing features of arguably the most interesting endurance event in the world.

Who is Dave Scott?

Dave Scott is the most recognized athlete and coach in the sport of triathlon. He is a six-time Ironman World Champion and the first inductee into the Ironman Hall of Fame.
Dave’s career in triathlon began with the inception of the sport in 1976. He won his first Hawaii Ironman in 1980 and went on to win again in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986 and 1987. In 1993, he was honored for his accomplishments in the sport and became the first inductee into the Ironman Hall of Fame. To celebrate, Dave came out of retirement and at the age of forty, after a five year absence from competition, decided to race again. In a stunning and memorable performance, beating out an impressive field of professional athletes – many of whom were in their twenties – Dave placed second overall. This incredible physical and mental feat earned Dave a new nickname among the triathlon community and he has since been known as “The Man”.
In terms of a personal philosophy, Dave believes that coaching people is more about being a teacher than a coach. Dave combines years of wisdom, wit and creativity to his passion for helping others. After thirty years in the sport, he continues to maintain world-wide appeal as fitness and nutrition consultant, product marketing consultant and nationally recognized speaker. He also organizes or is the main keynote for many fitness camps, clinics and races held throughout the year, forging relationships with many people along the way. Dave is based in Boulder, Colorado and greatly enjoys spending time with his three children and maintaining a healthy and physically fit lifestyle.

Podium – How did you make the transition from being a major competitor to coaching?

Dave Scott – It wasn’t a transition in any definitive way. I always had a synergy between my competing, teaching and coaching and there was always an overlap even when I was racing in my prime. I started out as a coach.

I actually started coaching swimming before I was a triathlete. I coached all through that period both as an amateur and after I turned pro. There was a two or three year hiatus where I was just focusing on athletics, when I realized how much I really enjoyed teaching. That teaching element came back to me. Also, I was fearful I wasn’t going to last in a sport that wasn’t recognized in the top 3 or 4 of this country and I worried how I was going to make an income. My dad was from academia, was a professor, and I thought I should probably have something steady and a paycheck that comes in every month. My coaching work was driven first by passion. I really enjoyed teaching as much as I did racing, even though the thrill of working with athletes is different than the individual thrill of competing at a world class level.

Podium – Interesting point. In retrospect, when you consider your life as a coach, as an athlete, as a parent, in any venue….what has been your biggest thrill in sport?

Dave Scott – I always enjoyed the game of getting fit and getting prepared, not just the physical part of it but I liked the parallel and the harmony between your mind and body and getting ready. Knowing that when you’re going to step into a race, there wasn’t a question of “Oh, I hope I do well”…It wasn’t a degree of arrogance, either …but rather, it was always more a vote of confidence…I know I’m going to do well in this race, Ironman, I just don’t know how well I am going to do?” I had a certain standard at that baseline level, but I always had one or two steps slightly higher than that I tried to reach. Each race had its own nuances, the competition was different, the training was different, my life circumstances might have been different going into the preparation for that race. But I always felt that when I went into that race I could say, “Okay, I’m going to have a good race…here we go!”

Podium – You’re talking about the definition of your goals. Give us an example of 2 or 3 goals that would be characteristic of you in an event.

Dave Scott – People always think that you’ve got to have a goal and its such and such. I think there is a real definition in my mind between your objective and a goal. I look at an objective as more seasonal or longer term…and then I have separate goals that are pretty short term. Quite often they are only two or three weeks out – because they’re tangible.

With athletes I say, “Listen, its December, you’re out of shape, we’re just starting…where do we want to be in two weeks?” I do this because day one of a training period looks a lot different than day 14. Psychologically you feel a lot differently two weeks out. At first, you are thinking, “I don’t know if I can do this.” There is a lot of self-doubt…but you finally get through it…it’s painful. The second day you’re sore…you realize you’ve got muscles…the third day you feel a little bit better…the fourth day you feel a little like an athlete…and by the fifth day you’ve really turned the corner.

Getting closer to competition, I look at three goals that are all individually determined. They aren’t focused or involve my competition. I never focused my goals on Mark Allen or what I had to do in the swim or the bike compared to Mark Allen. Ultimately, the competition level sometimes dictated that. After many years of racing, in 1989, we had a very very close race. It seemed like we were bouncing off of one another. It was influenced by our competitive natures.

As an example, let’s look at the goals in that particular race. As it turned out, it was the Epic race in our particular sport, that being the Hawaii Ironman World Championships. He was able to win that race by 50 odd seconds…but we were essentially glued together the whole time.

My feeling on the swim in preparation for that race was such that I was swimming better than I ever had, even in college. I was 35 then. So my first goal was to get to a certain level in the swim right from the outset where it was extremely uncomfortable. I never thought of discomfort as pain. People say what’s the pain like? Pain is when you’re out of shape, just as what I described before, or you are injured. The barometer for discomfort is very finite. You can take it up and take it up and it can feel very very hard and then all of the sudden you ratchet it down just a little bit…and you think, “Okay this is manageable.”

It is the ratcheting up of that exertion level to the point where it hurts. I said I was going to go right to that point right from the start, because the second part of my goal was to see if I could drop anyone who wanted to try and stay with me.

I wasn’t the best swimmer. The better swimmers had already broken away from me. But the people I was most concerned with, including Mark Allen, were in the group right behind me. I wanted to tell those athletes that I was willing to go out extraordinarily hard. I was willing to work at a high level of discomfort. If they tried to stay with me I wanted them to know that this was going to be a very painful day for them. My first goal was really about myself, my conditioning and my intention to dictate.

I had much the same mindset on the bike. People asked me how I would pace myself going out on the bike. I would ride the first 20 miles as hard as I ever did an Olympic distance race (a 40k race). I would try to set the precedent. My breathing rate would be really high, and I knew my legs would feel heavy and loaded…I knew I would be producing pretty high levels of lactate. Physiologically I had trained to handle a pretty high load, but I knew after 20 miles I would ratchet it back a bit. I knew I didn’t want to suffer the consequences of being too overzealous in the beginning, 80 miles later.

My second level goal was targeted further out in the race, where I wanted to dictate pace. I wanted other people to be thinking about me, worried about when I was going to go hard. Psychologically, I wanted them to be reactionary to my pace. I wanted to get them out of their game plan. That is the way I always raced. I would identify periods where I felt solid or strong, or during a particularly difficult section of the course, I would decide to go very hard, right now.

As that particularly race developed, there was a shadow behind me pretty much the whole day. That shadow was Mark Allen. Two distinct times I put my goal into play, at 80 miles and then again at 96 miles. I was going to really make his legs hurt on the bike. I felt that even though I didn’t break him, I know it was uncomfortable for both of us.

Podium – These goals are still process oriented even though you are focused on the particulars of a race.

Dave Scott – You know, I look at it like pulses, in exercise. It’s not like a metronome. For example, when people train on the bike, they know the gearing, they know the terrain, they know the ups and downs of that course because they have repeated workouts on the same course so many times. They become comfortable because they know what to expect. But in a in a race all that goes out the window.

You have to be familiar with the course knowing elevation changes and where typically windy conditions may exist on the course. But the race dictates a whole plethora of different challenges. I always felt the easiest way to tackle a race is to break it up into pieces and do what you can do in the moment and not look ahead. I coach my athletes to train themselves physically in workouts to NOT always do what they like.

We all have a tendency to take the easier path. When we train with other people invariably someone will attempt to push the pace because your training is competitive. You have to respond in those situations. But if you can do that and practice that when training by yourself at periods where you feel discomfort, you can perform better in the race. But you must set those little goals to make them tangible.

Podium – How do you address athletes when they just don’t have it that day?

Dave Scott – Sometimes athletes that I coach will tell me “I felt really bad at the start of the bike…my legs were really heavy.” I’ll respond with a question which is usually, “What did you do right?” This takes them aback because they just told me a big negative. They don’t see where I’m going with it, because all they focused on was how bad they felt. So, I will elaborate. I ask them, “How did you correct that, what did your mind tell you to do right then.” I ask them about that to get a sense of their mental programming. Most of the time they will say, “I felt bad and I knew it was going to be a bad day.”

If your programming is like that in a race, a molehill becomes a mountain really fast. The magnitude of that molehill becomes psychologically overwhelming. So I give them a couple of strategies to work on.

I’ll ask them to take a physical inventory of their entire body the next time they get there. I’ll suggest that they stand up, do a physical inventory all the way up and down their body over a very short distance…maybe only a hundred yards from one pole to the next. And I’ll have them just relax, think about breathing, think about flowing, whatever those words are that they’ve used over and over….until they get back in control. It’s important that they do something different. Stretch their Achilles, move from side to side, change posture, tempo, cadence, position on the bike…these are all shifts that when combined with relaxing, breathing and focusing on their flow will restore their control.

Podium – What are the most essential mental conditioning skills you coach your athletes?

Dave Scott – The most important ones involve routines because routines breed confidence. The very first one is to be consistent. Consistency is huge. It helps build the second one which is mental tenacity. Those two go hand in hand. The third one involves dealing with adversity and/or how you turn adversity into a positive.

I go over every type of scenario that could possibly come up with the athletes I work with. I can talk about a 100 different things that could happen before the race that aren’t in their normal regimen of preparation. Things like their goggles break, they couldn’t pump up their bike, they had a flat tire, they walked out of the transition area and security wouldn’t let them back in, all those things that psychologically rattle people and that can set the tone for the race. I’ve seen it too many times that even though an athlete hasn’t even started the race…..they’ve already lost.

Handling adversity during the race can be even more important. During the race you can be too programmed for a certain time or work output. Physically they want to have their breathing a certain way, their stroke rate, tempo, shoulder rotation….but what if somebody bumps you and knocks you out of line and your goggles get skewed. How do you deal with that? You were in a great drafting position but now everyone’s gone and you’re by yourself, or maybe even pulling an entire train of people. That was not your plan, so handling adversity is probably the most difficult skill to instill. Contingency plans must be rehearsed for every imaginable circumstance.

Podium – Talk more about programming.

Dave Scott – It is important to have the highest degree of faith within yourself because that breeds the highest likelihood of success. Otherwise, there is self-doubt. Self-doubt allows all these other things we’ve been talking about to come into play. Because of this, it is pretty easy to know who has the ability to win the top races.

When I go out to Hawaii, I am asked all the time…”Who is going to win?” I usually say there are only 2 or 3 people who know how to win. It is the folks who know how to finish and are consistent in the big races over time that can win. Turning that corner is the key. That requires the highest faith in oneself. Everyone wants to win Ironman Hawaii. No one wins in Hawaii unless they have turned that corner.

Podium – How do you coach people to break through those barriers in their mind?

Dave Scott – We’re way too focused on controlling little things – the focus on splits, we constantly check on our heart rate, on our watch, our power meter, the gearing on our bike, how many ounces of electrolyte replacement drink we’ve taken in, etc. Going back through my entire career I never wore a watch in an Ironman.

