Let the mind games begin
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| Thursday, 9th February 2012 | Written by Mark Banham |
"If you can keep your head while all around you are losing theirs… then you obviously haven’t yet understood the gravity of the situation."- Anon
There’s now just a few days to go until the Speight’s Coast to Coast, so it’s time to scale back the training, rest up and try not to get too worried about the endless what-ifs that 243km of running, biking and kayaking entails.
In the lead up to previous races (none of which have been anywhere near as challenging as this) that has been far easier said than done – especially when every conversation in the week prior begins with the well-meaning question: "So, how are you feeling about the big race?"
But this time around, something very strange has happened – I’m not that worried. In fact, I’m puzzlingly unworried.
Admittedly my goals are pretty achievable: to arrive at the start line uninjured (so far so good), to finish and to have a good story to write up in Wilderness magazine. I’m sure that’s helped to keep the stress levels down.
But even so, I’m perplexingly chilled-out about the whole thing. But I’m definitely not complaining about it. Intrigued, confounded, confused even… but definitely not complaining.
You see, in my very limited understanding of sports psychology, you’re better off being slightly under-prepared but feeling positive than over-trained and angst-ridden. It seems that the most important bit of your body to prepare – and the most often forgotten one – is the squishy grey stuff between your ears. And when it comes to preparing your brain, much of the work is simply learning to focus on the positive.
Over the years the whole ‘power of positive thinking’ concept has been so hugely over-used by self-help books and b-grade movies that it’s become one of the 20th century’s great clichés… but it turns out there might just be something to it.
As sports psychology develops as a profession, more studies are being published that bring what were once considered wacky ideas under the wing of conventional medicine.
For instance, not so long ago the University of Chicago did a study into visualisation where basket ballers were separated into three groups: the first practised their free-throw technique for an hour a day, the second simply visualised practicing free-throws, and the third didn’t practice at all. After a month they tested the players’ accuracy.
Unsurprisingly the third group who did no practice didn’t improve. Likewise it was no great surprise that the group that physically practiced improved – upping their accuracy by 24 per cent. But the really interesting part is the group that simply visualised free-throws improved by 23 per cent – a mere per cent behind the guys who did it for real!
That’s just one example of an incredibly complex field – there’s a whole lot more to positive thinking thing than just ‘turning that frown upside-down’. In fact sport-specific arms of disciplines like neuro-linguistic programming, meditation and hypnosis have sprung up to tackle the problem through some very different approaches.
However, the take-home message of them all is clear: if your brain is fighting fit, you’re halfway to the finish already.
There’s now just a few days to go until the Speight’s Coast to Coast, so it’s time to scale back the training, rest up and try not to get too worried about the endless what-ifs that 243km of running, biking and kayaking entails.
In the lead up to previous races (none of which have been anywhere near as challenging as this) that has been far easier said than done – especially when every conversation in the week prior begins with the well-meaning question: "So, how are you feeling about the big race?"
But this time around, something very strange has happened – I’m not that worried. In fact, I’m puzzlingly unworried.
Admittedly my goals are pretty achievable: to arrive at the start line uninjured (so far so good), to finish and to have a good story to write up in Wilderness magazine. I’m sure that’s helped to keep the stress levels down.
But even so, I’m perplexingly chilled-out about the whole thing. But I’m definitely not complaining about it. Intrigued, confounded, confused even… but definitely not complaining.
You see, in my very limited understanding of sports psychology, you’re better off being slightly under-prepared but feeling positive than over-trained and angst-ridden. It seems that the most important bit of your body to prepare – and the most often forgotten one – is the squishy grey stuff between your ears. And when it comes to preparing your brain, much of the work is simply learning to focus on the positive.
Over the years the whole ‘power of positive thinking’ concept has been so hugely over-used by self-help books and b-grade movies that it’s become one of the 20th century’s great clichés… but it turns out there might just be something to it.
As sports psychology develops as a profession, more studies are being published that bring what were once considered wacky ideas under the wing of conventional medicine.
For instance, not so long ago the University of Chicago did a study into visualisation where basket ballers were separated into three groups: the first practised their free-throw technique for an hour a day, the second simply visualised practicing free-throws, and the third didn’t practice at all. After a month they tested the players’ accuracy.
Unsurprisingly the third group who did no practice didn’t improve. Likewise it was no great surprise that the group that physically practiced improved – upping their accuracy by 24 per cent. But the really interesting part is the group that simply visualised free-throws improved by 23 per cent – a mere per cent behind the guys who did it for real!
That’s just one example of an incredibly complex field – there’s a whole lot more to positive thinking thing than just ‘turning that frown upside-down’. In fact sport-specific arms of disciplines like neuro-linguistic programming, meditation and hypnosis have sprung up to tackle the problem through some very different approaches.
However, the take-home message of them all is clear: if your brain is fighting fit, you’re halfway to the finish already.
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