Mental resilience in endurance sport

 

Carrying on from my last blog, again covering a very topical subject in the current world we are living in. I thought I would take some time to write about what mental resilience means to athletes and to suggest ways in which you can cope with events to make yourself a more resilient individual.

What is mental resilience?

Mental resilience is the ability to regulate your mental processes and behaviours, in the face of adversity.  Someone who has good mental resilience can rationally deal with difficult, stressful, or surprising situations.

How do we build this into ourselves?

It’s all well and good looking at a dictionary definition and an idealism. However, in practice, how do you improve this mindset? One of the best ways I have found to deal with difficult situations is to surround yourself with positive, like-minded people, who won’t hesitate to be honest with you and to help you to think rationally. Another way, is recognising when you don’t have control over an event; learning  how to manage your feelings/focus to remain in a good mindset. This brings me back to what I touched upon in my last blog in goal setting and ticking off small goals along the way.

The main area I see in athletes (and I have been guilty of this myself) is not recognising your own accomplishments, however small they may be. Recognising what you have achieved is such a good way to keep a positive frame of mind. As an athlete, on the whole, you are always looking ahead at what’s to come so frequently forget to enjoy or acknowledge your own accomplishments. This is such an easy trap to fall into. Most commonly, we are our own toughest critics and therefore neglect personal praise.

All these points I have touched upon so far are fairly different to the more ‘old school’ perception to mental resilience, especially in endurance sport. I think it is viewed as a very macho thing, to ‘get it done’ and not to question the process. I still think a certain element is very much true as life isn’t always easy and you do need to push yourself. On the other hand, using those sweeping statements doesn’t help you actually learn ways to manage your mind and figure out process’s that work for you.

I hope this has given you some ideas to take away and think about processes that you can implement in your own life, to become more mentally resilient.

 

The key to 21 season success

With January feeling as though it's come and gone in a flash, I'd like to take the time to write about how you can maintain focus on your goals. With the year just gone, I won't hesitate to say that the vast majority of us are very much lacking motivation and we are all seeking some light at the end of the tunnel. The main thing for an athlete or someone just looking to complete a challenge, is knowing and having a time-scale to work upon. This seems to very much be lacking under current circumstances. So, in this blog I'd like to share my personal tips on staying motivated/ on track to achieve your goals.

Setting small attainable targets

Whilst looking towards a bigger end-goal you may have in mind, to keep yourself constantly progressing, tick off smaller goals along your journey. This will help no end. These goals can be anything you like, be it performance related, skills or psychological. For example, one of my riders who isn't confident in their bike handing, is taking one day a week dedicated to cornering practice. Although this isn't related to physical performance, this will help the rider no end dialling in this skill before lining up on the start line.

Not getting overly focussed on physical performance, keep things fun! 

95% of us started sport for enjoyment, right? Don't overlook the fun element when aiming towards improving peak physical condition. I can guarantee if you are enjoying what you are doing you are far more likely to perform as you desire. I can vouch for this first hand, I have always performed far better when I've been enjoying the process. Training can be monotonous sometimes so it's always good to freshen sessions up now and then to keep those positive endorphins flooding your brain. This brings me on to my next point.

Focusing on yourself

FOMO (fear of missing out) is very much real in the world of training, especially with constant exposure to social media. We all see the snippets of people's perfect lives posted on social media or athletes posting all their training on Strava. Consciously or subconsciously we are always going to compare ourselves to others. This can sometimes be a good thing but on the whole it's pretty detrimental to our own self esteem. Going with a cliche quote here 'control the controllable' but it is so true. Concentrating on being the best version of yourself doing what works for you, will always be more beneficial to your performance and wellbeing.

Don't be afraid to have a break

 As athletes, we are always super scared of taking our foot off the gas. This is so natural as we are so used to dedicating such vast amounts of our day to day lives to training it feels bizarre. However, if you are feeling fed up with the process, mentally fatigued or really losing site of your goals. I really wouldn’t hesitate to say having a break from training really can do you good in reigniting that hunger to chase your goals once again. Most of the time, a break from training will help you re-focus, freshen both mind and body, to then be able to improve. It really does seem counter-intuitive but once again, keeping yourself mentally fresh will help you more than anything.

Working on the areas of weakness you wouldn’t normally have chance to

With the season seeming to be pushed ever further away from our foresight. The positive outlook you must take from this is that there is plenty more time to work on any personal weakness you have, whatever these may be. Once again, it can be a great way to keep your training approach fresh and a happy head upon your shoulders to achieve what you set out to do.

I hope that this blog may help you in some way or give you some ideas heading into the 2021 season. I really enjoy looking at the mental performance side of training and learning what makes an athlete tick as I personally neglected this at times. I very much value improving an athlete’s general skill-set, alongside bettering their engine. I hope you have enjoyed reading this impromptu blog, please let me know if you have enjoyed the read and want to hear about more aspects of training in depth.

