Using positive mental strategies whether for a week-long training camp or the upcoming Tour of Sufferlandria can make all the difference when the going gets tough. Coaches Suzie Snyder and Jeff Hoobler break down how to use positive mental strategies to get the most out of yourself.
Using positive mental strategies whether for a week-long training camp or the upcoming Tour of Sufferlandria can make all the difference when the going gets tough. Coaches Suzie Snyder and Jeff Hoobler break down how to use positive mental strategies to get the most out of yourself. Plan and practice, pre-record or script it, and write it down if a negative thought creeps in, it's okay. Hear Jeff and Suzie's takeaways to help you deal with your inner voice that is yelling "STOP! "
**Learn more:**
How To Use Positive Sef-Talk To Boost Performance
Don't Bail on A Workout, Adjust It
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Jeff Hoobler 0:00
Hey, welcome back to another episode of the knowledge podcast by Wahoo. I'm Jeff Hoobler, coach and movement specialist.
Suzie Snyder 0:06
And I'm Susie Snyder, Wahoos, multi-sport coaching specialist. And today we're discussing some strategies on how to get through difficult moments while training and racing. So I think we've all been there, you're out, whether it's a training ride or a race, everything's going great. And then who knows why could be any number of reasons. Maybe you bonk because of bad nutrition, maybe have mechanical get separated from the group, whatever it is, right, your ride gets interrupted. And that positive mindset you started with starts to go out the window, as you get more and more flustered, right, your confidence gets shaky, and that negativity slowly spirals downward, more and more and more out of control. So we need to talk about some mental strategies that can be effective in getting you out of that. I know one that's really effective for me is positive self-talk, and I've used it a lot, maybe every day. But what about you, Jeff? Right? You've got a sports psychology background, in addition to being an athlete, what are your thoughts on positive self-talk?
Jeff Hoobler 1:04
Yeah, I absolutely right. So I've definitely experienced exactly what you're talking about, it's really easy to get into that self-defeating dialogue, you know, if something goes wrong, and you know, it just can trap you, it's, it's almost like getting caught in an eddy, it just sucked in, and churns and churns. But the good news is that with a little preparation, you can take these obstacles head-on, and stop them in their tracks. You know, there's no doubt that words are very powerful. They're loaded with associations and feelings. And these feelings can affect us in ways that we're not really aware of. And words can influence the way our brains behave at a basic neurological level, which in turn changes the way our bodies perform. The great thing is, we have the power to control this. But none of this happens by accident, you have to plan for success. And that starts with how you talk to yourself. So, Suzy, tell us a little bit about what we're talking about here with what is self-talk? What is positive self-talk?
Suzie Snyder 2:03
Well, seems pretty obvious, right? It's how you talk to yourself that internal monologue. Oh, wait,
Jeff Hoobler 2:09
wait, is that voice inside my head bothering you? Wait,
Suzie Snyder 2:11
I have one too. Is it bothering you? Yeah, we all have a little voice in the back of our head that can influence our subconscious mind and our thoughts, and our beliefs. And it reveals those fears that we have that sometimes we're not even aware of, and it can be positive or negative. And since we're all about being better endurance athletes and better people and improving that positive self-talk, let's talk about how we can do that.
Jeff Hoobler 2:35
So is this some kind of slot for Is there any scientific evidence behind this
Suzie Snyder 2:39
fluff? Jeff, for sports scientists? Come on, we've got research. Yeah, there's a ton of research that supports the positive self-talk method in this first study, which we'll link to all these in the show notes if you want to read them for yourself. But this first study found that cyclists who used self-regulated positive self-talk, which really just means they're allowed to say whatever they wanted to say to themselves, as long as it was positive, had an average performance increase of 23.4%. Whoa, that's pretty significant. Yeah, I'd take that any day. And then another study found that self-talk could significantly reduce the writers' rating of perceived exertion and enhance their endurance performance. So basically, it just made them feel like they weren't working as hard as they actually were. And in the end, their performance improved. So that's pretty simple. And then the last study found that motivational self-talk could lead to an increase in the writers' power and improved Time Trial performance. So more power and you go faster, that's a win.
Jeff Hoobler 3:38
And, you know, there are literally hundreds of studies that have been done to show that positive self-talk and positive strategies can be very helpful.
Suzie Snyder 3:48
Yeah, but there are different types of positive self-talk, right, as we learned. So, Jeff, why don't you give us the rundown on those three types?
