Controlling the Rush

  In my most recent meeting with Bob we talked about adrenaline. He showed me a technique to help me "wire in" an adrenaline "hotspot" which allows me to access adrenaline when i need it for a training session or a race. Throughout the week, i looked for an opportunity to try out my new adrenaline "button" to see if it would really work, but i found that there was never really an appropriate time. In fact, what i learned is that i spend a fair bit of time controlling my adrenal responses. If anything, I am naturally over-excited and need to reel myself in in order to perform. This is something that i had never really reflected on before.  

I noticed that there were a number of times in training that my adrenal system kicked in;  at the start of any interval for example, whether in the pool, on the bike or running. Also, the exhileration of descending on the bike, or a near-miss with a pothole or a vehicle bring on an adrenal response. Group training situations tend to get me fired up more than training alone, which is a good reason to train with groups, but also a good reason not to sometimes. 

Further, i cant think about a race at bedtime or else I will get too excited and have to calm myself down. In fact, i found that throughout the week, i had to calm myself down from the excitement of upcoming races, even races that are weeks away. Every time i thought about testing out my adrenaline hotspot, i got a shot of adrenaline just thinking about thinking about it. I never knew i was such and adrenaline junkie! 

Reflecting on this has been eye-opening for me and made me realize that i need to harness my excitability if i am going to unleash it successfully on race day. They say that dogs immitate their owners, its no wonder my dog is so spastic! And my last dog was excitable too... 

In the process of wiring in my hotspot, Bob talked me through a wonderful exercise in which i had to think of 6 qualities that i possess that will help me win races. Then, i thought of each of them as i let adrenaline rush through my body and wow it sure made me feel excited and confident. The purpose of the exercise was to wire in the hotspot (which i still havent used!) but in this case i found the process itself was quite powerful. What a wonderful way to get excited about racing, to reinforce the idea that i possess all the skills required to reach my goals.  I highly recommend taking some time to get excited about your abilities and how things can play out on race day when you execute your master plan and finally get to show off your fitness!

Over the last couple weeks, i think Bob has been slightly taken aback by my focus on pain (I forget sometimes that we endurance athletes have an unusual relationship with pain). He told me to make sure I reward myself from time to time. It was a welcome reminder to step back and acknowledge the little accomplishments along the way. Thanks Bob!

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Pain, Perspective and the Past

During my last meeting with Bob we started with a long talk about pain. In previous sessions, Bob told me that when you are in the Zone, there is no pain and i did not question him until i really started to reflect on how i experience pain in training and racing. In fact, I often use pain as an indication that i am going hard enough in training. During some sessions, my specific purpose is make use of and acquire better skills for dealing with pain, so i am prepared for race day. AND, on a couple of occasions, I felt sure that i was feeling pain and also in the Zone. This sparked a long discussion between myself and my mental training mentor on the question of pain in the Zone.

We talked about good pain versus bad pain. Good pain being that nice burning you get in your legs or your lungs when you are working right on the rivet, in that place that tells you that you are doing your very best. Bad pain could be caused by injury or could be the outcome of losing the Zone and giving in to the negative voices that will inevitably fill your head when you lose focus.

A few things stuck with me after our discussion. Bob said, you need to shift your metaphors, reinterpret the wall, learn to love it and enjoy it. He talked about euphoric pain (it all sounded a little too S&M for my liking, but i knew what he meant!). As with so many things in life, it's all a matter of perspective.

From here our conversation shifted to the issue of fatigue. Bob told me that tiredness is natural, but fatigue is a learned behavior (Aha!). We used some visualization techniques to "clean up" the past and unlearn fatigue. I learned to brightened up the memories that were clouded with pain or fatigue so these experiences will stop effecting my current experiences. In the 2 weeks since our last meeting I have been using any down time i have to clean up all kinds of bad performances and experiences and change them in my mind to things that will make me stronger and better today.

In the last few minutes of our meeting Bob talked a little about how i look at my competitors. If you can see them, Bob said, they have already beat you.... ummm what? Of course i can see them, you just asked me to bring them to mind! Slowly but surely, I was able to see that my competitors need to blend together in my mind and not one of them should stand out as an individual, because the one who does is the one who will beat me. Bob helped me understand that i am the leader of my race and they are just pawns in my performance game.

As soon as i got off Skype, I tested Bob's theory by choosing the most competitive female in long course triathlon and trying to make her disappear. And poof! She was gone. As i've said to anyone who will listen since then, I made Chrissie Wellington into a girl i have never met! Of course, i know on a conscious level that Chrissie is a woman who has smashed records, won world titles and basically left a trail of destruction in every race she enters (amongst the men too!), but i was able to let go of all the emotional ties i had to her performances, including awe, fear and disbelief. Now Chrissie is just a girl i have never had the pleasure of meeting.