I would only focus on what I thought I could do. Some thought that was arrogant, but I felt it was more of a realistic appraisal of what I thought I was capable of. I was focused on my ability and my training and conditioning going into the race. I thought I could do the swim in about 50 minutes while the really fast guys would finish in 48. I felt I could ride close to 25 mph, in roughly 4:35, and maybe run a 6 minute pace (2:37). This kind of thinking was never in relation to anyone else….I was only thinking in terms of what my capabilities were….in perfect conditions. How often do you get perfect conditions? There are never perfect conditions. But I felt those marks were realistic. People wondered how I could gloat like that? I never thought of it like that, I just thought about my capabilities…it was also true that I felt completely responsible for my actions during a race and what I could do. I never looked at it arrogantly…I thought of it as having confidence in my ability and preparation.

Podium – What about nutrition plans and the gut check an athlete needs to keep themselves properly focused?

Dave Scott – These things have changed over the years and the nutrition plan is very important. You can plan really well, but that is never a substitute for listening to your body. Hydration is more variable than caloric intake, but with everything considered we can plan to a high degree of accuracy what they are likely to need. That’s all part of confidence building….knowing they are prepared. Marking their water bottles, preparing gel packs, etc. is a real key for confidence.

The problem is that athletes often lose that intuitive feeling on hydration. What overrides the thirst mechanism is all the other stimuli you experience during the competition. If you actually listened to your body…am I loose?…am I focused?…is my energy level going well?…am I carrying the same gear?….am I maintaining the same running pace?…if I noticed I’ve fallen off a little bit…. I will need to drink some at the next aid station coming up. But many athletes lose track of that because their focus becomes too narrow.

When you feel that high level of discomfort inherent in the heat of the battle, you don’t try to run away from it. That discomfort is right there. Denying it is nonsense. Acknowledging it and focusing on what I’m going to do about it is the key. Too narrow a focus takes people away from that conscious awareness.

There are an infinite number of things we do to override the discomfort when we train, but, in a race a lot of times that awareness goes out the window. A finite nutrition plan is important to keeping your wits about you and helping you maintain that pace on your bike. But it needs to be good enough so that you can prolong that output on the run. In triathlon, it’s all about the run. The best athletes are remarkably in tune with themselves.

Podium – Do you do anything with mental imagery, visualization, or relaxation to control arousal level?

Dave Scott – Every athlete is different coming into a race. Most endurance athletes are better off keeping themselves calm and keeping that level of calmness. I ask my athletes to think back to their last really good work out and a time when they really felt in control. I have them make a list of those tangible things they recognized in their swim. I ask them how did you feel? Be really specific. How did your shoulders, arms or triceps feel? How did your lats feel? Describe that in 5 or 6 phrases. Do the same thing on the bike and on the run.

As athletes we’ve got very short retention and recall. If you have a very long or prolonged taper before a race, or if you’ve been sick or traveled, people often feel as if they’ve lost it. I will have them go back to the last few days, maybe the last Sunday…one where they had a strong training session and write down those tangible things they remember. Maybe it was that ride around Carter Lake, or on your home course, or your last race. What were the tangible things you remember from that? How did you feel on that? Remember that you felt powerful, and the snap you felt at the bottom of your stroke. These are the things to focus on. I have my athletes write them down.

When people see me when I run they wonder if I’m injured. I’m not injured, its just bad form. It looks dreadful. But in my mind I see myself being really light on my feet with my whole body really relaxed, my arms floating through space, and so quick that as soon as my feet make contact I imagine they are just floating on silky water. The imagery and connotation of easiness over smooth water is one that really felt right to me.

I see myself running like the best and most fluid Kenyans. In reality my form is horrific, but when I run I think that imagery helps my economy of effort because mentally I’m the most relaxed guy out there. I can run hard but remain relaxed. I remind myself of feeling lightness, with quick steps, fluid relaxed arms and torso…and I say those things in my mind over and over.

The number one thing is that I always remind my athletes to watch their breathing. I ask them, “What is your breath doing?” Over and over, focus on breathing, breathing, breathing, because that controls the physical side. Once you get to the point where you feel like your respiration rate gets up really high, then you’re likely to experience that feeling of panic….by then, you’re completely out of control.

I see that more often with the amateur swimmers who become disoriented because they don’t have the comfort of the lane line or the flags in the pool or pace clock. Their orientation is thrown all out of whack. I’ve always found that more skilled swimmers have a calmness or peacefulness in open water. It’s all just water to me. Even though the start is very fast and frenetic, there are feet and clamoring around. That part is all about breathing, breathing, breathing. I’ve watched lots of races where I see swimmers with their head down and they take 4-6 strokes and then take a breath and another 4-6 strokes. They’re hypoxic by the time they get a hundred meters out. Breathing properly is key.

Podium – The calm is huge to you isn’t it?

Dave Scott – I like to see an athlete that is calm, but ready. That hour before the race is when that element of self-doubt tends to creep in and permeate people. I always tell people to add some levity. Internally. I don’t recommend cajoling your competitors, I think that’s contrived. Also, I think it’s important to do again and again after the gun goes off. You have to have an appreciation of the joy in racing and the funny things that happen out there. I remember in the ’89 race with Mark Allen. The sirens are going off, everybody is yelling and screaming and I see this drunk guy at the end of the bike ride in cut offs and a big beer belly. It was a killer race, and we were running sub 6 minute pace and this drunk guy runs out on to the middle of the coarse with the cops chasing him and right before he’s dragged off… he yells…”Come on you guys, pick it up!” I still laugh about it.

Here is the entire race as courtesy of Ben Van James Channel – thanks Ben.

Ironman Hawaii 1989, Dave Scott v Mark Allen. Part 1

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Ironman World Championships 1989, Dave Scott v Mark Allen. Part 2

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Ironman World Championships 1989, Dave Scott v Mark Allen. Part 3

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Ironman World Championships 1989, Dave Scott v Mark Allen. Part 4

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Ironman World Championships 1989, Dave Scott v Mark Allen. Part 5

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Ironman World Championships 1989, Dave Scott v Mark Allen. Part 6

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Athletes in every sport will from time to time lose focus, become self-conscious, have self-doubts to contend with and worry about things. It happens especially in cycling, which can be grueling on the best of days. Emotions with strong physical components are the worst because they have what’s called an attractor field – an energy field that can be quite intense and can affect the senses such as sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Often the result is a closed thought loop and corresponding mood that can be beyond upsetting, and the resulting anxiety, anger, disappointment, confusion and self-doubt can really hurt a racer’s performance.

“Train your weakness and race your strength.”
Chris Carmichael

These disruptive thought patterns may be transitional or long standing. Some represent concerns that pop-up unexpectedly, serving as an annoying distraction. Others may have assaulted your confidence for several years, and relate to a dreaded experience that got traction in your young mind many years ago. These troublesome cogitations may have nothing to do with racing but nevertheless, they do test your poise. Whether incidental or enduring, they can cause you to lose focus and make mistakes.

Imagine how potent a really disruptive pattern might be. You might say, “I never perform well when it’s windy” or “I always have trouble with this track.” This early in the season, it’s important to be thorough in working with your thought habits and take into account those triggers that have the potential to throw you out of your optimal performance zone.

Good habits in thinking are essential to building confidence, a positive self-expectation and focus. Cycling is extraordinarily challenging because performing well requires you to maintain concentration in the midst of both internal and external stress, as well as changing race conditions. Consider a thirty minute mental conditioning session, 4 times each week as a solid investment in your overall race preparation.

Thought Pattern Interrupt
The thought pattern interrupt (TPI) is a technique first developed by the renowned hypnotherapist, Dr. Milton Erickson, and has been used widely in cognitive-behavioral work and neurolinguistic programming (NLP). The TPI involves a four-step process that is designed to shift the flow and neutralize negative thinking. The four steps are:

1) Recognize and explore the thinking pattern getting in the way.

To do this properly, sit alone and think about your situations containing disruptive thought patterns and the associated feelings. Take enough time with this to examine them in detail, exploring the original experience if possible, but at least the most frequent and common situations that trigger the pattern. Journal this process and explore as much of the attractor field as you can, including all of the physical senses you encounter during the experience.

If you are not sure where to start, think about a competition you didn’t perform well in. We all have at least one in which we feel we psyched ourselves out. Consider what disruptive thought pattern or race condition you hold responsible for interfering with your focus. Anything that has the ability to take you out of a good mindset for performing is fair game. Windy conditions, heat, arriving late to the event, even an unwanted bib number can do it. The best racers perform well in all kinds of conditions. Their ability to neutralize a disruptive train of thought in favor of cool concentration on the task at hand can make a huge difference, not just in how much you enjoy the competition but in how well you perform.

2) After reviewing these situations, consider what you would like to have happen instead.

Talk with your coach about the situations you are most likely to experience again in upcoming competitions. Explore them until you are clear about how you want to deal with them. Discuss ideas for alternative responses you might want to employ.

There are some strategies for crafting these alternative responses. For example, Erickson suggested enlarging the possibilities. If riding in wind is a mental challenge, then enlarging the possibilities might include a clear focus on maintaining your form in race conditions that involve wind. Your focus goes to what is “possible” to accomplish, even in conditions you don’t favor.

Another strategy taught by Erickson concentrates on reframing your sensory focus. Once asked how he might confer with someone feeling guilty about a pattern of eating too much, he replied, “I hope you really enjoy lunch today. Enjoy it thoroughly and well. You know, it’s as easy to enjoy a small portion as it is a large portion. In fact, a small portion can be enjoyed even more than a large one. And you really will enjoy it more because you won’t have to feel guilty about that small portion.” In this case, Erickson reframed the thought pattern around food. You might be able to do this for yourself but it requires noteworthy concentration. You must purposely craft your internal dialogue the way you want it to go, and repeat the process until you’ve established an efficient neural pathway.

Don’t hurry. Think about how these alternatives might look and what replacement pattern you will employ for the results you want to achieve. Consider the attractor field and how the replacement will feel different. When you are crafting the script for the alternative, always give yourself a positive self-expectation and include a goal, an encouraging outcome, or perhaps a waking ‘dream’ to visualize your success. A practice session will naturally include the distraction, followed by your systematic and routine shift in focus to the desired concentration goal. Multiple practice sessions will be rewarded by good thinking habits and a positive self-expectation in a variety of conditions.

3) Occasionally, we get surprised by an intrusive thought pattern, one that we haven’t planned for.

In such a case, you can prepare a designed response for the moment the disruption occurs, with the intent to ‘change the channel’ of your thinking.