Jeff Hoobler 3:55
Yeah, three primary types are motivational, instructional, and reward. And with motivational self-talk, it's essentially encouragement, right? saying you've got this telling yourself that you can as if it were coming from a coach or somebody that you're close to. Interestingly, the research shows that this is best done in the second person using you versus I, this can also be tied with your why are you doing this sport or this race? Is it your own personal challenge? Is it for someone else? Is it a charity? Is it a remembrance event? And you know, you can build that into the motivation. You want to frame this, as you know when you're thinking about how you would talk to yourself and that little inner dialogue that is just kind of tapping off the door all the time. We want it to be positive. So think of this as how would you talk to someone that you really care about? You're not going to beat him up? You're going to say, Yeah, this is hard, but you're doing great. You can do this. Keep going. And another part of this motivational self-talk is setting small goals. So for instance, hey, you can make it to the next aid station and tell yourself that or the next mailbox or, or whatever it is. And we'll come back on that in just a moment. So instructional self-talk is really about focusing on a specific task. For example, relax your shoulders, control your breathing, or smooth out your cadence. It's something that you can focus on. And most people can't truly focus on more than one thing at a time. And by focusing on that, one thing that you can control essentially blocks out the noise
Suzie Snyder 5:35
and the negativity that comes with negative. Right,
Jeff Hoobler 5:39
right. It's, it's like dialing in your channel, right? Yeah. And then the third type that we're talking about here is the reward. And this would be congratulatory, and, for example, great job, you nailed that section. Now settle in and recover or back to, you know, where we were making the small goals, acknowledging a success, even if it's a tiny one, and using it to fuel your next small goal. So, you know, if you made it to the aid station, Hey, good job, I got this but a reset, and then off we go again. And it's beneficial because you score a win. Right? So positive things build on top of themselves.
Suzie Snyder 6:15
Yeah, I think I've actually used all three types of this positive self-talk in a single race before. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's easy, to start on one. And then you know, the longer the race goes on, you can't just keep telling yourself the same thing. It doesn't work anymore, you move on to something else. For me, it starts with motivational because, you know, when it starts to hurt, you're like, oh, man, how long can I keep this up? So then you start with the motivational but then you're like, Okay, you're getting boring? Sure, yes, you can do this, but I need something different. So then I move on to the instructional and I start focusing on my breathing. And it's just, you do that? Well, for a while, and you're like, Alright, that was great. Now, now do it to the next day's station.
Jeff Hoobler 6:56
Right. And you know, you have those tools in your pocket, and you pull them out when you need them.
Suzie Snyder 7:01
Mm-hmm. It's not just about being a cheerleader for yourself, you're not just good job, you can do this, you got to find things that motivate you and drive you that are personal to you and are meaningful. You're not just thinking happy thoughts about puppies and rainbows thinking that's gonna drive you forward?
Jeff Hoobler 7:18
Absolutely, absolutely. You need to make a plan. Yeah, although I do like puppies and rainbows. But you know, the key here is that this is a strategy, right? So it's not just random, that it pops into your head, you're going to make a plan. And we're going to prep that, you know, we've all heard the saying, failing to plan is planning to fail. And you know, it's true here as well. So some of the strategies with this are to plan, practice, and review, you know, you can break it into two or three parts here. And during your planning, you need to, you need to schedule it just like you would for a workout, take the time to make this a priority, right. And it doesn't have to belong, it's just, you know, it's pretty quick and identify areas that you commonly struggle with during training, maybe it's doing map efforts, or maybe it's testing on, you know, you get that negative thought in your head during testing. And we can turn that around, or for an event, what's gotten you into that negative headspace before and then anticipate that the key here is that the sooner you recognize these negative thoughts or language, the better, right, it's so much easier to correct. If you adjust early, it's kind of like, you know, dropping into quicksand. Further down there, and you're fighting and fighting and fighting. So now, what do we do with that, we've identified these things. And now we will need to rewrite that language. And we can use any combination of the three types of positive self-talk that we mentioned about motivational instruction or reward. And then we're going to literally write it down and look at, we're gonna record it, post it, you know, back in the day. That's really going to be helpful, but, you know, a little post-it notes, but we used to, you know, back in the day, we would literally script out what we wanted to say to ourselves, and record it on a cassette tape, literally play it on a Walkman. And, you know, it could be a minute, or it could be five minutes could be a visualization of how you want things to go. And you don't necessarily need to go that far. But you want to identify the trigger, and then have the counter readily available, right? And the more times you see this visually, and more times you hear it inside your head, the more likely you're going to be able to execute it when the time comes that you need it.
