By Sean McCann, Ph.D., CC-AASP, USOC Sports Psychologist

1. Mental training can’t replace physical training and talent.
2. Physical training and physical ability isn’t enough to succeed consistently.
3. A strong mind may not win you an Olympic medal, but a weak mind will lose you one.
4. Coaches frequently don’t know what their athletes are thinking.
5. Thoughts impact behavior. Consistency of thinking = consistency of behavior.
6. Coaches often have a different view of changing technical mistakes vs. mental mistakes.
7. Coaches must be involved in the mental training process.
8. Sometimes it is ok to force athletes to take the time to do mental training.
9. Like any other skill, mental skills need to be measured in order to maximize performance of those skills.
10. Coaches need to think about their own mental skills.

Here’s a link to a more in-depth discussion of this top 10.

Practice intensity is the will, commitment, and enthusiasm to practice with a purpose. Most coaches consider it an important characteristic of any successful team. The best players and teams have learned to get the most out of practices. They come to practice with an intense focus that directs them to enthusiastic, determined, goal-driven training. In youth sport very talented players often just ‘get by’ and are not intense in practice. They can cheat themselves for a while, but eventually others that practice with intensity catch up and pass them. ‘Going through the motions’ regularly in practice will stall your progress as an athlete. What you need to do is make practice intensity a habit. This column will explain practice intensity, highlight some possible causes, and help you develop ways of enhancing your practice intensity.

Intensity is not as simple as either you have it or you do not. Intensity must be viewed along a continuum where players can be over- or under-intensified. Thus, an appropriate level of intensity will lead to the best practices…..

Accordingly, sport psychologist Jim Taylor (1993) suggests that there are three important aspects of practice intensity including; (1) an ideal level of intensity is needed to play your best, (2) it is a positive feeling, and (3) the optimal level of practice intensity is different for all players. Let us now examine possible reasons for a lack of practice intensity.

Players that ‘go through the motions’ drive coaches insane. Why would players come to practice lacking intensity when it is obvious that good practices lead to good performances? Usually it is not intended. Instead, athletes that lack practice intensity may not be able to tell you the cause. Fortunately, research has provided some insights into this problem. Under-intensity often is the result of poor preparation, a lack of motivation, and fatigue. Moreover, under-intense players frequently lack goals or a plan for practice. Please reflect back to a practice when you were ‘going through the motions.’ Attempt to determine the reason(s) why you lack practice intensity.

Intensity level recognition is vital to focused practices. I often tell players to “check-in” with themselves right before practices or games to determine their level of intensity. Then we use an intensity meter to rate their level. A rating of 1 means that you are early asleep, and a 10 equals high intensity; maybe so intense that you are not focused on the appropriate things in practice. A log is a great way to track your intensity levels in practice. You can then determine after a couple of weeks what intensity level coincided with your best practices. An important note is that you should track you intensity for at least several weeks, otherwise you may get a “false reading” and not obtain the true optimal level of intensity.

Once you have determined your appropriate level of practice intensity, it is time to use several skills to increase practice intensity. You should think of these skills not just as strategies a player uses to increase intensity during practice, but as a way of consistent practice preparation. As mentioned earlier, players often lack intensity because they are not prepared. Developing a preparation plan before practices that include the following skills will help you eliminate ‘going through the motions.’ First, all good practices are goal-driven. Goals are achievement standards set to direct behavior (i.e., I will learn the forward crossover). Therefore, goals give us a clear purpose for practicing. It is amazing how many players go to practice without a goal. It is like driving a car without knowing the destination. Do not allow practice to be haphazard and lackadaisical. Set goals for improving skills, tactics, and techniques so that you will be on the road of progress every single practice. Chart your goals daily and list whether or not you successfully achieved your goal.

The second skill an athlete should make a habit is using cue words, phrases, and images that refocus behavior. These skills will help you overcome a lack of motivation or fatigue. For instance, when you are lacking practice intensity you should use an invigorating cue or effort phrase of “come on, let’s get intense” to increase intensity. Or, use an image of a time when you were playing great, practicing hard, or had great intensity. Finally, many athletes will think of powerful images such as a rocket launching or a leopard sprinting to increase intensity. In conjunction with these cue words, phrases, and images players can begin to increase their own intensity by running in place with high knees or performing quick starts and stops. ‘Going through the motions’ in practice undermines your attempts to improve as an athlete. Setting goals and using cues and images are important to increasing intensity. To become your best you must make practice intensity a habit. Pushing your limits every single practice will enable you to improve skills and develop into a consistent peak performer.

Taylor, J. (1993). The mental edge for tennis. (4th ed.) Aurora, CO: Minutemen Press.

The above article was written by Larry Lauer, Ph. D.
Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, Michigan State University
It appeared on the AAASP website. Here’s the link.

Ever had those days. When you just didn’t want to get out of bed, didn’t want to go to work or school/uni, and the last thing you wanted to do was go to training. Or maybe you have found yourself going through the same old training session doing the same old thing and confused as to where it is all taking you. Or maybe you have found yourself wondering what it is that you want to achieve in your life, what it is that you want to achieve in your weightlifting?