In these situations, the plan should involve a quick recognition of the problem, a physical gesture to snap you out of it, and a rapid shift in focus. One particular athlete who was accustomed to this experience wore a rubber band around his wrist. When he noticed the intrusion, he’d snap the rubber band on his wrist and repeat an inspiring quote he favored. Then he’d play a specific set of songs from his iPod. (Curiously enough, there’s an Aussie rock band named Pattern Interrupt who has some music that just might do the trick.)

I knew another athlete who would jump up and do a couple of jumping jacks and consciously take a deep breath to shift from an unwanted thought pattern. Of course, he freaked people out now and then but he wasn’t worried about that. He knew he couldn’t control their reactions. He just felt better being able to control his own.

4) For a TPI to be successful, it must be practiced and rehearsed repeatedly.

Consider the number of times you have practiced racing moves and tactics, done sprints, or picked the line going into a turn. You think nothing of practicing the same move repeatedly. Set aside practice sessions several times a week to practice your mental conditioning skills. These practice sessions will reinforce your ability to focus, control stress and maintain concentration when you need it most.

In conclusion, the TPI is but one method for proactively addressing those emotional glitches that can interfere with racing performance. More than that, it can help you enjoy the competition more, and feel better about your overall training program.

About the author:

Dr. Stephen Walker is a licensed healthcare professional who has served as a therapist, health psychologist, athletic & personal performance consultant for the past 31 years in the Rocky Mountain Region. His PhD in Counseling Psychology (1984) from the University of Colorado resulted in the publication of groundbreaking research that brought together the fields of psychology, integrative physiology, biofeedback and human performance in response to stress and recovery. Dr. Walker’s considerable experience in assessment, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, health and sport psychology makes it possible for him to put forward lessons and skill sets likely to be of great benefit in almost any situation.

In the field of sport and performance psychology, Stephen Walker began his work at the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Colorado and for 19 years he worked to develop the use of mental conditioning skill sets with athletes from the CU Golf, Track & Field and Cross Country teams. He has interviewed many of the world’s finest athletes (both professional and Olympic) coaches and sport psychologists over several years culminating in his role as Editor-in-Chief of Podium Sports Journal: The Journal of Mental Conditioning for the Serious Athlete. Dr. Walker is the founder of Sport Performance Associates, a Longmont/Boulder interdisciplinary consulting group that provides counseling assistance, clinical support and performance driven personal coaching services, in addition to seminars and clinics to a wide range of individuals, teams, and business groups.

By Dr. Stephen Walker

by Will Murray

“Sixteen hours is a long time and you can live a lifetime in that span.”

Sister Madonna Buder, finisher of 44 Ironmans, now age 80

 Long-course and Ironman-distance triathlons are very long events, 70.3 and 140.6 miles long, respectively.  And they take a long time to finish.  The world record Ironman time is about eight hours, and the cutoff time is 17 hours.  It’s a long day out for everyone on the race course.  An Ironman starts at 7 A.M. and triathletes are still coming in right up to the last minute—at midnight.  The training time leading up to an Ironman or long course race also really adds up.  Many triathletes dedicate a year of training for an Ironman.  Eight to 17 hours is a long time to race, and a year is a long time to train.

During your training and racing period, you will have many opportunities to cave in.  Caving—giving in to that internal chatter that wants you to stop, or reduce your effort, or shift your focus to something else—is a common experience that all long-distance triathletes face.  You are zipping along in a training ride, and at the 60-mile mark of your ride, you do the math, “Hmmm, 60 down, only 70 more miles to go on this ride.”

Then a voice in your head starts in:

“Gee, we’ve been out here three and a half hours already.  I’m tired.  My legs are starting to feel like lead again.  70 more miles.  That’s four more hours.  Is that a thunderstorm coming?  Hey, I have an idea!  Let’s pack it in for the day and do this workout tomorrow.  Yeah, that’s it.  Besides, you have a bunch of phone calls to return and the emails are really piling up and all that yard work waiting waiting waiting for you.  Good, let’s head for home, whaddya say?”

Does this sound familiar?  It’s that part of you that wants to cave in.

How do you maintain your focus and your resolve during this training and racing time and resist the temptation to cave?

Two practices can help bolster your resolve and maintain your determination to do what you must do.  First, realizing what your event is truly like will help you focus your expectations.  Second, practicing your responses during your training sessions will prepare you for your race day experience.

Step 1.  Know this: Ironman is Hard

There is a reason they don’t call it Donut Man.  Orienting to the magnitude and difficulty of the goal is the first step in gaining a useful perspective to confront the cave.  Julian Morrow writes in an earlier edition of Podium:

“Unattainable aspirations as well as unrealistic self-assessments typically lead to negative self-talk which stirs up feelings of anguish and apathy. Inevitably, these feelings will morph into diminished energy and a “why even try?”attitude. This is why it is wise to incorporate “keepin’ it real”as your omnipresent mantra. It will serve you well as you as you proceed on your journey.”

Know going into your Ironman or long-course journey (training, racing and recovering) is going to be taxing.  Your training and racing will be difficult, and for these distances, difficult is normal.  It is realistic.  It’s what you signed up for, voluntarily.  When you get clear on why you are doing it, you can do the mental reward-return calculus.

Step 2. Reorient to Your Goals

When you registered for the race, at least one part of you had images of great things in your mind’s eye.  Seeing the finish line, the cheering crowds, maybe even your spot on the podium are the kinds of images that make you want to compete in a long triathlon.  Maybe you imagined the accolades of your friends, the amazing shape you will be in, the medal around your neck.  When you recall these images, you can refocus on the “WHY” of it all.

Articulating clear goals in writing is key to keeping your determination through the training and racing journey.  See Julian Morrow’s post for useful guidelines on goal setting: Researched and Tested Guidelines for Goal Setting.

Come race day, another realization common to long-distance traithletes comes in: the cyclical nature of a long race.

Step 3.  Let the Wheel Roll

Professional triathlete Angela Naeth talks about her experience at the Leadman triathlon, a 250 km race, “I learned that it’s very much a mental game.  I had some extreme highs and lows, but they always seemed to come around in a complete circle(Johnson 2011).”

Triathlon legend and Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack describes Ironman-distance triathlons as a big circle that rolls throughout the race.

At the start, you are full of adrenaline and your muscles are packed with glycogen.  You are rested and trained and healthy and have been waiting and working for this moment for months, at least.  You are at the top of the wheel and you feel wonderful.

As the race goes on, the circle at some point will drop a bit.  You don’t feel quite so wonderful.  Maybe you swallowed a bit of water or absorbed a kick to the side in the swim, or your legs are a bit heavy.  You might start to wonder what this all means.  You were hoping to be so fresh, and already this dead-legs feeling is creeping in.

The race goes on more, and now the circle has dropped to the bottom.  You are hungry, you are tired, you are bored and you have niggling pains here and there.  Maybe some of those pains are more than merely niggling.  You wonder who invented triathlon anyway.  Who thought this was a good idea?  Did I think this was a good idea?  I could be having pancakes with butter and syrup somewhere, but instead I’m out here suffering.  What on earth ever got into me?  This is all just crazy.  I must be some kind of idiot.

But then, somehow, the circle rolls again, and it starts coming up.  Maybe you really are feeling a bit better. That stitch in your side, hey, you just noticed it’s gone.  Maybe that last gel just kicked in.  This isn’t so bad after all.  Sure, I’m still in the thick of it, but I did after all sign up for this voluntarily, and I have been training and preparing for a long time.  I don’t feel great, but I am feeling much better, and I like the trend.  This is actually pretty great that I’m here in this event, by golly I’m racing and hey all those spectators are cheering and smiling.

And the circle rolls again and you are back that the top.  You feel great, even though you are working really hard.  Things have come back together.  You can hardly imagine doing anything else.  This is a blast.   You can hardly believe your great good fortune to be able to do this triathlon, to be one of the tiniest of fractions of a percentage of those people in the world who have ever done this.  All your planning and training and preparation and fueling are paying off.  Life is pretty wonderful.

And then the circle rolls again, and maybe you don’t feel so great after all…

If we could call this the Macca Cycle, named after Chris McCormack’s common nickname, it’s a useful concept for long races.  During a half-ironman or full ironman distance race, you may go through one or maybe several cycles.  It helps to realize that this is normal and isn’t a signal that something is going wrong.

You may feel off a bit, and say to yourself, “Oh, this must be one of those parts of the circle.  I know about this.  You feel great, then maybe not so good, then maybe pretty awful, but then it gets better.  This is probably about normal.  After all, I am racing 70 or 140 miles, and it’s okay for a human being to suffer a bit with that kind of effort.”  Or you may feel great, even elated.  And you tell yourself, “Hey, this might be the top of the cycle.  This is great.  I’ll be patient here, stay on my race plan, and not get too giddy about it. And I’ll enjoy it while I’m here.  I am so glad to be doing this.”

Getting Out of the Bottom

“Losers visualize the penalties of failure.  Winners visualize the rewards of success.”  Rob Gilbert

Beyond realizing that the Macca Cycle is a normal part of a long race, you can do some things to get yourself out of the bottom of the circle.  Speed up, slow down, eat something, drink something, walk for a minute or do some other change to break up the pattern.

Also use your mind.  Make big, bright, close-up mental images of the finish line, or the faces of your spouse and your kids and your coach.  Listen to the famous voice of Mike Reilly that’s about to come, announcing your name and saying, “You are an Ironman.”  Recall a really great swim or bike or run workout or race leg from the past, and see what you saw then, feel what you felt then, hear what you heard then.  And keep moving, the incessant forward motion that long triathlons call for.

Bobby McGee, elite running coach and author of the wonderful book Magical Running, talks about concentrating on form.  When things get especially rugged, focus entirely on what you are doing.  For one minute at a time, observe a specific element of your running form:

• the 90 degree bend in your elbow
• peppy cadence
• stacking your shoulders over your hips
• your proper forward lean from your ankles up
• refocusing  your gaze 35 feet out
• relaxing your shoulders and dropping your chest.

Focus exquisitely on your form, on exactly what you are doing right this second. As McGee says, “Concentrating on your form is the purest form of concentration.” 

Podium Reviewed Magical Running in a previous post.

 Smile.

Whatever else you do to get through the bottom of the circle, smile.  This one thing is the easiest to do and begins to change the Physiology of the Bottom.  Smiling actually puts your endocrine system into a different set of activities. Two-time Ironman World Champion Chrissy Wellington is a great example of someone who smiles through the rough parts of the race, and she does pretty well at this sport.  So smile when you least feel like it, and notice how you start to feel better right away.

Stretch the Time at the Top of the Circle.

If the circle of a long race like this has to roll, maybe there is nothing that says you can’t slow it down and pause it near the top.  To stretch your time at the top, where things are pretty fine and fun and wonderful, try these things.

Anchor it. 