Moving on

After a long period of deliberation and mulling over the idea of stepping away from top level racing, I feel that now is the time for me to do so. I still love cycling and can see myself working within another role in the sport down the line. I've come to the decision to stop pursuing 'bike racing' as a career because of thoughts I've had for a long while. I no longer  possess the inner drive/ obsession that I previously had to chase the ultimate goal of becoming a pro bike rider. Over the last 12 months these thoughts have become more  prevalent. If you don't believe and back yourself 100% in this hard sport, realistically your ambitions aren't going to materialize. I've come to the conclusion that being a pro bike racer is no longer the be all and end all for me. I haven't taken this decision lightly and know it may come as a surprise to a few of you.


I am a realist and looking towards my future. I couldn't piece together how I would be able to make the jump up in level that had always been my ambition.   I'm quite a process driven person and I've always loved training but more and more this has become a chore and the enjoyment has dwindled. The fun of racing has also been tainted too because of the amount of pressure I have put on myself to achieve. For example, winning my first 2 races this year didn't make me super happy; I was more relieved that I could simply tick that box. This hit home when I look back to junior days where winning made me feel elated. When enjoyment of doing something has diminished, it's time move on to different challenges. I know there are a lot more aspects in life for me to explore away from my racing bubble. I look forward to facing new challenges and rounding myself as a person with many new experiences.


At first, I felt like I would be letting those down that have supported me along my racing journey. However, at the end of the day if I'm not 100% committed to my sport both mentally and physically, I'm not benefiting anyone. It's important to be true to myself and honest to those around me in making a definitive decision. I'd like to reach out and thank everyone of you who has backed me through the years. Especially Welsh Cycling who have provided me with countless opportunities. Without a doubt, the highlight of which for me was competing in the Commonwealth games in Australia. Most importantly I'd like to thank my parents and family who wholeheartedly support me in whatever I do.

Pre season 2020

This update's been a long time coming... So since I've last updated you guys, I've been cracking on with a big workload of winter training but with a few changes this year compared to previous years.

Training wise, I've increased my gym load; On the bike, I've been working on my top end power throughout the winter. During this period I've kept up my endurance volume (very much helped by my 2 trips to Catalonia). The upped gym load has very much been for injury prevention after my previous seasons knee injury but also I've been working on my imbalances. I really feel this work has helped me a bunch going into this season. I just feel generally stronger as a person from it. Bike wise, I've really focused on my 'max' and 'sub 5' minute power as this is the area that comes least naturally to me. It's also been nice to mix up the training to keep more engaged and mentally fresher with my day to day work. This brings me on to my next phase of training which has been the volume that I've predominantly spent doing in Catalonia.

No big New Year's Party for me as at 7.00am on January 1st I was on a plane headed for Barcelona. As I have for the past 2 seasons now; I find pre-season prep in Girona really works for me. I feel really at home in Girona and have a great group of friends on and off the bike. I spent January getting in many hours of training but also a lot of specific work in the gym and structured efforts on the bike. As well as the solid work I get done on the bike, it's nice to have a great bunch of friends that I've met over the last few years of heading here to spend time with off the bike. Then to top the  my trip off team mate joe Becks came to join join me for the last 10 days which I think was great for the pair of us.

After 3 weeks back in gloomy GB (constantly searching Skyscanner), I returned to Catalonia but this time with my Academy team mates for what was set to be one of the best team camps I've been on. We stayed at the unreal Artah retreats villa which was amazing in every way! The setting was stunning  in the foothills of the Pyrenees so perfect for our camp. The camp consisted of long days stacked with group efforts. It was great to get training as a unit and to generally work better as a team. Morale was always high even though we were putting in some serious hours (40 hours in 9 days). Morale was also helped by the unreal food being made by the chef, Juan. Towards the latter end of camp, Wales linked up with GB and Israel Cycling Academy for 2 days of Group Training/mock races. This was great to edge a bit of competition out of the boys and just good to link up with the other lads.

Race Season is now underway and judging by the first race, that camp has definitely done us some good. At Evesham RR on Sunday we bagged a 1,2,3. I couldn't ask for a better start to the season for me taking the win and for the way all of the lads rode. I'm now really looking forward to Sunday's Betty Pharoah RR on home turf where I hope to continue the trend!

Coaching venture

As many of you may have seen by now, I have started my own coaching business to offer one-to-one plans and support anyone who may be interested.

