Motivation Archives - Page 7 of 9

Being A Better Bike Racer? Or when is racing actually racing? (Podcast #24)

Sit back for a moment and ask yourself the following question: “When is racing actually racing?” Sure, it's a bit of a strange question, but really take a moment to think about it. Is racing all about winning? Is it about sitting in the pack until the last 150 meters before contesting a sprint? Is it about patrolling the front of the peloton and covering moves, making breaks and closing down gaps before taking a flyer with a lap to go? Is it about having the confidence in your fitness and race reading skills to take a pull or two and recover in time to make a winning move? Or, on the other hand, is racing about hard work and riding cleanly (not chopping others in corners, for example) while putting up the best results possible? Is racing about getting out there and getting your team's colors seen, even if you don't win?

Got your answer? Good.

Keep that answer in your head as you listen to today's podcast where I discuss the concept of racing solely to win, racing to get your team colors out there, and what's inherently wrong with racing (in the beginner categories) these days. I'll cover the concept of racing just to win (and what is and isn't wrong with that), the idea that each race is a new experience in tactics and skills, the concept of the “I'll let someone else do the work” mentality and why you should just stay home if you're willing to race for second place. Finally, I'll touch on ways to make you a better bike racer: why you SHOULD take risks and try different things, especially at the beginner levels of the sport. You have to spend some time becoming a better bike racer somewhere, and this is the place to try them.

Racing is different things to different people, so keeping that in mind, when is racing actually racing? And when is racing NOT racing? (Spoiler: I think people are not racing when the sole focus becomes winning, as opposed to everything else that a race encompasses: tactical sense, risk and of course, failure.)

“Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.” ~ Wilma Rudolph

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me or post on the Tailwind Coaching Facebook page. Don't forget to rate the Tailwind Coaching Podcast on iTunes!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:38 — 41.8MB)

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Tags: Motivation, narrative, podcast, racing|

Post Race Perception

[dc]T[/dc]here's an uncomparably special feeling that accompanies racing. The thrill of the pack, the ticking sounds of other racers rowing through gears, the hum and woosh of carbon tubular wheels cutting through the air and the heart thumping tunnel vision of the hard last push to the line gives way to the inevitable post race decompressing. In those first few moments after the bike is thrown across the line, lunging for those last millimeters that could mean the difference between victory and defeat, we finally allow our senses to take in just how much searing, burning pain we have in our bodies. We experience the aching strain of trying to suck every last molecule of oxygen into our carbon dioxide riddled lungs. We feel the buildup of lactic acid tickling raw nerve endings in our legs. Maybe we even have to shake off the adrenaline fueled jitters that accompany the frenetic dash to the podium.

[pullquote]We finally allow our senses to take in just how much searing, burning pain we have in our bodies.[/pullquote]Even as we warm down, letting the stress of our effort melt away as we spin our legs aimlessly, we begin to take notice of the distinct feelings that only can accompany a good, hard race. It's an almost indescribable, sweet sensation of "job done, now it's time to let it all hang out." As time wears on, we rack our bike and unpin our number so that our racing strip is ready to be laundered and hung for the next round of combat. Through all of it, we feel those telltale signs of a hard race: the tightness in our back muscles, the achy stiffness in the glutes, and the utterly spent feeling in our quads. How I love the feeling of legs quivering while standing in the shower, warm soapy water cleansing and washing away victory or defeat (hopefully victory more often than not). That feeling of stiffness, soreness and completely spent muscles is something to revel in, not shy away from.

It proves we've worked our hardest, no matter what the result. It should be a reminder, akin to a battle scar, of what we have or haven't achieved. But regardless of the outcome we achieved, it proves we've left it all on the road. There's nothing quite as hard or impossibly special as racing, and our legs never let us forget that.

Tags: Motivation, narrative, racing|

Motivation – Getting It Back (Podcast #15)

Motivation can be a tricky thing for a cyclist to find, especially after a big “A” race or event. But motivation is often what gets us off our ass, off the sofa and onto the bike and lacking it can be deadly for our fitness (and waist line.)