Identify in detail, what exactly are you feeling at this moment.  Create an anchor to that feeling by experiencing that feeling and making a small gesture, such as tapping your thumb and index finger together or by associating this feeling with a word or phrase, such as “this is why I do this.”  When you feel the sensation slipping away or to regain it when it’s gone, fire the anchor to get it back.  Anchors are a common NLP technique with a long history (see for example http://www.steveandreas.com/Articles/resource.html)

Give it away.

When you have this really great, top of the circle feeling, imagine that you are spreading it around you to the other competitors.  Pick a shape, such as a rainbow or sphere or the wake of a boat, and imagine spreading the experience of your feeling throughout that shape.  Everyone who enters your sphere will pick up some of that feeling, whether they know if or not.  Grow the shape to whatever size you need, and retract it when appropriate.  Share the feeling to keep more of it.

Smile.

Have you heard this before?  Smile when you feel like it.  Smile when you don’t.  Smile at the aid station volunteers.  Smile at the spectators.  Smile at the traffic control officers.  Pretend you have a mirror in front of your face and smile your prettiest, most heartfelt smile into the mirror.

That’s your race day plan for not caving in to caving in.  But you have a lot going on on race day, too much else to focus on, to think about this.  So “How” do you nurture your immunity to caving so that you have it on race day?  That brings us to the second point: practice.

Step 4.  Practice Your Response

“I don’t think I was a fine game coach. I don’t think I was a great strategy guy. I think I was a good practice coach.” –UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden

Before starting each workout, state your goal and purpose for the workout.  Consider P3 Thinking.  If the workout is about Lactic Threshold training, say that.  “I have some very hard sets in this workout to enhance my abilities at my threshold.” Then make a brief video in your mind’s eye of exactly how you want your workout to happen.  Now you are ready for your training session.

If you incorporate in your training session some race simulations, come race day you will already have a database of accomplishments to draw from.  On one training ride, at the end of 130 miles, I had four repeats of a 1 mile hill ascending between 12 and 16 percent.  These last four repeats had little to do with physical condition, but everything to do with being prepared mentally on race day.  If things got hard, when the circle rolled to the bottom, I could always say, “Heck, this isn’t nearly as hard as those four repeats on Olde Stage Road.  Let’s get going.”  This is like using a mantra, but to be effective mantras have to be grounded in truth.  Your training sessions, properly focused, give you a body of truthful evidence to call out when you need it.

Then you can let the circle roll up, and ride it up like a Ferris wheel, toward the top.

by Stephen Walker, PhD, CC-AASP, USOC Registry of Sport Psychologists

My dentist has a sign in his office that reads, “Just floss the ones you want to keep.” Playing conscious golf involves the same principle. Mental conditioning for good tournament play is not a matter left to happenstance. In fact, many of the key factors that help people enjoy the game more require them to improve the way they manage their minds and hole-by-hole execution on the course.

I’ve known zillions of club players who defeat themselves before they reach the 1st tee, and it is no surprise that competent competitive golfers achieve that distinction for a reason. They understand and practice the precursors for playing conscious golf and their preparation before the round is both strategic and vital to sound play. Here are the pivotal steps for tournament preparation….

A proper warm up before play includes a good stretching routine, a process for relaxing the body, and bringing the mind into the “NOW” moment. Techniques are employed before one even picks up a club. Breathing in a deliberate manner is essential and at least a dozen different techniques exist to help calm or energize the body by choice. Focusing techniques follow with the really competent players starting with the short game employing techniques such as “soft” hands to enhance feel. “Quieting the mind” is a trained technique that requires disciplined self-talk between every shot practiced on the range. Conscious golf specifically employs routines to center oneself, to recover on demand, and effectively maintain the mental toughness to manage distractions, chatter, and our own mistakes….to play our best and enjoy the challenge completely. There is no better method than perfecting the pre-shot routine to maximize consistency and when properly constructed, this routine enables us to set ourselves up to score.

I call this approach “conscious golf” and have found that it is never more valuable than in competition. Competitive golf includes tournament play of all kinds. Match play or stroke play, alternate shot, one-on-one, four-ball, member-guest socials and even slug-fests qualify. Informal competition amongst friends and family where the stakes might be no larger than beers at the 19th hole may be more relaxed, but the one thing that does stand out is that we really want to perform well.

I like to tell the story of Billy Bob, who was practicing 4 footers, and had sunk 25 of them in a row. Just then his “buddy” showed up and bet him $50 bucks that he’d miss the next putt…..which he certainly did miss, costing him 50 clams. He was so upset that he broke his $200 putter. Competition comes in all forms and it’s important that we’re consciously ready for it when the challenge presents itself.

This article is dedicated to those who choose to put themselves on the line, purposely engaging in competition to hone their wits and their skills in performance. The tournament enthusiast may be professional or amateur, is committed to their game, loves to win and hates to lose. There are four aspects of conscious golf that this article is dedicated to, all designed to help you better prepare for tournament golf. They involve preparation (on and off the course), the 80/20 rule for scoring, and finally, course and game management.

Preparation On and Off the Course

Preparation begins when we sign up for a tournament. In almost all cases, we’ve got to pony up an entry fee so there’s more at stake than just pride. Every tournament is a little bit different. Some are city wide and involve play on consecutive days at multiple courses. Others may involve a summer long commitment in match play where a different opponent is faced each week until one is eliminated. The important thing is to understand the mechanics of the tournament, assess the competition as best you can before play begins, and to be familiar with the layout of the course by having scheduled a couple of practice rounds in the weeks preceding tournament. Sometimes tournaments involve teams, with best ball and alternate shot formats. Choosing your partner can be fundamental to the outcome. Make sure you think about the goodness of fit amongst personalities. My favorite choice of a partner involves someone who has a good sense of humor, is positive, has substance, keeps their cool and realizes that perspective is all important when keeping the stress levels manageable.

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about fueling our bodies nutritionally the night before and prior to the beginning of the round. By keeping certain foods in our bag, we can keep our blood sugar and hydration needs met. Fueling ourselves optimally might involve a banana to keep our potassium up and a power bar to keep from bonking on the course. The first symptom of bonking on the golf course is a mind that spaces out, makes a mental mistake and fails us in managing our attitudes or committing to the shot (not second guessing our choice as we stand over the ball).

After a couple of practice rounds, it’s a good thing to have a course yardage book to go by. A good many courses now have GPS yardage and distance guides with graphics, distance marks to and from hazards and recommendations for optimal approaches to scoring. These books are likely to cost about $4-5 but are fabulous tools in preparing for tournament play. Since few of us are scratch golfers, and we’re not shooting for the million dollar prize money in a PGA tour event…..it is important that we take into consideration the best and worst of our game in planning our strategy for playing a tournament. Some holes should be played as a par 5, even though they may be listed as a par 4 for the scratch golfer. Choosing our shots before a round, so as to minimize trouble and maximize our course management is always a good strategy. Mistakes will happen. However, our ability to minimize lost shots and “blow-up” holes often makes the biggest difference in our ability to score. Preparation before the round should focus on the short game the most – putting and chipping – because 60% or more of our score will be comprised of these kinds of shots.

Dedication to P3 Thinking

P3 thinking is an applied sport psychology technique coined by Dr. Robin Vealey. It requires us to be disciplined in our mental preparation before, during and after the round. The first characteristic of P3 thinking is that our mental preparation is purposeful. We have a purpose and an intention as we approach the round, and each shot within the round.

The discipline is never more apparent than the self-control employed in thinking productively. There are two prerequisites to productive thinking: focusing in the “now” moment, and attuning oneself to the “task at hand.” Selective memory comes into play in this circumstance, with the qualifier remaining productive, constructive, useful, centered and focused on execution. Swing thoughts are kept simple. They employ a fixed point concentration on “how” we will execute “this” shot.

Possibility thinking characterizes the third characteristic of the disciplined mind in tournament play. Each shot is shaped in our mind. A clear target or landing area is not only recognized but planned for. This aspect of the game is managed with flexibility and resiliency, and, it depends on how we may be striking the ball that day, weather or course conditions. Possibility thinking, however, NEVER involves anticipating a score or even calculating numbers during the round. The possibilities are channeled into the execution of one shot at a time, period.

The 80/20 Rule for Scoring

The 80/20 Rule for scoring comes into play most often the closer we get to the hole. The first rule is to “do no harm”. Keep the ball in play. Out-of-bounds and lost balls do happen, and can destroy the best of rounds. By playing a par 4 as a personal par 5, we can choose shots that increase our likelihood of staying out of trouble and those that put us in position to score. A difficult tee shot might best be made with a 5 iron instead of driver. The distance may not matter nearly as much as the ability to play for position and even avoid trouble.

Most golfers in tournament play give away shots unwittingly around the putting green, chipping and putting. Target selection and club selection are paramount here. A chip shot over a sand trap, with a short landing area is not a good percentage shot, especially if we chunk it into the bunker. Choosing the play that puts us in position to score is first priority. Oftentimes, that means we avoid the trouble strategically and purposely. The terrain approach and pin position will dictate our shot selection. Having the ability to pitch and run a 5, 6 or 7 iron vs. lofting a wedge may teach us about the speed of the green and allow us to read the green better for the putt that follows. Watching our opponent’s ball (and not our opponent) can let us learn from both their successes and their mistakes and give us valuable information we can use later in the round.

Partner golf (best ball/alternate shot team play) is a particular challenge in both the ability to stay in synch with one another, but also in communicating effectively to maximize the partnership… thereby minimizing lost shots to mistakes. In best ball play, “ham and eggs” is a good thing and refers to how one partner scores optimally while the other is having a less than stellar hole. Teams that effectively communicate shot selection and strategy increase the effectiveness of the partnership. In alternate shot play, it is really important to consider each player’s strengths and weaknesses in course management and to agree on strategy before each hole.

Attitude adjustment is probably the single most important aspect of the 80/20 scoring rule. Choosing an attitude that has a short memory for poorly played shots, and a long memory for successes is hugely beneficial. Letting go of self-criticism, guilt over failing a partner and any thought that intrudes on our ability to “Be Here Now” and sustain the principles of P3 thinking is imperative to play your best.

Course and Game Management

Anyone who plays this game with any degree of consistency will tell you they are not sure who is going to show up on the 1st tee. We have our ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ games and we can’t always tell when we are going to see which. The ‘A’ game, of course, is the one we most want in tournament play. We are “on” and in the “zone”… hitting the ball crisply and putting in such a way that we see the hole like we’d see the Grand Canyon…big. Sometimes we have that ‘A’ game to keep us company in a tournament. However, sometimes we don’t. What then?

Course management goes to our advance preparation and our knowledge of the course itself. Club selection, shot selection, target zones and “personal par” strategy are the hallmark of course management. No matter what game, ‘A’ ‘B’ or ‘C’, on that day we can do our best if we properly manage ourselves and our choices during the round. Looking over the course layout the night before, it would be useful to plan contingencies for each hole….and keep our notes handy during the round itself.