These feelings are very familiar for many athletes. At times it can get so frustrating that you may decide to take the quick option. You may choose not to work through your confusion, leaving many questions unanswered and possibly making a decision that you may later regret – such as leaving the sport that you love, weightlifting.

The above feelings may be experienced when you are just not motivated, or you are unsure about what you want to do with your life and your sport. One way of working through all of the confusion is to sit down and work out what it is that you want to do -

* what do you want to achieve with your weightlifting?

* what do you want to achieve with your education?

* what do you want to achieve with your work?

* what do you want to do for yourself?

By working out what it is that you want to achieve, you can bring direction back into your training and into your life. What you may also find is that your motivation levels will increase because you have identified some goals in your life that you want to achieve. Having these goals will give you something to aim for and something to work towards.

When setting goals for yourself, you need to firstly identify what your main goal is (eg. lift a particular weight, make it on to a particular team). You then need to decide what you have to do to help you achieve your main goal – these being stepping stones to your main goal. For example, you want to lift a particular weight by the end of the year, so the stepping stones would be looking at what you have to do in training and how you would have to look after yourself.

There are some important points that need to be remembered when setting goals:

1. make them specific – such as you want to lift 80kg in the snatch, rather than I want to do my best snatch
2. set short-term goals with deadlines – you will more likely achieve your long term-goals if you break them down into a series of short-term goals
3. make your goals challenging but achievable – a goal which is challenging or difficult will lead to the best performance rather than a goal that is moderate or easy
4. be flexible – a goal will become more important to you if it is interesting, challenging and it gives you direction
5. set goals together – discuss your goals with your coach as this will allow you both to work towards the same goals.
6. write goals and set priorities – record you goals in your training diaries as will allow you to watch your progress and write them in order of importance.
7. identify how you may sabotage your goals – sometimes you may avoid trying to achieve your goals, so it is important that you have an action plan to prevent this from occurring.

Goal setting can be seen as another way of planning. What is that old saying “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.”

The above article by Yvonne Brett appears on the Queensland Weightlifting Association’s website. Here’s the link.

You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.

- Sir Edmund Hillary, first climber to successfully summit Mt. Everest

Setting goals is one of the most commonly used training tools. Goals can organize the competitors’ focus and endeavors towards achieving a specific task. They also increase persistence and motivation for long term training. Having a goal can help a performer find new learning strategies. Unfortunately, people’s goals are all too often made incorrectly. If you are interested in setting some goals, or even reevaluating your current goals, follow these seven steps for proper goal setting…..

Step 1) Define your goal

Ask yourself these questions:

- What exactly do you want to accomplish?
- What achievement would be worth your very best effort?
- What would you attempt if you knew it was impossible to fail?
- What would you go for if you knew this was your very last chance?

Make sure your vision is clear and powerful, one that you would follow despite whatever setbacks and failures that might arise along the way. The goal has to be very specific (i.e. “My goal is to place in the top 32 of the Division I NAC,”), rather than vague or general (i.e. “I want to fence well.”) so you can tell whether or not you have actually reached it.

Step 2) Where are you right now?

Carefully examine where you are right now in terms of your goal. Have you been just “getting by” or do you train to reach the next level? Are you willing to do things you may not want to do in order to reach your goal? Identify when you fence your best and what creates that kind of situation.

Step 3) Be honest about what you need to do

In order to get where you want to go, you have to know how to get there. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What sort of situations do you thrive or deteriorate? Identify at least one aspect in each of the following skill type categories that needs improvement: physical (i.e. gains in speed), tactical (i.e. develop a bout winning move), technical (i.e. more accurate point control) and mental (i.e. higher confidence).

Step 4) Formulate a daily improvement plan

This is the most important step of the goal setting process. Ask yourself, “What can I do on a daily basis to work towards reaching my goal?” For each area that you identified in step 3, write out at least three or four specific actions that you can take. Write them as “I” statements and in the present tense. For example, if you need to improve your speed, you can list, “I do my plyometric exercises for fifteen minutes, three times a week.” You are more likely to follow that than, “I will get faster legs.”

Step 5) Make and work on short-term goals

The goal that you set in step 1 may take a long time to reach, perhaps months or even years. Set short-term goals to keep you motivated throughout this time. Achieving these goals will give you feedback on your progress towards your ultimate goal. They should be process orientated, and reflect that achieving your goal is an ongoing process.

Step 6) You must commit!

It is easy to say you’re going to do something- actually doing it is another story. This is analogous to people who make a New Year’s resolutions to lose weight; seldom people actually go through with it. Second guessing yourself, missing opportunities and being hesitant will only delay your eventual success. Keep reminding yourself to enjoy the journey along the way!