This has been in the works for a while whilst I was completing my coaching qualification with ABCC. I've always had an interest in coaching and training plans as I've been coached myself for many years by various people.  I've a fair bit of experience on a personal level.  I have always been interested in how the body responds to different sessions and how individuals differ in their response to training. I feel I am quite a good judge of an athletes traits and what will work for certain individuals and this is only achieved by having a close coach-athlete bond.

Aside from physically improving an individual, I feel I can offer a lot of useful race/tactical advice as this is a side to racing that in my opinion just isn't looked into enough. Through my personal experiences racing and from all of the people I've met through racing, I've picked up many nuggets of useful information that I'm happy to share.

Doing the coaching side of things is something I've wanted to do for a while and thus far I'm really thankful for the response I've had. I'm running this in parallel with my personal goals with the sport as I've found focusing my energy onto other areas helps to keep me mentally fresh and not so self consumed in my own racing. This helps me stay really motivated for my own training/racing.

With regards to my own training I'm on a build/strength phase of winter training. This is a mix of gym and strength efforts on the bike. I'm also mixing this up with some speed work at the velodrome. The rest of time I'm riding on the roads through whatever weather is thrown at me! At this time of year it is great to mix things up to keep yourself fresh. It's great to get out social riding with friends at this time of year.

I hope to meet a good few of you reading this along the way. Please feel free to get in touch with any coaching advice you'd like; just drop me a message.

Pete

2019 season round up/ general update

It’s been a slow ending to my 2019 season with a lack of racing in September; my last race was Ryedale at the end of August.

For September, I’ve just been ticking along keeping the fitness levels up before heading into October for a few weeks off the bike and some down time to reset ahead of next season.

To sum up the 2019 season for me...

It’s been far from what I wanted and for the work I put in, it’s been a bit of a disappointment. Much of this was down to bad luck with a minor heart issue kicking this off before a heavy crash causing a lingering knee injury.

Prior to this, I was very pleased with my results and performances in races. Obviously the stand out performance for me was retaining the KOM jersey in the tour de Bretagne. It was at this point I felt I was gathering momentum with my racing to properly seal down some of the key results that I set out to achieve this season. Due to the set backs I mentioned earlier, this was just too much of an ask for me and I just couldn't get back up to the level at which I was performing at both physically but also mentally. I found the mid-season period particularly tough to deal with. 

Looking towards next year I've had some good discussions with Welsh Cycling. They have really helped me out in all aspects and especially putting my mind at ease giving me the opportunity to race for their Senior Academy next season. I cannot thank Welsh cycling enough for their support over the years and especially giving me a chance to prove my worth in the 2020 season.

Aside from racing, I’ve just come back from a week of riding + a lot of socializing with an ace bunch of friends in Girona which I’ve super enjoyed. It has mentally rejuvenated me and given me the motivation I need for next season. It’s made me enjoy my riding again.  Post mid-season set backs, I lost the love for riding a little and aspects of my training became a bit of a chore. It was great to feel fully passionate about what I’m doing once more.

This is a sign off to my 2019 season. I fully appreciate all the support I’ve been shown this year and can’t wait to get the wheels turning in anger next season now 💪🏼

Trials and Tribulations

The last month or so since I last checked in here hasn't been plain sailing to say the least. From being on a bit of a high from the Tour of Bretagne, I got a bit of a virus most probably from being depleted from the race . I thought I was over this so decided to rock up at Redditch tour series. This turned out to be a bit of a mistake as I wasn't fully over this and had to abandon with some weird health symptoms. Following this, I went for a load of different tests over the next 2 and a half weeks mostly to do with my heart. This was a very frustrating period of not knowing if I had an issue or not but mostly missing one of my key target races for the year, The Fleche de Sud.

After seeing many different people and finally an expert based in London, I was given the all clear to get back training and racing.  It was actually quite interesting to see the 3D heart scan etc. I was pleased to hear this and dead motivated to regain some fitness which seemed to be going pretty well. Then 2 weekends ago I got back to racing in Belgium in GP Memorial Van Conningslo. However, this race came to a very premature end. Crashing fairly early on, hard onto my face! I was taken to hospital where I had stitches on my lip and nose. I also once again took my front tooth out (3rd time in a race!!!!). Fair to say, I did a proper job..... A few days later now when I've tried to train again but my left knee has been giving me grief from something sustained in the crash. This means even more time off the bike and in rehab to get me back on the road.

This has been really annoying having a vast chunk of my mid season taken away through misfortune. However,  hopefully it won't be too long until this knee is sorted and  stitches are out so my looks aren't quite as dented as last week! Just more scars to add to the collection.... I've been feeling pretty sorry for myself but it could have been worse and I could have ended up like Froome.

I'm doing what I can to get my knee sorted but this is mostly a waiting game. Frustrating as this is, I'm just looking forward to getting back racing once I'm fit again.

Pete