Managing our game means managing our attitudes during play. Keeping our emotions in check, staying in the “Now”, and keeping our wits about us as we approach each hole and select each shot is the key to playing our best tournament golf. After each round, it may be valuable to review the round and chart fairways hit, greens in regulations, up and down opportunities, sand saves, and putts. This realistic assessment of strengths and weaknesses after the round channels our practice sessions and preparation for upcoming competitions. A purposeful, productive and possibility-focused game improvement strategy becomes the norm. Of course, there are many other strategies and tools for maximizing our performance on game day, but none are more important than those we discussed in this article. The methods for successful play in competition pale in comparison to the healthy attitude and joy of the game.

John Updike once said that, “Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golfers become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five.”

Of course, if we don’t play well, the Irish had an answer for us. Did you ever wonder why there are 18 Holes, not 15 or 20? That would be because there are eighteen shots of whiskey in a bottle, and they figured a shot on the tee box of every hole would have them all playing their ‘A’ Game by the time they reached the clubhouse at the end of the day. It’s no wonder most amateur tournaments have no shortage of partying and revelry in between each day of golf.

Happy Scoring.

By Stephen Walker, Ph.D.

Sasha DiGiulian Win’s the 2011 SCS National Championships in Sport Climbing

Photos by Dominik Walker

Editors Note: Goal Setting is commonly referred to as an integral mental skill. However, in our experience there are few coaches and athletes that really know how to do it properly. It is a mental skill that will require months of diligent attention the first time through, but like all skill sets, it becomes more routine with practice. However, this mental skill is designed to be a very conscious one, to be well thought out, and thoroughly reviewed with those whose support is key.

Given the concerns and downside of overtraining/under-recovery and burnout, done properly, goals can help maximize the health and performance of every athlete. Dr. Julian Morrow offers us a well crafted, intelligently written, researched and tested program that is a must for every athlete and coach’s repertoire of skill sets. It addresses and takes into account the most common pitfalls and oversights, and enables one to plan and execute on an elite level, whatever the goal.  Thanks J, SEW

by Dr. Julian Morrow

Suppose that during a moment of earnest introspection, a teachable opportunity so to speak, you decided to create the perfect “you”; not just in terms of your sport but in regard to the big picture, the whole enchilada from the ground up. A sensible place to start might be to list the various roles that comprise your global sense of self, your identity (e.g. grad student, mom, electrical engineer). Next, order them in a hierarchy, placing those that are the most highly valued at the top. Disclaiming any extra-sensory pretense, I can still predict that being a competitive athlete would fall somewhere in the upper tier, otherwise you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now. Competitive athletes are continuously searching for that extra edge which will push them over the top and that is exactly what I believe this article offers.

Implicit within your role hierarchy are an assortment of contributing factors, a composite of your values, perceived competencies and lifestyle preferences. In other words, it portrays a pretty comprehensive snapshot of your existing self-image as well as a futuristic glimpse of how you intend to evolve.

Beginning with the Beginning

Based on my personal experience, I have yet to meet someone who has voluntarily committed themselves to pursue the rigors and demands of sport, on any level, who is satisfied to remain static. I have found that the one pervasive and common feature among this stouthearted group is their eagerness to accept the challenge of striving to improve themselves. Quite often, this is attempted by sifting through the multitude of self-improvement tips floating around and then locking on to those they intuitively believe will help accomplish their mission; those with the potential to nudge them ever-closer to that ephemeral, ever-shifting, concept, the ideal “me”.

Why bother with Self-efficacy?

Ultimately, positive change involves the dialectic of “pushing the envelope” beyond the comfort zone. This, however, can be a dicey undertaking, given that all changes involve a degree of risk. And unless faith and confidence are at hand to neutralize the risk, nothing happens. So, worthy of note, and this is important, if and when you ultimately decide to make the push towards change, indeed push, but gently. Exuberance and eagerness must be continually fortified with little successes and positive feedback. This consideration is especially worth noting early on, that pivotal time when you’re most vulnerable to self-doubts, the nasty flip-side of self-confidence, a.k.a. “self-efficacy”, a more precise but somewhat “jargony” term. Self-efficacy refers specifically to your personal sense of competency in one or more of these areas we are about to explore.

Unattainable aspirations as well as unrealistic self-assessments typically lead to negative self-talk which stirs up feelings of anguish and apathy. Inevitably, these feelings will morph into diminished energy and a “why even try?” attitude. This is why it is wise to incorporate “keepin’ it real” as your omnipresent mantra. It will serve you well as you as you proceed on your journey.

Motor Skills & Techniques
Adaptive vs. Destructive Lifestyle Features
Fitness Level
Mental Toughness

You can begin to chart your course by using the following four interrelated domains as your self-evaluative framework: 1)motor skills and techniques (including the sophistication and breadth of your racing strategies and your ability to read your competition); 2) lifestyle features (nutrition, sleep, drug and alcohol consumption); 3) fitness level (training); and 4)mental toughness (giving special consideration to your ability to access your “game face” and regroup after setbacks). What the consideration of these four domains provides is a totally comprehensive set of the features that must be addressed in order to ultimately make a genuine difference. Take note, your initial evaluations should start out broad and general. As you work the process, continuously attempt to deconstruct each issue into its most fundamental elements. The more specific you are, the better this procedure will work.

Don’t hesitate to ask for assistance here because your coach or personal trainer can help.  The Bottom line: the numbers in your workouts don’t lie – so consider a base-line fitness for competing and work up from there.  In most racing events (triathlon & running) an athlete who is able to perform in competition at a level commensurate with the numbers they put up in training – has had a great outing.

That point behind us, and assuming you’re amenable to accepting suggestions from a highly qualified stranger, we’ll continue. Eschewing any iota of false modesty or equivocation, I implore you to keep paramount in your mind that this is a carefully crafted, road-tested (sorry about the pun) strategy. TRUST IT! Begin by grabbing a plain sheet of paper and pencil. Let’s kick start your pursuit towards excellence.

Determining What Condition is your Condition in?

First, construct four horizontal parallel lines of equal length. Whoosh! These lines have now been magically transformed into continuous scales, each one representing your strengths and weaknesses in terms of the four aforementioned domains. The left end of each line designates your lowest self-evaluations as they relate to the construct while the right end signifies the highest. Now place two dots, A and B on each line. “A” represents your perceived current state of affairs (competence or skill level) and “B” marks the spot where you ultimately believe, given optimal circumstances, you can go.

Beginner                           A                                                                               B             Master

Motor Skills & Techniques

Don”t neglect to consider some realistic parameters such as age, inbred limitations, and competing demands from the other roles in your life. Word up, this is neither the time to be humble nor full of yourself. Now prepare yourself to break down each domain into functional components. Do this by replicating the same procedure of drawing lines and noting where to place your “A’s” and “C’s”.

Using only the “fitness domain” as an example, what you should now have,  is one overall general fitness scale, followed by a series of subscales that you determine to be the most critical elements of the whole. In this instance let’s say, you identify and label three subscales: aerobic fitness, flexibility and upper body strength. Then, complying with your assignment, you fill in the dots.

Poor                              A                                                                                          B   Excellent

Aerobic Fitness

The next step is to observe and examine the gaps between the A’s and B’s individually on each global domain scale as well each subscale. Your underlying concern is directed at creating a workable set of strategies that will ultimately minimize the distance of each distinct gap. In order to accomplish this, try to establish as many insights as possible. These are to be transposed and written down as self-affirming statements. No shortcuts please! Now, to the best of your ability, define and pinpoint specifically, in terms of measurable objectives, what course of action, in terms of specific steps, those behavioral and cognitive changes (automatic, involuntary, random thoughts and self-talk), it will take to satisfy your intentions.

The substance of the message I’m trying to convey is, in order to promote positive movement, more attention should be devoted to your long-neglected weaknesses. Restated, it’s time to stop relying on your strengths to pull you through. “Same-old-same old” is just not the savvy way to initiate growth. Sure, it’s the safe and cozy path but it leads nowhere.

Chris Carmichael (Lance Armstrong’s Coach) said it best:”Train Your Weakness Race Your Strengths”

And oh yeah, if you’re one of the fortunate souls who have coaches or training partners, get them into the mix. Probe their minds for additional ideas and feedback-all the while remembering to interpret their comments and critiques as constructive suggestions rather than “put-downs”.

This is a forewarning, we’re about to enter a slightly rougher stretch of road (again pun, again sorry). What typically makes the conversion from plan to execution difficult is that once you get started, initial improvements are generally negligible to the naked eye. In fact, what sometimes occurs is that, as you shift your emphasis towards the weaker aspects of your repertoire, performance may even take a slight dip. Be prepared for this and remember it’s only temporary. Consequently I offer this little caveat, restrict your modifications to open periods in your racing schedule. Never initiate a novel “tweak” during competition – they just flat out won’t work effectively under high arousal situations like road-races.

Hold off unwrapping these nuggets until they’ve been adequately hammered into the old noggin. Avoid the potential pitfall, the voice of the devil so to speak that might whisper, “noticeable changes aren’t happening, not working, jump ship…woe is me.” Meaningful change, to the level that it feels automatic and natural takes time. I cannot stress this enough. Be patient – ask any coach in any sport, proficiency takes reps, reps, and more reps. For a more thorough explanation of this point, check out Hull’s Drive Theory in almost any reputable intro psych text.

That said, what sorts of tools do I offer to provide the necessary juice to guide us, no, urge us, to sustain a “keep on keepin’ on” mind set? The-plain-and- simple answer is (drum roll please) – goals.

Goals & Goal Setting

Remember Pac Man from back in the day of first generation computer arcade games? There were those little power pills that, when consumed by our pie-shaped little hero, boosted his energy and enabled him to continue scurrying around consuming the dreaded “ghosties”, which in turn, propelled the player to an ever higher score. Goals are like power pills but, in addition, they also serve an additional function, that of a road map. A schema that clearly represents, “you are here” and “here’s where you want to go”. Goals provide direction. They are the AAA of the soul. What’s more is that when you adequately satisfy a goal, you experience a boost in vitality. The notion that goal attainment which is achieved through self-regulatory procedures possesses this powerful quality has been substantiated by reams of scientific research results. Word up, there’s nothing like achieving smaller goals to strengthen your resolve to “keep on keeping on” towards long objectives. Without goals to guide and sustain you, energy soon gets depleted from purposeless floundering.

Researched and Tested – Guidelines for Goal Setting

There is, however, an interesting paradox here which, if ignored, has the potential to trip you up. Whereas the concept of goal setting is so simple, it may lull you into a false state of complacency. Proper execution and mastery involve some basic principles that novices often overlook. Many of these principles have already been alluded to within different contexts, so I offer this primarily as a check list and review.

