Developing an effective mindset

Psychology or mindset often comes a long way down the list of factors that can improve cycling performance after new bike bits and time in the saddle, often to the point it’s ignored or seen as irrelevant. However, mindset is an essentially free and significant performance differentiator for those who choose to invest some time in developing it. In fact, developing an effective mental approach to training is way more likely to generate a resilience performance boost than a new set of wheels.

We all have physiological limits – how hard the machinery of our body – heart, lungs and muscles, can go. These are set by our age, sex, sporting and injury history and the like but they are rarely fully explored because they are limited by the brain. The most successful athletes find ways of negotiating with the brain to persuade it to carry on, push harder or continue for a little longer despite discomfort. There is little, if any, natural difference in the physiology of elite riders, strength of mind is the differentiator separating winners from also rans. 

​...strength of mind is the differentiator separating winners from also rans...    

The central nervous system, including the brain, processes electrical and chemical information from the body during endurance exercise. The brain’s automatic processes monitor the body and provide suggestions of varying strength about when to back off or quit based on physiological markers. It will subconsciously factor in confidence, attitude, aptitude, previous experiences, successes, failures and a raft of other information in coming to a conclusion about whether to bail or not. The mind makes an objective decision about what to do with these suggestions based on a perception of goal achievement or threat. The mind gets to decide, not the brain.   

This applies in the micro setting of a 2 minute interval as much as the macro environment of adherence to a regular training program.  The mind needs a reason to persuade the brain to keep pushing. If the target has been achieved, or there is no threat or, worse still, there is no meaningful goal, the mind is deprived of the persuasive material it needs. The mind can change brain’s assessment of necessary effort, the amount of suffering that it is willing to endure, as long as it has good reason.
   
Mental strength is a developable, learnable skill. It involves changing the perception of the level of effort that is tolerable to facilitate training with consistency, intent and purpose. A change in the rider’s relationship with the subjective assessment or the feeling of discomfort makes a material difference to the quality of training.

Doing so successfully increases resilience and consistency, vital for successful endurance training. Secondly, it improves the ability to deal with setbacks and to reframe ‘failures’ and missed targets as useful data and an essential part of the training process rather than an existential threat. These are critical concepts to embrace.

Clear, unambiguous and, above all, meaningful goals are vital. Compartmentalisation, visualisation, self-talk, emotional control and other interventions tailored to suit individual riders can then be built to develop a bullet proof mindset. 

Or you can go shopping for new wheels…*
​
Get in touch here if you want to know more. 

---

Rich Smith, BSc, MSc Psychology, specialises in competition, motivation and affective states. He is a British Cycling qualified Level 3 Road and TT coach supporting riders nationally and internationally. He established RideFast Coaching in 2015 to deliver physiologically effective and psychologically sustainable training to enthusiastic amateur riders. *He likes to buy new wheels too.