Step 7) Continually monitor your progress

Every day ask yourself, “Am I getting closer to my goal?” Is your goal plan actually working or does it need adjustment? If your answer is “I’m not sure”, then you are not really making progress. Write down what your small success and lessons learned along the way, or make a checklist that charts your progress. In times when it seems like your goal is too far out of reach, you can look at your progress list and visually see how far you have come, and how much closer you are to your goal.

About the Author:

Elizabeth Athanas holds a MS and is active in Sports Psychology. Beth contributes to fencing.net and the fencing equipment store. You can read more sports psychology articles at www.fencing.net.

Dear Podium: I’ve raced at a world class level for a number of years and had significant success. My best performance on the world stage was an 8th place in the Olympic Games and I was just coming off an injury. My problem is that in spite of this level of success, I sometimes feel such a lack of confidence that it really interferes with my performance. It has been so bad there were even a few times when I wondered if I even belonged on the track. How can I better condition myself mentally so that I don’t beat myself before the start?
- Wanting More Confidence

Dear Wanting More Confidence:

Yours is not an uncommon problem. In discussions I’ve had with elite athletes, I’m always amazed at the number who struggle with confidence problems. Most casual observers are under the false impression that elite athletes rarely struggle with confidence; however in my opinion, it is quite the opposite.

There are a few different things you can do to begin building your confidence to the level you would like…..

….One of the most successful methods for building confidence is to focus on previous achievements. Clearly, you have competed and been successful at the highest level so be sure to remind yourself of that success. I find the use of key words to be very helpful so, for example, you might say “Olympics” or the name of an event or venue where you had success. Often, a simple reminder of previous success can go a long way towards building confidence.

Along the same lines I have worked with several athletes who use confidence CDs or DVDs to increase their positive thinking. The CDs might contain confidence-building music or various phrases such as “you can do it” or “you’ve prepared yourself and are going to run well.” The DVDs can contain clips of great performances that, when watched, build your confidence. All of these are methods for training yourself to build confidence.

While all of these methods work, the most successful method I have found for building confidence is to simply use positive self-talk. One of the most amazing things about humans is that our bodies move in the direction of our thoughts. If we think positively and confidently, we will act accordingly. So, even if it seems a bit forced at first, try coming up with a few positive sayings that you can say to yourself prior to practice and competition. You might accompany these with some positive imagery as well. Over time you will find yourself believing those positive thoughts more and acting and performing more confidently.

Another way to approach this issue is to think about your success in the Olympics. My guess is that, because of your injury, you thought very little about expectations and focused more on a few simple aspects of your performance. This usually leads to success. The irony of sport is that the more we focus on expectations and how badly we want to perform well, the more we struggle. However, when we can simply focus on the process of performing well and the things we must do to be successful, we tend to perform well. It’s not just “wanting” to win but thinking about “how” to win that is important. If you can identify 2-4 important components of your performance and direct your focus on those, you should find that you have less time to worry about your confidence. For example, if you are focusing on a specific aspect of your running form, you are less likely to have negative thoughts about your confidence. Again, when you were injured I bet you had a much more intense focus on your performance and didn’t have time to think about confidence. So, try to come up with a few focus cues regarding your performance. An example might be “long stride” or “stay upright.”

So, if we put this all together, before any performance you might think to yourself, “I can do this” and then “long stride” and “stay upright.” You build confidence with positive self-talk and then move your focus to important process aspects of your performance. With practice I think you’ll find yourself a more confident and successful performer.

Noah B. Gentner, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences
Ithaca College
321 Center for Health Sciences
Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 274-1338
ngentner (at) ithaca.edu

Pete Webber has been mountain biking for more than 20 years, including six years as an internationally ranked professional racer during the 90′s. He raced in three World Championships and notched numerous top results at the national level in both mountain biking and cyclo-cross. Pete’s mountain bike racing is behind him, but he continues to race cyclo-cross, recently finishing 2nd at the National Championships in the master’s category. Pete now works for the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) in the fund-raising and communications department. He served as project director for IMBA’s best-selling book, Trail Solutions, and is currently creating a new IMBA book focused on mountain biking management strategies.

Podium: When did you start racing?

Pete Webber: When I was growing up I really was into ski racing, alpine ski racing, and that’s because I lived at a ski area and my parents were involved in the ski industry. I started cycling as summer-time fitness training for skiing. I had this competitive background from a young age in racing, no matter what kind of racing, and I was pretty into it. I was really competitive; my nature was to always try to race. And I brought that from ski racing into mountain biking. And though I loved just being a recreational rider, there’s something about racing and competition that really got me psyched.

Podium: What’s it like for you at the start of a race?

Pete Webber: The start of a mountain bike race is totally hectic, and just full of frenetic energy, and it’s one of the most exciting aspects of the sport. When you’re standing on the start line of a mountain bike race, your heart rate is just pinned, and everyone around you is sweating and nervous, and they’re just on the edge. And it’s because the start of a mountain bike race can be so important. One reason it’s so important is because usually the trail becomes narrow within a few miles of the start, and it has to narrow down to single file traffic. It’s important to be as close to the front of the race as possible. So you have to be able to explode off the start line and practically sprint the first few miles of a race in order to establish a good position when the track turns into single track.