* Long term Goals are comprised of a series of short term Goals.
Long term goals as well as major domain goals should be arranged into a series of short term goals on a daily basis. I enjoy reserving some time to kick back each day and contemplate tomorrow’s challenges. As I jot down my delineated course of action, I’m aware that my strivings should become progressively riskier along the self-efficacy versus task difficulty matrix. What helps is that I have learned to conceptualize this as a chain of pit stops that provide refreshment and confidence even as the distance between stops gets progressively longer.

* Goals should be written down. Repeat. Goals should be written down.
The act of writing changes the dynamics, “the medium is the message”. Why? First because your attempt to fashion a workable hard copy allows for a slowed down pace and hence, detailed specificity. Second, the permanence of the written word creates a sense of commitment. It’s a lot harder to run and hide from a document saved in your computer than a fleeting thought. Studies conducted in the area of motivation strongly suggest that people who take the time to write down their self-improvement agendas are significantly less likely to blow them off when the going gets tough. Instead, what they’re more likely to do is remain mindful of the next rule.

* Goals should be flexible. Ahem. Goals should be flexible.
Knowing exactly where to dangle the carrot is an art form. Placed too close to your nose and the only feelings you’re likely to express upon attainment are a blase yawn, coupled with a sarcastic finger swirl. Inversely, pie-in-the-sky goals set too far down the pike which, upon further consideration, are considered to be way too ambitious, elicit an equally ineffective consequence. The bottom line – no movement at all. Use the feedback you receive from each attempt and each reevaluation to make appropriate adjustments. Knowing how high to set the bar takes some trial and error based on your objective self-appraisals. This is one instance where either modesty or false bravado will serve you well. Keep fine-tuning until you ultimately hit that sweet spot where the challenges only slightly exceed your sense of competence. This is especially true during the early stages. Once you get into the rhythm of the dance and your self-efficacy becomes more pervasive, you can attempt to stretch out the challenges without risking a drop off in confidence from pulling up a tad short.

* Goal satisfaction should begin easy and get more difficult.
In keeping with that same train of thought and what bears repeating is, goal satisfaction should start easy and get progressively more difficult. A wise rule of thumb is that self-efficacy, your belief that the goal can be met without much strain, should begin with a resounding “slam-dunk”. Once this consideration is assured, you can start attempting the lower percentage shots, the “three pointers”. Go ahead, survey your buddies about the most difficult aspect of any activity, be it a term paper or work-out, and the unanimous consensus will point directly to getting started. Once you prime the pump, your energy surges and things just seem to get easier. Try this little experiment on a day when you feel too lethargic or out-of-sorts to train. Establish a very modest goal, say, simply changing into your sweats and plopping your lazy butt onto your bicycle seat. No joke. What typically happens then is, that goal achieved, you effortlessly slip into convincing yourself to proceed with a quick and easy “ride in the park”. What you’ve done is minimize the negativity of fretting and ruminating that usually accompanies your concerns stemming from bailing prematurely from your objectives and, “not getting the job done”. By utilizing this super-minimal effort strategy, you can reframe your inner dialogue, “props to me, since I’ve already surpassed what I set out to do”. Feeling lighter and unburdened, you can now continue to boogy down the road. Before you know it, you’re stepping into a well-deserved shower. This phenomenon is not hard to explain. It’s a result of the way our nervous systems are hard-wired. As a rock proceeds to roll down a hill, its energy is exclusively provided by its own momentum.

* Goals are specific and measurable.
Goals must be specific and measurable. Suppose you decide to improve on a counterproductive aspect of your lifestyle by cutting out simple carbs right before you go to bed. A pattern you’ve established from reviewing the daily entries in your training journal (a previous goal which you’ve selected) is that you typically get uncontrollable sweet tooth yearnings and eventually succumb to a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia at around ten in the evening while you watch the nightly news. Seeking creative solutions to this nutritional dalliance, you attempt a plan of distraction. Having carefully reviewed this article a number of times and following its suggestions to the letter, you correctly formulate a blueprint which translates into immersing yourself in woodworking projects, your fave-rave pastime, from ten to ten forty p.m., in your brand spanking new workshop. By first removing yourself from the place and time where your cravings usually occur (for the uninitiated, some review of involuntary classical conditioning will provide the theoretical rationale of this particular situation), you’ve made a heads up choice. What’s more, if this particular prescription falls short, you can implement plan B, either by modifying the time duration or by attempting another activity altogether (like sex for example, which has a greater capacity to distract) all the while maintaining the understanding that reprogramming your conditioned responses to external stimuli, like time of day, will ultimately spell the difference. Don’t for one second think that I couldn’t continue this discussion ad infinitum by deftly switching my focus to the elimination of negative self-talk or the creation of effective pre-competition routines as my objectives. This should serve as a warning-don’t get me started.

* Goals are process rather than outcome oriented.
And finally, goals should be process rather than outcome oriented. This includes the acknowledgement that goal achievement should be within your control. You have no control over your competition, your coaches, or weather conditions, just yourself. As an example, consider the variability of your competition. The effort and preparation that may pay off with a high standing in one race may not produce bupkus on another day. Same effort. Same prep work. Different competition and surrounding circumstances. For many, this is a sea change in their approach to cycling. Trust in yourself to the extent that when your technique, lifestyle, fitness level and mental preparations have been adequately attended to, the outcome will take care of itself. It’s really the only way to fly.

Photos by Dominik Walker

About the author:

Dr. Julian Morrow, who by the way prefers to be referred to as J (please no Dr. J jokes either) graduated “quite a few years ago” from the University of Wisconsin where he was a member of the wrestling team. “Several years later”, after exploring an unsatisfying succession of totally unrelated careers (while half-heartedly attending graduate school in psychology) an insightful moment occurred that cleared his vision. Committed and focused, he completed his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from New York University despite the disappointment of having to “end run” one last obstacle. He explains this final hurdle by narrating the story of being unable to recruit even one faculty member to join his dissertation committee, “rejections were, one hundred percent in agreement,” his proposal topic was deemed “interesting but frivolous”. He continues, “this event occurred before sport psychology was considered ‘legit’ in the eyes of academia, and my topic of choice had to do with self-concept and athletic performance”. So, being a pragmatist, he “somewhat reluctantly” gave up the ghost, that is, until several years later, when a critical mass of interest and support, “even academia hopped on the bandwagon”, allowed him to return to sport psychology and pursue a variety of “different research objectives and roles” that now encompass this burgeoning specialization. He’s taught (full and part time at various universities), authored (research papers, text chapters, popular magazines), consulted (professional athletes and teams, NCAA, USOC), and continues to enjoy his albeit scaled back, semi-retired, career. What has been J’s most satisfying experience as a sport psychologist? “Thus far, I would say mentoring a wonderful high school student for three years. The relationship culminated with Matt being rewarded for his research efforts by being selected as a finalist in the highly competitive and respected Intel Science Competition”. By the way, the topic that the two explored together – Goal setting, expert feedback and verbal leaping ability.

Dr. J Morrow is a long-time friend of Podium Sports Journal and a member of the Podium Advisory Board – to learn more about Dr. Morrow check out his professional bio.

by Dr. Stephen Walker, CC-AASP

Robin Vealey is one of sport psychology’s best. Her book Coaching for the Inner Edge (2005) is one the field’s most comprehensive works. In it she offers guidance in the use of applied methods and instruction on some of the most valuable techniques available. I give it my highest endorsement and believe it should be part of every coach’s library, regardless of the sport they teach. Whether your focus is on team chemistry or mental conditioning for peak performance, there is depth and substance to please even the most discriminating of practitioners.

One small chapter in this remarkable text involves a skill called P3 thinking. P3 Thinking is a mental training tool that focuses on the uniqueness of our self-talk, internal dialogue or cognitive awareness. It can either be purposeful, productive and positive (P3), or not. The not is likely to be characterized by more random thoughts, reactive in nature and restrictive in both range and usefulness.

It is a fact that successful athletes think differently.

They have belief systems that support their success and they actively work to manage their thought patterns. Every athlete who has conditioned themselves mentally will have readily practiced methods or strategies that support P3 thinking. This article reviews Vealey’s concepts and recommends some exercises she uses to develop your skill at P3 thinking.

Thinking Purposefully

Athletes and coaches who excel know what athletes should be thinking about and when they should be thinking it. Optimal performance does not come when athletes over think their execution. There is a distinct difference between purposeful thinking and random or reactive thoughts.

The flow state (optimal performance zone) is impaired when an athlete is encumbered by random or reactive judgments. There is no guarantee that an athlete will be able to engage the flow state on demand, but the likelihood is greatly enhanced when purposeful thinking patterns are developed and routinely engaged. Nike says “Just do it,” but do you ever wonder why some athletes can’t even describe the optimal performance zone, much less call for it on demand?

Athletes who don’t engage in purposeful thinking are far more likely to let events in the environment dictate how they think and feel. This happens largely because they don’t know what to think about.

Purposeful thinking is disciplined and focuses on such things as skill development, execution, strategy and getting us charged up or psyched for the extreme effort. It often may be designed to relax us, calm us down, focus our concentration, or remind us of our strengths to boost confidence.

The key to purposeful thinking is to clearly identify the focal points for your thinking – the goal, process of execution, the solution to the problem. Done properly and practiced regularly, this type of focus reduces the chance your thinking will gravitate toward what you don’t want.

Thinking Productively

Vealey suggests that the goals of sport psychology are to help athletes and coaches: 1) Achieve optimal performance. 2) Develop to your full potential. 3) Realize the most rewarding experiences in sport.

No one is immune to negative thoughts. The greatest athletes in the world have them. But what makes them different? They realize that they have a choice to make. They can gravitate toward them, or, they can respond in a different manner, and favor more productive thinking.

Thinking productively can only happen when the individual is focused in the “now” moment. Future thinking often contributes to anxiety. Thought patterns focused in the past tend to trigger should’ve, would’ve, could’ve self-talk and can often lead to discouragement. By definition, judgments and feelings that take us away from the “now” moment interfere with our own personal control. Productive thinking is always in the present.

Productive thinking is also task related. The point of concentration is on what we are “doing”, or the job at hand. Personal significance is important too since productive thinking must address things that are important to each individual athlete or team. Consider two athletes warming up. One of them is thinking about their rate of turnover, the “feel” of the optimal stride and the objective of improving upon their previous PR. Are they more likely to succeed than the athlete next to them who is worrying about how good the athlete looks in lane 5 …or maybe the athlete unhappy with their seeding in the event?

Consider this. The difference between the gold medal and fifteenth place in the Olympic 5,000 meters was just 10 seconds. How much of that margin can be attributed to discrete differences in physical or mental conditioning?

Thinking Possibilities

I once attended a workshop conducted by Dr. Jerry Lynch where he asked everyone in the room to stand and stretch with their fingers touching the sky, as best they could. Everyone was stretching, some losing balance, some standing casually with their arms outstretched. Then he asked us to give him just 2 more inches. “Really stretch” he said, and low and behold people found two more inches to give. This is the key to possibility thinking.

