Techniques to Improve Mental Resilience During High Intensity

[Splash]

Hi All.

What techniques do you employ during long durations of high intensity to stop from giving up and/or from mind wondering off the task at hand.

I find this happens to me and my results suffer. I don't give up, but my mind wonders away and drifts into other aspects of my life and then i see my power output drop during these moments of absentism... :-(


Splash

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by Splash

Hi All.

What techniques do you employ during long durations of high intensity to stop from giving up and/or from mind wondering off the task at hand.

I find this happens to me and my results suffer. I don't give up, but my mind wonders away and drifts into other aspects of my life and then i see my power output drop during these moments of absentism... :-(


Splash

There are no real tricks. You just learn to suffer while staying focused on keeping the power flowing. It takes time to aquier the skill and as much mental effort as physical. High intensity training is suffering, plain and simple. Try imagining that you are pulling a fire truck with a rope, running from a deadly animal up a hill, riding a bike really fast, or anything that would require extreme effort. It is the last part of the interval that is the hardest to complete but also the the most important. Pain is easy, getting your brain to inflict it on yourself not easy. Train the brain.

[FlashUNC]

Just keep pedaling.

[tv_vt]

take an ibuprofen or something like that. or some caffeine.

Yeah, doping, I guess. But I've read that this helps raise your pain threshold, and I can say they do help to blunt things a bit.

Otherwise, do the high intensity only when you're good and ready to do them. If you're not feeling up for them, maybe your body is trying to tell you something. Maybe back off on the length of the HIT until you can handle longer bouts.

Want something to really test you? Try a 40km time trial like USCF used to do in each state/district.

[shovelhd]

I use visualization.

[weisan]

[sandyrs]

Stare at your stem!

[beeatnik]

Think about those whose suffering isn't voluntary.

[paredown]

My humorous response--'channel Chuck Norris'.

Serious response--as as been said, it is learned. Voight's 'shut up legs' is legendary, but I was reading the obits for Jocelyn Lovell (who I knew slightly and raced against)--and I was struck by something he said in an interview--that even when his legs were screaming in pain 'he always had something left'.

Translated, I think that when he needed to, he could push himself past the point where the rational person would succumb to the pain and ease off. It is mental, not physical so you are on the right track.

[Joxster]

It'll all be worth it in the end. Train hard, race harder and party hardest

[berserk87]

One small thing is to substitute "endure" for "suffer". Using the word endure, for me, reminds me that I am choosing to do the effort on the bike, and to challenge my mind and body. To me, suffering denotes more of a victim's mentality, as though the pain is being thrust upon me from some outside force over which I can't control. Semantics, I know, but we are talking small mental tricks.

Visualization is another trick - picture yourself in a race, or group ride, or whatever event you may be training for.

I also use negative emotion. Maybe it's not healthy, but I never found myself going my fastest with love in my heart. Cycling helps me work out the knots in my rope - spending energy working out what pisses me off and such. It's a healthier outlet for my darker urges than physical violence.

[Tickdoc]

I have three or four songs that always come into my head at these times of pain and struggle. Helps greatly and much better than me talking to myself

Rolling Stones beast of burden is the current one to pop in, but it varies.

[ergott]

I curse a lot if I'm digging real deep. Otherwise I usually have a song that creeps into my head.

[soulspinner]

Alice in chains.............

[milkbaby]

I agree with people that a lot of it is learned. Punch yourself in the face while training enough times that the taste of your own blood doesn't phase you much anymore.

I went to a talk by Matt Fitzgerald who has been looking at a lot of the mental side of endurance sport, and he thought there are some positive benefits to competing "angry". I bet it has something to do with being in "fight or flight" mode and using the energy as well as blocking out higher level thinking (the kind that tells you to quit because it's really not that important or it's too hard today, etcetera).