Podium: How do you practice that? Isn’t it a bit of contact sport sometimes?

Pete Webber: Well it’s true that the start can be pretty aggressive as everyone’s going for that hole shot. The best way to practice for it I think would be to create mock starting scenarios, whether alone or with your buddies.

Podium: How do you get yourself motivated?

Pete Webber: You know I think I was lucky in that things like motivation and focus came somewhat naturally to me. I don’t know if it was just that I was born with it, or if I developed it by being an athlete as a kid. But you know what? Motivation, I think, is really tied to two elements and probably the most important is passion. You have to have a passion for what you’re doing. And if you love it, if you sort of eat, sleep and breathe the sport, you’re going be motivated. It’s going to come fairly naturally and you’re not going to have to force it. So I think it’s really important that you identify what your passions are in life, whether it’s athletics, or work, or family; and try to pursue those instead of forcing yourself to strive for some goal that you’re not entirely passionate about. Identify what you love and pursue that avenue, and the motivation will be easier to find.

Having goals always worked for me too. It’s a pretty basic concept but some athletes neglect to set goals to chase. If you don’t have some good goals it’s hard to motivate yourself day after day. Having some clear goals in mind, short-term, long-term, writing them down and maybe telling your friends about them is a good thing so they can support you. It’s a basic, basic concept, and you can’t neglect it. You have to carve out the time to set those goals and they’ll be a tremendously strong motivating force.

Podium: Racing mountain bikes isn’t perceived as tactical as road racing: what’s your take on that?

Pete Webber: Yeah, not when you think of tactics as team tactics and drafting tactics, but there are different types of tactics in mountain biking; they’re individualistic, they’re more about you, not about your teammates or competitors. The tactics you have to employ in mountain biking are things like starting technique, bicycle skills, pacing yourself, and how you’re going to race compared to your competitors. Are you going to try to shadow them? Are you going to try to go off the front and stay away? Are you going to try to come from behind? I think it would be a mistake to say there are no tactics in mountain and it’s just hammer, hammer, hammer. They’re just different tactics than road biking. People that are into mountain bike racing, usually like the fact that there are fewer variables, in terms of team tactics, political tactics, and all the really crazy intricacies of road racing. They are fun and interesting, but for some people, it’s just not them. They’re more into just racer against racer, pure athletic contest.

Podium: Talk about pain.

Pete Webber: Well, bike racing is definitely painful, you have to be able to suffer; you have to be willing to do it. You have to be psyched to do it. And if you have a problem blocking out the pain, it’s going to be difficult to rise to the top in bike racing. A race can be hours long, and you have to be focused and suffering the entire time. You really can’t afford to let your mind wander during a race. When you lose your focus, all of a sudden you’re going to slow down, because you’re not able to push yourself as hard as you need to.

So how does a racer block the pain, push through the suffering and just keep going? That’s a really hard question, and I don’t know if I can give it just one answer, but it seems like the key is finding a way to have that focus and be locked-in on the goal for the whole race, no matter how long it is, and just being super-committed to that focus, into that zone, and not letting your mind wander. When the race is long, probably a good technique would be to focus on intermediate goals. So if it’s a three hour mountain bike race, and it’s three laps around a 10 mile course, it’s probably too hard to focus on the finish three laps away. So focusing on just one lap at a time and on what you are doing in that lap. Forget about the rest of the race. Just focus on that short-term period. Once you get through that, shift your focus to the next intermediate goal. And before you know it you’ll be at the finish, because I sure wouldn’t want to set out focused on a finish three hours from now. That would be damn demoralizing.

Podium: Did you ever try to disassociate from the pain?

Pete Webber: Yeah, definitely. You know what worked for me was to remind myself that the other guys were suffering just as bad, if not worse, than me. You can’t let yourself get out there and think that you’re hurting worse and you need to back off. Or that the other guy must be so fresh, and he’s hardly working. And I’m just dying, and he’s way better than me, and I better just back off. Because I guarantee you that everyone on the race course is hurting. It’s just a fact of life. And so when you’re out there, remind yourself that everyone’s hurting, and it’s not just you, and you’re in this together. And sometimes you can even work with another racer without them even realizing it. You can sort of join in their suffering together and sort of find some energy from it.

You know in bike racing your ability to dig deep and suffer is one of the most important aspects. The guys that can suffer more are the ones that win races. And they’re not necessarily the strongest guys on the course. They’re just able to overcome the suffering and work through it. And you need to remind yourself of that. And I think what you need to keep in mind is your goal. You have to be focused on your goal, and use that to dig deep. If you lose site of what your goal for that race is, it’s far too easy to back off and cruise. So push yourself really hard towards that goal and don’t let yourself back down.

Podium: Talk about your training.