What i have taken with me since our last meeting is that i can clean up any past experiences, feelings or thoughts that are effecting my current reality by simply brightening the memory in my mind's eye and imagining myself in the Zone during that time. Something as simple as improving the weather during memories of fatigue has really changed my perspective on past and present. Times when i used to feel burdened with the weight of training tiredness have become brighter memories of times when i did the work required to succeed in my sport and i can bring all those miles with me into my next race and my next season. In this way any bad memory can be cleaned up whether you used to be fat, or in an abusive relationship or you once lived  life of crime. Its very freeing indeed.

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Subaru Vancouver International Half Iron

Rosalee, Clint and I traveled to Vancouver this weekend for the Subaru Vancouver International Half Iron. Clint was volunteering and I was doing a "relay".

I recovered from the Victoria Half Iron pretty quickly and after the race, we launched into two pretty tough training weeks, at the end of which i was planning to do a hard 90k bike as a relay. As the race got closer, i thought, it would be better training to do the swim and the bike. And then Clint added a transition run. And so, it emerged as a half ironman.

I was pretty relaxed going into the race because my expectations were low. My swim was strong, controlled and solid, i didnt want to go into the bike ride completely trashed! Starting the bike, my legs were pretty roughed up. I knew i could still manage a solid ride, but it would be more painful than usual. Sorry Bob, but i struggled to stay in the Zone. My thoughts were more like "F**k the Zone, this is bloody painful." It got better as time went on, I warmed up into it that's for sure.

Onto the run and it was the same story, i started out jogging for my "transition run" and in all honesty, couldn't manage much more. After the 7k mark, i started to feel better and loosen up a little. I overtook a couple girls and it looked like 2nd place was mine. This kept me going to the finish line. Huge kudos to Rachel McBride who was completely uncatchable out there!

Thankfully, a photographer friend, David McColm was there and took some great shots including the one of Rosalee above.

Thanks to everyone who supports me in small and big ways. I couldn't do it alone.

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My New Shoes

Last Monday, I left my meeting with Bob very excited indeed - not just about how the new ideas could help me, but about how they could help my athletes as well. Carrie can attest to this, as she had the misfortune of calling me right after and got an earful of what i learned!

So, while we covered lots of ground in our meeting, i will focus on the things that effected me most, my "aha moments" as Oprah would say. (Sorry Clint- i just mentioned Oprah in my blog.)

The first point that stuck with me is that all along i have been talking about "mental training" though the Zone is very much a physiological experience. So, in relation to my injury, I have been focusing on the injury, trying to imagine the healthy image of it that Bob helped me to create the week before. But Bob said, Don't focus on the injury, just focus on the Zone.... Aha! So, for the last week, while i've been crazy busy and in need of simplicity, this type of thinking sure fit the situation. In any given moment, if i realize i am not in the Zone, I just bring myself back. I do this by looking for physiological clues, like relaxed shoulders, good posture and a general feeling of centeredness.

Secondly, Bob and I did an exercise to help me work on my perceived weaknesses and learn from my fellow athletes. In short, i put myself in the shoes of people who already have the skills that i would like to possess. For me, one thing i would like to improve is my bike handling. So, I thought of 3 uber-bikers and then imagined myself stepping into their shoes. As i did the exercise, thoughts and images started to flood my mind, positive things about cycling. I felt strong and powerful, I felt excited about riding, as if i could own any bike course. I felt the exhilaration of riding fast and well. The best part about it was that, like last week, these thoughts came to me. I didnt have to conjure them up myself because i was trying to be positive. The positive thoughts just arrived in my head. Aha!

And so, once again this week, I feel like the missing pieces of my mental game are being found. We already know how important it is to think positively, and i know from my experience as a coach that people who are naturally positive improve faster. But if you are not naturally a positive person, this is hard to learn. Or if you have negative experiences about certain aspects of your sport or life, then it is hard to change your mindset, even if you want to. Many of the exercises that i have done with Bob help to accelerate the process of literally, changing my mind about something.

This is the revolutionary aspect of Bob's program. It helps you change your mind, and your physiology by using the Zone experience as the central focus of your everyday activities.

Some of you have been asking about how to get in touch with Bob. The series i am doing is called the Ignition Series and Bob and I meet every week for 6 weeks on Skype. Each week, i also receive follow up information by email that helps me to remember everything we covered in the session. Mercury Rising athletes receive a 10% discount. Also (this is the best bit), Bob offers a free session on Skype to anyone who is interested, so you can decide whether you would like to continue with the series or not. Obviously, I highly recommend it.

Bob's email is: bpalmer@bell.net

His website is: www.sportexcel.ca

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