Roger Bannister, like many other runners, had to contend with the barrier of the four minute mile. To break that, he probably needed only 2-3 seconds from his previous PR. When weighing the stretch of improving 2-3 seconds vs. breaking the 4 minute mile barrier…which seems more possible?

Possibility thinking begs us to deliberately become more optimistic. Vealey states that, “Optimism is characterized by believing that defeat is a temporary setback, leads people to try harder, work through obstacles, and look for solutions.” Athletes should set possibility goals. They are purposely a stretch but compel us to work toward them.

P3 Thinking Exercises

1) Think carefully about the thoughts and feelings you associate with poor performances that you have had. Do these thoughts relate to the amount of stress you feel, lack of confidence you have? How was your focus in that event? How is it now as you think about it again? (Think Random, Reactive, Restrictive)

2) Now think about a good performance. How were your thoughts and feelings in that situation? Which thought routines do you practice that prepare you to perform well? Which keep you focused and confident? (Think Purposeful, Productive, Possibility)

Antidote: Consider an event or a situation you might anticipate that has the potential to send you into a negative thinking spiral. Write down the specifics of that event and how it might hurt your performance. Do you have an actual memory of such an event?

Replacement Thoughts: In the above situation or using another trigger event, identify the specific event and what replacement thoughts (P3 Thinking) you can employ to take control of that situation. How will this enhance your specific performance in this situation? Do you have an actual memory of doing this? How did it work out?

Robin Vealey has provided an excellent tool to help you develop your mental conditioning program. Consider this anytime you find intrusive thoughts interfering with your performance and use the model to plan ahead, so you have a problem solving remedy at the ready. Remember: These skills become second nature when practiced frequently and employed regularly. Just as in your fitness training, there is no substitute for repetition and practice in developing mental toughness. It could make a difference in your next competition.

Vealey, R.S., Coaching for the Inner Edge

By Dr Stephen Walker PhD

There are many features that make PETTLEP a fully functional aspect of mental conditioning especially for athletes of sports that require fine motor coordination (aka. gymnastics, diving, high jumpers, pole vaulters etc).  However, it should also be known that even endurance athletes can employ methods that reinforce the experience of “going with the flow” in the midst of the grind.

Sports may call for athlete specific applications – and – other sport psychologists are likely to interpret and coach PETTLEP in ways that may showcase certain strengths they have trained to use.  For example, an expert in Ericksonian hypnosis might employ a phrase in scripting metaphors that enhance kinesthetic experience that emotionally touches the athlete, thereby delivering a more potent emphasis.  Lets consider an example:

Yanda is a high jumper who has fallen into a slump.  She had a personal best jump at the end of her sophomore year.  She jumped 5’0″ in a great meet under perfect conditions.  She duplicated that performance twice in her junior year, but has been unable to improve upon it.  Now she is frustrated, unhappy with her performances and hungry for a breakthrough.  Her biggest test of the year was the State Meet.  We began meeting a few weeks out in preparation for that performance.  Up to that time, Yanda had reviewed her techniques with her coach, understood the importance of a pre-jump routine, but was confused about exactly what to do.  This had resulted in sporadic attempts at changing up the routine, a lack of consistency and continued frustration in experiencing performances where she felt she left a lot on the table.

It’s also important to note that when we first met to discuss her situation, Yanda was highly stressed.  This suggested that she was used to turning successes quickly and her jumping fell out of the norm for her.  I encouraged her first to take a broader view of her training…and that we were going to employ a number of skills she would be unfamiliar with, and, that she would need to practice them to develop competence.  Among these skills were some stress reduction techniques, breathing exercises and techniques she could employ at school, at home and in situations where she had no expectations at all.  I provided an overview of the PETTLEP method and recorded a couple of simple audio files (for an Ipod) she could listen to and review at different times – especially down time.

The key, however, involved developing the game plan with her coach.  We got VERY PRECISE with the pre-jump routine using PETTLEP, and we went over it multiple times until she felt both comfortable with the process and could repeat it with precision.  By now you probably realize that her coach’s participation was very helpful, and that Yanda was motivated enough to practice at odd times and employ skills she learned to enjoy.  A certain synergy was developing for her, and she began to become more engaged, fully involved in the creative process, and finally – she began tuning her focus to the “process goals” in improving individual components to her jumping technique – physical sensations in her experience of focusing on the “process”.  She then decided that the methods were worth the experience and that the “outcome goals” would take care of themselves.

This was not a small piece – for she completely embraced her focus in the “NOW” moment.  This was critical because it enabled her to focus on aspects of her sport “only she could control.”  That alone eliminated many distractions for her (both external and internal) that had held her back, limited her focus, and caused  her to be more concerned with her frustrations than the jumping itself.

Employing PETTLEP:

Physical – Most of Yanda’s PETTLEP practice occurred on the track, in her cleats, outside the jump itself.  Even when she was employing techniques in other settings her physical actions included ‘dancing’, springing when she walked, skipping, closing her eyes and jumping to experience the feel of the spring in her legs….anything that reminded her of the feel she wanted to have – “when gathering before the plant” – and – “feeling the spring from her plant to elevating”.  These terms were ones she was familiar with and part of her training.  By making the “sensations” fun, part of everyday life, and something she could do outside of practice.

Environment – Because of Yanda’s sport, she could incorporate images of her jumping anytime she was outside.  She’d feel the wind and measure how she’d adjust to the conditions.  She wore her running shoes all the time – and even though they weren’t her cleats – she could “feel” the sensations, spring, and practice her footwork – inside, outside, in the gym, at home….again the precision to the approach shifts with the height of the bar, and the jumper’s adjustments to their approach, steps, gather and plant are adjusted accordingly.

Task – Yanda’s tasks involved breaking down the component parts of her jump, pre-jump routine, and PETTLEP imagery before every jump.  Her pre-jump routine became a consistent repeat of each of the following: 1) Find your spot   2) Jump up and down – “feel” the spring   3) See your steps, especially the first one – all the way through to the gather & plant (adjusted for the height of the bar)  4)  Feel the run up, feel the steps, feel the gather, the plant, her hips “up” in the leap   5)  Focused quickly on her “Resource Spot” (See Brainspotting)   6) Go

Timing – Yanda practiced with a stop watch to make sure she was able to execute her pre-jump routine & PETTLEP jump – in approximately the same amount of time it would take in a real meet.  These things were measured and discussed with reasonable detail.

Learning – As Yanda became proficient in the process, she began to notice details about her jump that had previously been unavailable to her (remember distractions).  She became more focused on learning from each jump – and in preliminary competitions she made a game of performing efficiently with the fewest number of jumps necessary to win.  This enabled her to concentrate on bettering her PR.  Also, it should be noted that Yanda did the long jump, triple jump, and ran anchor on the 4X100 relay.

Emotions – Yanda even developed an appreciation for the “sensations” of feeling the finish in the pit – enjoying the flop, the pad, the roll, every detail including the emotional release that came with each successful jump.  She began to really appreciate the “JOY” of jumping again.  She knew she was doing the right things – she felt it every time she jumped.

Perspective – Yanda did other things to help with the PETTLEP process.  She began shooting video of practice sessions so she could look at herself from multiple perspectives.  This turned out to be a useful tool in that there were technique flaws she was able to “feel” while she watched….ultimately correcting them.  Her pre-jump routine though, employed PETTLEP from her perspective in approaching the jump.

Yanda was able to perform well in her State Meet breaking her own PR twice in the process, setting a new school record, and improving upon her previous best during the season by a full 4″.  Ironically, when Yanda stepped up to the bar for her last jump – she realized that the bar was taller than she was (not an image we had planned in her visualization process.)  That was the first time she felt a doubt entering her mind during the competition – and one that we will incorporate into her PETTLEP training going forward.

by Brian McCormick, CSCS, MSS

In grade school, everyone talked about the Morrison clan. At that time, they were four brothers (they added a little sister when we moved to high school) grouped between six grades, and each excelled athletically. Each appeared to be the strongest, fastest child in his grade. Before I knew anything about competitive sports, my dad showed me their names in the box scores from local swimming events in the Sunday paper. Before I realized that soccer was a real sport – it was never on television, and I had never seen it played outside our recreational season – they played on a “competitive team.”

Three played Division I soccer, and one was a 1st Team All-American and professional player. They also played high school basketball (at least one was team MVP) and baseball (despite not playing Little League) and probably would have played football if it did not conflict with soccer. Since they were my only grade school friends who excelled in soccer (and swimming for that matter), we figured that they were born as good soccer players or their dad made them into good soccer players somehow.

Every town seems to have a similar family. In Sports Illustrated in February, Gary Smith detailed such a family from Grand Forks, North Dakota: the Lamoureux family. By now, the Lamoureuxes may be famous – the twin daughters, Jocelyne and Monique played for the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team at the Olympics. Their four older brothers are All-American or professional hockey players in their own right.

Smith recounts the typical story of athlete development. The story starts with parental support, as hockey is not a cheap sport to play with all the equipment to buy and team and rink fees to pay. Chauffeuring six children to hockey practice and games can be a full-time job, and none of the children can excel without that type of support to allow the children an opportunity to develop their talents.

Of course, when six children excel to such a degree, other parents get jealous. Rather than celebrate their achievements or learn from their experience, people criticize the parents. As Smith writes:

“There was only one way that many Lamoureuxes could play the game at that level of aggression and skill, some Grand Forkers grumbled: Those children had no choice, they were over-scheduled robots. Why, their father was planning to ship the boys to Russia and the girls to Winnipeg to master the game. He beat them if they didn’t play and work out hard went the wild rumors heard by the kids. He made them do drills and box each other in their basement.”

People said the same thing about the Morrisons. When other people succeed, those who are not as successful create excuses to explain their own lack of success and to knock down the successful. However, these comments show a lack of understanding of the talent development process. While there are some famous examples to the contrary – Pistol Pete Maravich, Jennifer Capriati, Todd Marinovich – pushy parents are not the way to develop talent. Successful people – in sports, school or business – are self-motivated and choose to engage in the activity for their own enjoyment and satisfaction.

Moreover, often the circumstances leading to excellence are lucky or pure happenstance. I do not remember why or how the Morrisons ended up on a swim team when they were so young. As I recall, he may have been the only one in my class with a pool in his backyard when we started first grade, so maybe that had something to do with it or maybe his mother or father was a swimmer (I never asked).

In the case of the Lamoureuxes, one reason for their athletic prowess was purely coincidental. In North Dakota, there are streams called coulees cut from the Ice Age. In 1987, a developer in Grand Forks knocked out a bank and created a 70×200-foot hole and filled it with water. The Lamoureuxes did not notice this on the next cul-de-sac when they moved into the neighborhood. However, as Smith explains:

One freak year the shallow coulee froze in late September, and a few other times at Halloween. But it almost always congealed by mid-November, a month or more before the local rinks opened, allowing the Lamoureuxes—who spent 20 hours a weekend at the coulee and another dozen during the week—to amass thousands more skating hours than their peers.