Pete Webber: When I was in the peak of my racing days I was pretty scientific about my training, and I used heart-rate monitor, and SRM power meter to help dial in my training, and be really specific about the type of training I was doing. But as I got more experienced, I grew less dependent on the tools and relied more on my body to give me information. It’s not imperative that you use these gadgets in your training. For some people they’re great. If you’re not into it, that’s okay.

The key here is having what it takes to pace yourself for the length of a bike race; usually a couple of hours and that can be tricky. I think you have to push yourself harder than what your heart-rate monitor might be saying, or what your body and brain might be saying. I think that you can make the mistake of going too easy in a bike race, during the early part. And you’re convincing yourself that it’s a long race, and you have to pace yourself. But I bet you that the guy that’s winning is not thinking about pacing, and he’s got the hammer down and he’s at his limit, and he’s just hoping he can hold out. I focused on taking care of my body, basically eating and drinking plenty during the race. And I do think a lot of racers make the mistake of not keeping their energy stores up during the bike race.

Usually guys never even reach for their water bottle until 30 minutes have passed. And by then it’s too late. You’ve missed the opportunity to stay hydrated and to keep the sugar going. So you know, I think it’s really important that you have a plan for how much you’re going to eat and drink during the race, and that you really stick to it, and that it’s a really important tactic. Usually it means eating and drinking more than you’re really comfortable with, especially with your stomach churning and you’re breathing hard and you can hardly get the water bottle in your mouth. But you do have to make a special effort to stay on your plan for eating and drinking. And that means right from the start, don’t neglect the first 30 minutes. That window is important.

Podium: Talk about cyclo-cross.

Pete Webber: Cyclo-cross is the only racing that I do these days. It’s one of the most fun disciplines in bike racing. Now that I have a job and a family, and a busy life like everyone else, cyclo-cross is a good balance for me because it doesn’t take quite as much time in training and racing as some of the other forms of cycling do. Cyclo-cross races are only an hour long. The season is only a couple months long. It doesn’t require quite as much training beforehand and during. So it fits well with people who are both busy and love the racing.

Podium: Overtraining is talked about a lot these days. What did you do in recovery?

Pete Webber: What seems to work for me is to take a really nice, long break between seasons. And I did this when I was mountain bike racing too. It was important for me to take a break totally away from the sport. I wouldn’t even ride. I would hardly even do any training. I would only do what was fun, and what I was into. And it gave me both a mental and a physical break. So during the winter these days, I really don’t do much training and much working out. It works for me because when I do return to training and preparing for the cross season, I’m fresher. You know I feel like I’m more into it, I’m more motivated, and there’s none of that lingering burnout that you inevitably get at the end of every racing season. I think it’s important for athletes to carve out the down-time, force themselves to take a break between seasons, or even in the middle of the season. And yeah, you might have a set-back, in terms of losing some fitness, but I usually think it’s worth it, because you’ll come back fresher, and be able to dig deeper when it’s time to.

Podium: Talk about descents: the steeps and speed and dealing with the fear factor.

Pete Webber: I think there are two things that you can do. Most important would be practice makes perfect. Be sure to practice your bike-handling skills, your descending skills, and gradually you’ll overcome your anxiety about those sections of the course. The second thing to do is to stay focused on your goal for the race, and stay in the zone. When you’re approaching a section of the course that scares you, don’t let yourself get out of the zone and start saying, “Oh shit, here it comes, here it comes.” Keep your mind focused on the goal, stay in the zone and ride that section. Just like you do the rest of the course. Don’t let your mind wander and focus on the negative.

Podium: What gets most overlooked in mountain bike racing?

Pete Webber: I think one vital aspect about mountain bike racing that doesn’t get enough emphasis is preparation. I’m not talking about physical training, or aerobic training. I’m talking about other forms of preparation for the race; things like your bike-handling skills, your strategy for the start, your hydration, your mechanical preparation; all of those other little aspects of the sport, when added up, can be more important than how physically strong you are.

You must make preparing for the race a vital part of your training program. For race day, that means you have to pre-ride the course a couple times to really feel confident about how you’re going to tackle the course, and especially how you’re going to handle the tricky sections, the technical sections. Preparation also means, “What are you going to do in the event of a mechanical problem?” Are you prepared to change a flat really fast? If you’re not good at changing flats, it’s something you need to practice. You need to do it during your training, just as you practice hill climbing.

You need to go into the race with your bike tuned, and perfectly dialed in. If you’re not a good mechanic, you need to get someone to help you and you need to learn the mechanical skills, because mountain biking is self-sufficient. And it would be a real shame to focus all year on getting really strong, and then blow out of the race with a mechanical problem.

There’s an added benefit to being fully prepared for a race, because when you’re super-prepared, you can relax. When it’s race day, you know that you’ve taken care of all the little details, and nothing has been left up to chance. And you’re not going to be stressing out on the morning of the race, because you forgot to prepare your bike, or you forgot your energy drink, or whatever, because you took the time to be prepared beforehand. And when it comes to race day, you can just relax and just ride, and not worry about all the details.

Podium: What about support systems?