But how do you go about getting your motivation back after you've spent months training for a huge event? What do you do with that gigantic hole left in your life when you don't have a training plan to follow? Today's podcast will discuss a few tips for rebuilding your motivation, including:

Revising your goals and setting new ones if necessary
Taking some time away from structure (ride with friends or do a Strava Challenge)
Going back to fundamentals (and being motivated by your quick progress)

I'm also running a Giro d'Italia special for my Modular Training Plans: enter the code “giro2013” to take 15% off any or all of my modular plans. Hurry though, this offer only lasts as long as the Giro does.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:47 — 18.2MB)

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Tags: Motivation, podcast|

The Sweet Taste of Victory…

Or the bitter sting of defeat?

It's been a psychologically (and let's be honest, physically) difficult week post Battenkill. Sure, there's the usual post-event down swing that accompanies any event that you've spent the better part of half a year preparing for. But between the elation of watching my coached athletes succeed at America's toughest one day race and the misery of abandoning America's toughest one day race, it's been a psychological tug-o-war. And there have been constant reminders to deal with: the Strava comments, teammates wondering what happened and the depressing WKO+ upload.

While it's been difficult to sort through the myriad of self discussions going on in my head, the ultimate irony was hearing Lou Reed's “Perfect Day” come across my iPod while cleaning the Cambridge mud off my frame. And since the process of washing, drying and polishing a frame is hardly difficult or attention demanding work, I was able to really listen to the lyrics for the first time in a long time, extracting a lot of meaning out of those forty-one year old lyrics.

Just a perfect day, you made me forget myself
I thought I was, someone else, someone good

For days I've racked my brain, trying to come to grips with the crushing mental defeat that comes with abandoning a race. That bitter sting of defeat has been nagging me like a hangnail since I lay curled up on the side of the road. The first thoughts to go through my head were not of the difficulty breathing, or the pain squeezing my torso like a pair of vise grips, but more of the mental pain of failing to accomplish a goal. I'm competitive, if not with those around me, with myself. I had set a goal and I would not be able to complete it. In the moment, I felt at the very least I was letting down friends, family and teammates, lest of all myself. I felt all the work I had done, all the time I had spent designing and following my specific training plans, and all the planning I had put into the weekend was washed away in a sea of bad luck and uncontrollable circumstances. There was a moment in which a single tear slid down the side of my face as I pounded on the ground in frustration.

I trained and fought for the better part of five months just to get to where I was, and I know my form was high. Would I have won my field? No. Could I have been on the podium? Probably not. Could I have finished with a top 10 placing? Maybe. Top 20? Definitely. The only thing holding me back was….my back; a previous injury that I have been coping with for a year now, which I had described previously in these pages. In reality, there wasn't much I could do (having thought I had everything under control), except take some lessons from the whole debacle.

To look at things in a different light, we take another page from Lou's book:

Oh, it's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day, you just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on.

It was serendipitous to fall like a soldier in combat by the side of the road. It allowed me to focus on pushing others through their races, watching their successes and encouraging their performances, allowing me to push away the feelings of defeat. The successes of others provided me a way to just keep hanging on, which was just what I needed at that moment.

That's the thing about racing. You have successes and failures. You fight and usually you lose, but sometimes you win. The biggest lesson it can teach us is how to swallow our shattered pride, pick ourselves up off the pavement (or in this case pavé) and reload our guns for the next fight.

Marcellus Wallace put it best:

The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride fucking with you. Fuck pride. Pride only hurts. It never helps. You fight through that shit.

You fight through that shit. And when you do, you realize that you're stronger and more thoroughly prepared for the next time pride comes calling. It's that preparation that silences the bitter sting of defeat and allows you to savor the sweet taste of victory.

Have you swallowed the bitter pill that is defeat? Talk about it in the comments:

Tags: injury, Motivation, racing|

Race Day Preparation (Podcast #11)

“Do it right on race day” is a lesson that every racer should live by and one that should be drilled into their head. Race performance begins in the days before when you start to get everything ready to roll. In fact, poor race day prep can actually set you up for a poor performance even before the first pedal is turned in anger.

We'll discuss proper race day preparation as well as preparation in the days prior. Some topics we'll cover include:

Loading your gear and prepping your bike
Eating prior to your race
Arrival time and warmup time
Warming up on the trainer
Proper dress

As always, comments and questions are welcome.

As a reminder, my “Berg Buster” is still available (until April 21st) for FREE with the code “classicsgift”.

For those of you racing Battenkill, I'll see you there. Good luck, stay safe!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:38 — 16.3MB)

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Tags: battenkill, Coaching, Motivation, podcast, racing, training|