I have been reading about marketing and how a person's perception colors their view of reality. The book is fantastic and I highly recommend it. The name of the book is Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely. One of the premises is that perception before an event greatly influences how we experience the event no matter our age, experience or result.
What does this have to with cycling you ask. Well here is the lead. I noticed at Solvang that when I had a certain amount of nervousness about an event, like riding with the B group, I did not do as well because I saw myself at a disadvantage. I felt I was working harder and getting less results. Once I moved to the C group the pressure was off but that in of itself did not allow me to do better. Once the pressure was off I was able to enjoy myself more and the enjoyment allowed me to have a positive attitude.
Now that I am back from camp and I have been able to analyze my behavior and since I have read Ariel's book I realize that my negative attitude, "This is hard", "These guys are better than me" or "I am too slow," greatly affected my results. When I changed my internal jabbering to "This is fun," "I can do this," and "I am riding really well today," I felt I rode better, the ride seemed easier and I had a much better time no matter what the results.
Here is my lesson learned. Instead of my usual mantra, hydration/rotation or nutrition/position it's now, "I can do this." So far on yesterdays LTs the strategy worked well. I hereby vow to always have a positive attitude and strive to put a positive spin on whatever i am doing, no matter how hard.
I do find myself slipping into negative thoughts but i am learning to push them away. I always knew cycling was 25% mental, now I have the reasons and the method to push the negative doubting thoughts aside.
One more piece of the puzzle. See you on the road.