Pete Webber: (You) perform for your team and the people that are supporting you, and so a group effort is easier than doing it all solo. I also think that it’s important to take personal responsibility for everything, and yes, you should ask someone to help you, but don’t rely on them 100%. Because they might not know exactly how you want your bike set up, or exactly how you want your energy drink prepared. Blaming them at the end of the race isn’t going to fly. So ask for their help and tell them what your goals are, but then also be sure to be personally responsible for the things that are important to you.

Podium: Talk about coaches. What makes a great coach?

Pete Webber: Well, great coaches do a lot for your motivation, and a great coach will find a way to keep you motivated and keep you psyched. And I think one way they do that is by building up your self-confidence. You know, they keep you charged, they keep you confident, and they build your self-esteem. And they do it subtly. It’s not just giving you pats on the back and saying, “good job.” It’s more of a long-term process of them helping you set goals, and then helping you hit those goals. And before you know it, you’re starting to feel pretty confident about yourself, but it’s not because they just said you did a good job. You’re confident because you’ve achieved your goals. And so coaches, good coaches, have a knack for doing that.

Joe Friel has trained highly successful endurance athletes since 1980. His clients range from amateur and professional road cyclists to mountain bikers, triathletes, duathletes, swimmers and runners from all corners of the globe, including American and foreign national champions, world championship competitors and an Olympian.
Friel holds a Master’s degree in exercise science and he is a U.S.A. Triathlon and U.S.A. Cycling certified coach and the founder and President of UltraFit Coaches Association. He is also a featured columnist for Inside Triathlon and Velo News and the author of eight books including the best selling training bible series: The Cyclist’s Training Bible, The Mountain Biker’s Training Bible, and The Triathlete’s Training Bible in addition to his newest book Going Long, Training for Iron Man Distance Triathlons.

Podium: What, in your opinion, are the top attributes of champion cyclists?

Joe Friel: The first thing I always look for is whether somebody has a direction, a focus or what you might call a mission. They have to have a purpose; something they really want to achieve. The best athletes I have worked with over the years have always had some clear focus about their journey and a strong desire to achieve. An athlete who really isn’t sure what they want to achieve in sport is somewhat of a challenge for me to coach, and I think it’s a challenge for them also.

Secondly, they really need some sort of support system. They need people around them that give them help. It’s very, very difficult to make it in cycling. It’s very demanding; takes a lot of time and a lot of energy. So, there are lots of people in a good athlete’s support system from spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, parents, coach, massage therapists, managers, sometimes an agent, team members, training partners and right down the line. All the people around the athlete need to be there to support them. If the athlete has those things working for them, they’ve taken a big step in the right direction for achieving their goals.

Finally, good athletes really don’t train aimlessly. They have a purpose and training plan and they know where they’re going. There’s some precision about the training. It’s not done haphazardly. So when I look at athletes, I’m looking for those three things. When I find something that’s missing, I know the athlete’s going to be challenged. If all three elements are there, then we go on to the next step which is to look at the athlete’s physical attributes.

Podium: The USOC did a study of why athletes succeed or fail, and the support system was a key factor. Why is it you think that’s so when all these athletes are really motivated?

Joe Friel: Almost everything I’ve learned about this sort of thing has come from working with athletes in the real world. Many years ago, I was coaching a gentleman whose goal was to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He had a fair amount of talent, but it was going to be a challenge because he was right on the edge of qualifying. One thing I discovered about him early in the process of getting to know him was that his wife didn’t support him doing all this running. She found it to be kind of silly and pointless and she ridiculed him for it. Consequently on weekends he would get up at four o’clock in the morning to do his long run, and get his workout in and be back home about the time she was getting out of bed. He could avoid the ridicule while he was getting dressed to go out to run and not feel guilty about what he was doing. Now, as you can probably guess, he had a really hard time training for the race and didn’t qualify. That was the first time I’d ever seen that happen. It just stood out so clearly to me that had she supported him, I think he would have made it. I think the talent was there.

Podium: An entire section of The Cyclists Training Bible is devoted to training with a purpose. You include in that a three-part assessment tool that sizes up a racer’s potential. Part 1 looks at proficiencies with regard to climbing, sprinting and time trials. Another part assesses a cyclist’s sense of their own strength, skills, and endurance. The most comprehensive part examines the cyclist’s mental skills. Our Podium cyclist survey this month features that mental skills assessment. Why is it you feel that’s so important?

Joe Friel: I’ve always believed that for an athlete to be successful at the highest level, they need to have everything in their life essentially pointed in the right direction. It’s very difficult to achieve high levels in sport if something is missing. I’ve seen that over and over again when I work with real athletes in the real world.

I learned a long time ago that if I wanted to help someone really achieve high goals we had to get the mental side right also. It is every bit as important, sometimes more important (than the physical). The higher the performance level of the athlete the more crucial mental skills become for success in sport.

It’s not to say they’re not important for people who are novices or fairly new, but at the highest levels they become critical. There is very little difference between athletes at the highest levels of competition when it comes to the physical attributes. In the top ten of a world class race, the attributes may not vary more than one percent in any particular area of physical ability. Often it comes down to mental ability. Who has the mental talent to actually get the job done on any given day is critical to success at the highest levels.