Recent books like Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers cite and support K. Anders Ericsson’s research into expert performance that has found that one needs 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert. Living around the corner from the coulee, something that occurred completely by chance, provided the young Lamoureuxes a giant advantage, and they made the most of their advantage by playing early and often on the ice.

While The Talent Code and Ericsson’s The Road to Excellence argue for more structured practice, in Developing Sport Expertise, Jean Cote and Jessica Fraser-Thomas argue that deliberate play is as instrumental as structured practice, and this play counts toward the 10,000 hours needed for expert performance. They define deliberate play as “activities such as backyard soccer or street basketball that are regulated by age-adapted rules and are set up and monitored by the children or adults engaged in the activity. These activities are intrinsically motivating, provide immediate gratification and are specifically designed to maximize enjoyment.”

As Smith explains, the Lamoureuxes would engage in deliberate play for hours, all the while sharpening their skating and stick skills, as well as developing their game awareness.

“They’d bundle up in long johns, extra socks, sweatpants, snow pants, sweatshirts, winter jackets, bomber hats, two pairs of gloves and sometimes, at 20 or 30 below, when the prairie winds hurled a mix of snow and dirt that locals called snirt, in wool face masks that made them look like frosted fiends…

“The kids would launch practice shots at Phil, who’d begun goaltending in his diapers…Then they’d play free-for-all, a cacophony of chirps over big saves and takeaways, until someone shouted, “Sticks in the middle!” At that they’d fling their sticks into a heap, one boy wading into the pile with his wool hat pulled over his eyes, blindly grabbing two at a time and tossing one to either side again and again till none remained, divvying up the group into two teams.

“When they raced along the railroad ties girding the embankment on the Howes’ side, they were flying along the boards at the Montreal Forum. It was their Forum, no adult eyes on them, emboldening Phil to call out, “I’m Richter!” and Jacques to yelp, “I’m Messier!” and Pierre-Paul and Mario to turn into Leetch and Lemieux, and all of them to try the wriggles and whirls and between-the-legs sorcery they saw on TV.”

When we explain athletic success, these are the moments that we ignore. These days, everyone has a personal trainer and sports lessons. Around the same time that Smith wrote about the Lamoreuxes, Luke Winn wrote about University of Virginia star basketball player Sylvan Landesberg. Winn asked him about his trainers, as he had a “dribbling coach, a shooting coach, a weightlifting specialist and a boxing instructor,” in addition to his club-team coach and his high school coach. This is the modern-day way to develop a star athlete: surround him with more and more high-priced instructors.

However, regardless of the instructors and coaches, great athletes spring from a love of playing the game – they are not manufactured by specialty coaches.

“The first layer of the heart—that’s what the twins’ coach in high school, Gordie Stafford, would call that deep-down-in-the-tissue love for the game that was being implanted at the coulee. That’s what no organized version of a sport could implant in the chest of a child, what no dynasty dad or minivanning mom could ever arrange. That’s what made the Lamoureuxes lucky.”

Talent development has more to do with playing hockey on a frozen pond in below-freezing weather than working with the right coach. A coach or trainer can augment a player’s development by giving him some technical tools, but without the intrinsic motivation and pure desire to play the game, the technical skills are insufficient. The great athletes develop the “deep-down-in-the-tissue love for the game.”

Brian McCormick, CSCS, MSS, is the founder of the Youth Basketball Coaching Association which provides clinics, training and certifications for youth coaches.  He is the performance director for Train for Hoops and director of coaching for Playmakers Basketball Development League.  He is the author of  the highly acclaimed Cross Over: The New Model of Youth Basketball Development and his newest book, 180 Shooter an innovative system for developing shooters from the free throw line, 2 point and 3 point areas.  A 180 shooter is someone whose cumulative percentages equal 180; generally, to reach 180, the goal is 90% ft, 50% from 2-pt and 40% from 3-pt line.  For more information you can contact him at: (916) 225-8524.

“I’ve always, in the back of my head, wanted to be known as one of the greatest short track speedskaters of all time,” he told The Associated Press on Monday and on Friday, he brought it all home.

by Stephen Walker, PhD, CC-AASP, USOC Registry of Sport Psychologists

“In the end, its the extra effort that separates the winner from second place.   But winning takes a lot more than that, too.  It starts with complete command of the fundamentals.  Then it takes desire, determination, discipline and self-sacrifice.  And finally it takes a great deal of love, fairness and respect for your fellow man. Put all these together, and even if you don’t win, how can you lose? – Jessie Owens

What can you say about Apolo Anton Ohno?  Lets just say he’s more than Dancing with the Stars could have hoped for.

He is America’s most accomplished Winter Olympian – having won 8 Olympic medals in the last three Olympic games.  In Salt Lake City in 2002 – Ohno won his first gold medal in the 1500- meter short track speedskating, moving up after Korea’s hope Kim Dong-Sung was disqualified….and from that point forward he has been prolific, classy, and fun to watch both on and off the ice.  With subsequent medals in the 1000 meter short track, 500 and 5,000-meter relay in Torino, Italy – and – another 3 medals in the 1500, 1000, and 5,000 relay in Vacouver…he has taken America’s productivity in the games to an all-new high.

Whats astounding is that it could have easily been nine medals as Apolo was disqualified in the 500 for ‘causing Canadian Francois Louise Tremblay to fall in the final turn.  Noteworthy discussion followed the fall, but numerous camera angles showed that Tremblay had failed to maintain his edge on the turn as Ohno’s hand gently made contact with the Canadian’s hip.  The resulting DQ cost Ohno another silver medal in a sport well known for its jostling and highly dramatic high speed crashes.

Ohno is no stranger to the use of higher end sport psychology methods and has long practiced visualization.  To get a glimpse into this guy’s amazing drive, check out the video below.   In addition…..

Apolo is a very positive athlete and keeps his focus in the “now” moment – maintaining a positive self-expectation in every race.  This is a practiced method and did not come to him automatically.  Ohno has had a difficult road on his way to stardom.  His mother left when he was in onesies and his dad, a hair stylist in Seattle, took on the role of a single parent.  To say that their evolution was stormy barely begins to capture the dynamic as Apolo was a run away – and barely recovered to discover his life’s purpose and develop his incredible talent.  At one point Yuki emplored his son to a solo visionquest in an isolated cabin by the ocean shore in the midst of winter.  Apolo’s only task – to figure out what kind of life he wanted to live.  A recent interview with Bob Costas during the Olympics revealed just how Apolo and Yuki’s relationship evolved into the dynamic team it is today.

Amongst the other tools Ohno is purported to use includes a very special form of visualization.  He incorporates many of his kinesthetic senses in addition to the sounds and emotions he experiences while racing.  These vary by distance and the particular competitors he is matched up against.  It is quite consistent with many of the methods incorporated in PETTLEP imagery.  Who can argue with this guy’s success?  He sets the bar at such a high level we can all benefit from taking note.  Take a look at how he trains…..

Click here to view the embedded video.

by Dr. Stephen Walker, PhD, CC-AASP, USOC Registry of Sport Psychogists

What do you get when you employ a positive mental attitude, strong self-motivation, well managed goal-setting, effective self-talk, a disciplined visualization of your upcoming performance, competent stress control, determined focus and concentration, and an ongoing dedication to establishing and maintaining productive relationships with both your teammates and your coaches?

You get success.  And when you combine those ingredients with physical skills and a well trained athlete – you get medals….lots of them.  Successful athletes at this years Olympics in Vancouver demonstrated skill and tenacity that was both physical and mental….
….. – and for most – their success was the culmination of years of practice, dedication, and conditioning.

Bode Miller will leave the Olympic Games having accomplished what no other American alpine skier had done.  After a disastrous games in Torino, Italy – Miller refocused himself on his goals, shook a bad attitude, settled down and dedicated himself to perform his best.  His self-talk was relentlessly positive and drew his focus to concentrating only on those factors under his control.

Joannie Rochette, the Canadian figure skater, and Chad Hedrick both overcame personal losses, managed what were clearly strong emotions, and channeled the added inspiration to motivate themselves beyond expectations – achieving medal winning performances.  Julia Mancuso was reminded of her friend, CR Johnson‘s, “love of skiing” to overcome a disappointing GS and comeback strong.  Although she didn’t medal in the event she was the defending Champion in – she was able to let go of a zillion distractions and love skiing just as CR did.  Overall, she performed beautifully – winning two silver medals in the games – and staked her claim as one of America’s premier alpine skiers.

Every athlete sets goals, but sometimes they are focused on outcomes…rather than dedicating themselves to attend to the “process” of the performance.  No one country was more guilty of this than the Russian Hockey team – anticipating Gold from their world cup successes – but not attuning to the fundamentals in play that got them there.  The Soviets underperformed and finished 2-2 as they were eliminated in the preliminary rounds.  Their results as contrasted with the upstart USA and juggernaut Canadian Hockey teams was noteworthy.  Both the USA and Canadian teams have emphasized playing “one period at a time”, maximizing their strengths and training their weaknesses as they finished 1-2 in the medal count.  The Gold Medal game was arguably the best Olympic hockey game of all-time as Canada took the gold with a 3-2 win in overtime.

Positive self-talk coaxed many of these athletes to success even when the odds were against them.  Johnny Spillane and Billy Demong illustrated this better than most as they experienced success both individually and as a team in an event Americans had rarely been close enough to sniff at a medal.  They supported themselves admirably by constantly offering up reminders of their strengths and focusing on “how” they could make up for time differentials lost in ski jumping on the nordic track.  They talked to themselves and each other throughout the competitions, and created a positive momentum that launched them onto the podium.

Visualization techniques were evident in more events than any other as athletes like Lindsey Vonn appeared to be ‘dancing’ with her eyes closed in the que leading up to the starting gate.   But no athlete did a better job than Jeret “Speedy” Peterson as he not only wrote out his goals on paper – but – he incorporated a very focused form of visualization (PETTLEP) in preparing for and landing the “Hurricane” – a here-to-fore never performed aerial in Olympic competition.  Peterson landed the most difficult aerial in the event to claim a Silver Medal.  His focus and concentration proved to be stellar as he took a calculated risk, planned for it consciously, and succeeded.

Controlling stress was at a premium throughout the entire Olympics as speed skaters fell at the start, half-pipe artists “forgot” their routines, and gifted athletes succumbed to the pressure in every venue.  The best conditioned athlete proved to not always be the most successful – as time and time again – emotional and mental control proved to be an essential ingredient in determining who made the Podium.  Congratulations to them all.  Thanks for reminding us of the importance of training the “WHOLE” person.

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