Suzie Snyder 9:36
Right, it becomes second nature. You know, it's just like any skill that you practice, it becomes easier and easier. And the less you have to think about it when you actually do that skill or Absolutely, it's the same thing. You have to just make it instinctual. So
Jeff Hoobler 9:49
part two would be we're going to practice you need to take time to make this effective. And so when are good times that you can do that you might know. So you need to practice. So what are some good times that you could practice this?
Suzie Snyder 10:11
Well, I do this a lot during training sessions, and encourage everyone to do it during training, because that's when you're really, you know, it's natural. If you miss a target or flub something up, it's easy to let that negativity starts. And so it's a perfect time to recognize it, and then turn around. And actually, I've done this, like you've said, written it down, scripted out, practice the things you want to say, visualize your race. The next day, I've done this the day before actually written it on paper, this is my race plan. If something goes wrong, this is what I'm going to do and say, and it's been really it just helps make it instinctual, I guess, and
Jeff Hoobler 10:48
word on the street is you actually post it to where he posted.
Suzie Snyder 10:52
I'll post it on the mirror, I'll post it on social media posting, it is like holding yourself accountable. Right, right. And I know a lot of people these days are actually putting their goals and everything on social media so that people know what you're doing and can come back and say, Hey, did you actually do
Jeff Hoobler 11:07
Yeah, call you out. Right on,
Suzie Snyder 11:11
but then before the race starts, you can use this to get yourself into the right mindset as well. So just getting the right things in your head can help for those negative thoughts or intimidation creep in when you see that certain competitor that you know, is really fast, you know, you don't let your head go, oh, shoot, she's here, I can't beat her. Well, instead, you focus on the positive things that keep you motivated and focused and keep those negative noise out. And one thing I've done actually on event day is taking a sharpie and write on my arm, or know on my, on my bike handlebars, you know, whatever keyword or phrase or something that keeps me focused, strong and steady, or just breathe, or whatever it is that works for you. And it just keeps it right in front of your face. Right, reminding you all the time.
Jeff Hoobler 12:01
And it's simple, right? It's yeah, it's right there. Yeah. And the other. The other part of this is that we need to review, right, you need to schedule time for that. And it's this is part of training, if you want to be successful, when you want to give yourself the best opportunity for success, we need to plan it. And this is part of the plan. And part of the plan is to review the schedule that time and then look at what worked for you and what didn't. Did you have enough negative self-talk? Did you face it head-on? And did you counter it? What can you do to improve your inner dialogue? You know, and you can do this as you said, you can do it at home during recovery, reflect on the training session that you had, what went well, what didn't? And, you know, how did you execute? And then make those little changes? And the beauty is we have this in the app, right? Yeah. Right, there's a higher mental training plan in the app. And one of these things is the regular monthly review, make the time to do these. And when we're talking about making the time it doesn't need to be an hour training session, it can be literally five minutes and or less, and just scheduling in your day, just like you would a workout.
Suzie Snyder 13:09
Yeah, make it a habit. Like as soon as you finish your training session, and whether you foam roll and stretch or massage or just jump straight in the shower, like, hey, while you're washing your hair, you can be thinking about what you did well, and what you didn't like, oh, shoot, I got really negative after that during that second interval. And I just kind of let it go. Maybe you know, I need to work on that.
Jeff Hoobler 13:31
It's interesting, because when we obviously when we do catch ourselves, we're like, Oh, dang it. Why did I do that? And you know, it's good to do that. But we also don't want to beat ourselves up, we want to just say, Okay, I noticed that I'm going the wrong direction. Let's re-rerouting Rerouting. Let's get back on track here and go in the right direction. And in your review, just use that as Oh, okay, I got off track here. Maybe there's a better way that I can get back on track. And if previously you were using the motivation, hey, you got this, maybe let's try the instructional bit. Okay, let's move your kittens out or full exhale, whatever it needs to be to drive that focus.
Suzie Snyder 14:18
Alright, so we've gone over the steps and how to use it and when to use it, and what it is. Let's just give a little recap. What are the three most important things to remember from all this information?
Jeff Hoobler 14:31
Yeah, I think the most important thing is to plan and practice the right schedule the time just like we mentioned, create some positive keywords. Secondly, the negative thought creeps in, it's okay. Just recognize it and use that as the cue to get yourself back on track. And third, I think would be just focusing on one thing, okay. Be something like a mantra that you repeat to yourself strong and steady or instructional but keep it very simple.
Suzie Snyder 14:59
Awesome. Those are Great points, Jeff. Let's all take control of our inner voice. Use it to our advantage. Thanks for listening to the knowledge podcast by Wahoo