Podium: You break the mental skills down into five specific categories. Could you talk about that?

Joe Friel: Sure. The categories I look at are: 1) motivation; 2) confidence; 3) thought habits (basically, do they express themselves in a positive or a negative way); 4) focus (concentration during races, workouts and in other areas of their life); 5) visualization. I actually rank them in that hierarchy when I look at athletes.

The number one thing I’m looking for is motivation. If I find an athlete who comes to me asking for coaching and I discover their motivation is marginal, we’re likely to fight an uphill battle all the way. I’ve only had one pro athlete I coached who in my opinion had marginal motivation. He was good; extremely good. He had actually won a world championship once as a junior. He had raced in worlds a few times and in several national championships. He had done very well; top ten. He was a very good performer, but lacked this tiny little spark that would make him be the best possible athlete he could be, perhaps the best in the world. It was hard to detect, but as his coach for many years it became obvious to me that there was something missing and it was in the area of motivation. Everything else was there.

Podium: Could you see that in his workouts?

Joe Friel: Definitely. He would find excuses to change the workout, to modify it to make it easier. If the weather was bad he would see that as a good reason not to go outside, not do the workout. Some things were obvious. When somebody’s highly motivated, the weather is not a factor. They’ll figure out some way to do it. They’ll figure it out no matter what it takes. They’ll get the workout in. He wasn’t like that.

Podium: We sent your mental skills profile out to 100 cyclists that we know. Twenty-one responded. There were 30 questions in all, and we can’t go into all of them, but if you don’t mind I’d like to explore some of these items.

Joe Friel: Sure.

Podium: Item number three, “When things don’t go well in a race I remain positive”. The responses break down on a 6-point Likert scale: Never – Rarely – Sometimes – Frequently – Usually – Always. Thirty eight percent scored “Usually.” Talk a little bit about that and what you think this says about Joe Racer.

Joe Friel: Sure. The response that they gave is what I generally see across the board. When things don’t go well in a race, they’re going to remain positive and Joe Racer is that way.

Joe Racer didn’t say always; they said usually, which is good. It’s good to see because it tells me that if they remain positive, they’re continuing to think there is hope and there are ways to make it happen. Henry Ford said if you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right. That’s exactly right. If you believe it’s all over, it’s all over. If you believe there’s a chance, there’s a chance.

Podium: “Before races I’m able to erase self-doubt.” Joe Racer chose “sometimes”. How do you see that?

Joe Friel: Sometimes I’m able to erase self-doubt before races, but not always. There were several other categories above that sometimes. Could have said frequently; could have said usually or could have said always, but didn’t. They said sometimes. Again I think that’s indicative of someone who is just not quite sure of themselves, doesn’t have the focus to get ready for a race. If a person can erase their self-doubt, then I think that tells me that 1) they’re realistic. They know they doubt what’s going on, that they have some doubt in their mind. But 2) they’re able to cope with it and realize that they’ve got whatever it takes to get the job done. Again, that’s a very positive experience for the athlete to say that I realize there’s some doubt about my ability here, but I think I can get it done.

Podium: Do you have any techniques you use that might help Joe Racer develop better focus or acquire confidence?

Joe Friel: Actually, there are a lot of things. There are three things I’ve had athletes do over the years that I’ve learned work pretty well. I learned these from working with a pro cyclist back in the late 90′s who had a lot of ability, but was lacking in the area of confidence. I had her start working on these three things and she turned it entirely around that year. She went on to win the national championship and finish fifth in the world. Best finish by any American that year and completely changed her attitude about herself as an athlete. What I had her do were fairly basic things that I had learned from talking with sport psychologists over the years.

The first thing I asked her was to do an exercise every night when she went to bed, just after she turned out the lights. We all have this little period of time, which is about five or ten minutes before we fall asleep. I think it’s the most valuable time in the entire day. I asked her to go back during that time period every night and find one thing that she did in training that day she thought was good, was successful, and review it, re-play the tape if you will. Just go back and find the accomplishment. It may not be a big thing. Maybe she just climbed a hill that day and felt pretty good climbing that hill. Just go back and climb that hill a few more times before you go to sleep that night. Or maybe she finished her workout which was harder than she thought she could do, a rather big achievement. Go back and relive that.

I think what happens by doing that, by reliving these successes over and over and over, is you start looking for success instead of looking for your weaknesses. What am I doing that’s really good? Let’s define it for today. What did I do today? In fact, I think that works with any aspect of life. I don’t care what it is… Business, your relationships, or sports. Every day I think it’s good to find what you’re successful at. Where was my success today? So I had her do that every day.

The second thing I had her do was to take advantage of that stack of successes she was building up over time. Over the course of week she would have had seven successes she had found. Over the course of a month she would have had 30 successes. Over the course of a year, so forth and so on. She’d have all these successes she’s building up. She’s got a reservoir of success she can always go back to, which is very valuable because you need to call on these from time to time.

So, I told her that she was going to experience times, especially at races, when she would have self-one and self-two arguing with each other. Self-one is the real her, the real athlete. Self-two is this parental voice in our heads that is always telling us there’s something wrong with us. At the starting line we might hear we’re not as good as the other athletes. We’re not as fast. We’re not as strong. We don’t climb very well. Those people are better than me, etc., etc. We all have that self-two talking to us constantly, that little voice in the back of our head. Self-one has to overcome that.

So, what I told her to do was when she realized this was happening, when she was starting to have these self-doubts in her mind, when self-two was starting to victimize her, I taught her to go back and find the success, one of her big successes, that she had been building up in her reservoir of successful memories. Right then in that moment, she would be called upon to relive that success. Just find a big one and go relive it. I call those things anchors. Anchors are very successful events that have taken place in the athlete’s training or racing and when needed she could go back and find them. Instead of listening to self-two, she’d go back and find something successful about herself and relive that success. In other words, I teach athletes to never allow this self-two to get control. Always be in control of your own mind.

The third thing I told her to do actually came from a story she was telling me about. She had raced in big races like the women’s Tour de France, which most people don’t even know exists and she’d raced against some of the best racers in the world. For example, Jeannie Longo was in her prime when she raced overseas. So I asked my racer one day, “How does Jeannie Longo act and look before the race starts?” The answer was, “She looks as though she knows she’s going to win. She just has that kind of look about her. She knows it and everybody else does too.” “Well, how does she look when she’s riding a bike?” “Well, she rides a bike looking like she’s going to win. Like she’s confident and successful. She just has that look about her.” I said, “Okay. I want you to walk around before the race looking like you’re going to win. I want you to sit on your bike so you look like you’re going to win. In other words, I want you to act “as if” you’re the best athlete there that day, regardless of what’s going on between your ears. I want you to act as if you are the best. You act as if you are a tremendous talent. That you’re going to win and everybody better be paying attention to what you do on the bike.”

This discovery works for me too. When I assume a posture and a behavior which is associative of confidence, my brain follows along, my mind follows along and I become more confident. But if I do just the opposite, if I take a posture or behavior which is indicative of no success, my mind again follows along and I find myself belittling myself and not thinking of myself as successful.

I had her do these things or asked her to do these things. You never know if people really do them or not, but I told her to do them and we kept talking about these sorts of things and low and behold, she went on to have her best season ever. We didn’t really change anything at all about her training. It was mostly these “developing confidence” techniques that we spent most of our time on, and it really paid off for her big time. So I’ve done it with other athletes ever since then and have had pretty good success with it.

Podium: How do you coach someone with regard to focus? In the survey, Joe Racer has an interesting split across several responses on that item: “Staying focused during long races is easy for me.” Some do and some don’t. What do you think about that?

Joe Friel: It’s a critical skill for success, I think. Athletes of the highest level undoubtedly have to see it all the time. If you watch the Tour de France, you can’t miss it. You see the athletes with tremendous focus. The race may last five or six hours, but in the critical times, you can see the focus is just unbelievable. They’re entirely focused on what they’re doing to the exclusion of almost anything else around them. We all need that if we want to be successful at our highest level of potential. So what I look for is how we can build that ability to focus, that ability to really concentrate both our mind and our energy on the achievement of the moment: that moment’s purpose. The reason why I’m pedaling the bike right now is X. I’m focused entirely on X. My entire world right now is X. That’s one of the fun parts of sport, I think. Sports allow us to get out of the normal realm that we deal in, which is past and future, and think only about right now. When you’re suffering on that hill, there’s absolutely nothing else going on in the world.

If you’re totally focused on that moment, the athlete can do well. If they stay focused, they’ve got a chance of staying with the group, to stay with the effort that’s being put forward by however many riders that are left in that group. If they cannot stay focused on that moment, they’re going to lose it.

I work with athletes in different ways to achieve that. For example, I have athletes lift weights, and in the winter months they do some pretty grueling weight room routines. Some of these involve suffering. They push themselves pretty hard in the weight room during the winter months.

So, one of the things I tell them, for example, is when you’re doing that exercise and you’re getting to those last few reps where the suffering is evident, don’t let it be seen. Try to have the same calm demeanor with the last two repetitions as you had for the first two repetitions. In other words, don’t grimace, don’t show pain, don’t show agony, don’t moan, don’t show any signs of suffering. Allow yourself to remain relaxed and entirely focused on what you’re doing without allowing yourself to boil over and bubble into feeling sorry for yourself.

Then we take that on to the road. I do the very same thing in training. Learning to stay focused in spite of pain and agony and, in fact, trying to give the impression as if nothing is wrong whatsoever. “As if” I am totally fine even though down deep, I am suffering like a dog right now. I think that’s the start of where this focus comes from. It is that ability to stay inward, stay within ourselves as opposed to spilling out our suffering for the rest of the world to see.