Sportybrains

Photo credit: STACK media

Today's a post is for all the visual athletes out there...

Last week, I posted this article from USA Triathlon on my professional Facebook page about visualizing not your race performances, but your upcoming workout. I found this concept intriguing because: 1. we so often overlook using imagery to prepare as we merely scan out Training Peaks assignments and head out the door 2. it was nice to see USAT suggesting a technique I have athletes do quite often in the office (Hey-gotta take validation for what you're doing where you can find it!). I'll also expand upon a guest post I wrote on the fabulous Miss Zippy's blog a couple weeks ago. And imagery can be a powerful thing should we choose to use it.

Like I mentioned in the guest post, I have a pretty strong ego when it comes to my training and racing and it always seems to bite me at times not very opportune; especially when it comes to defeating the desire to "win training". This error seems so easy to look past, but as the article states, we amateurs tend to lose focus on not just the big picture but one trigger can cause anywhere from a small lapse to a completely blown workout, and we could imagine what could happen if it becomes a fairly regular thing. How do we override the "just this once" phenomenon when we bolt after the pack or overshoot an interval.

Sometimes and somehow we can override our petty needs to prove things to ourselves in training (ok talking to myself quite a lot here). I know not just my races but my workouts are better if I run a little preview of what I plan to do. I liken it to a preview of excerpt of a TV show or a movie. While these don't that doesn't give away all of the story, but you have a guideline and structure. The cool thing is, you are the director of the film and it is likely if you picture staying cool and on task when you get passed, as the article mentions, the more likely it will happen because you were mindful of it in advance and rehearsed the workout's purpose. It's perhaps another way to pre-commit to the task at hand.

I'll give a personal example from recent training: I had two athletes cycle with me over the weekend and I emphasized the need to stay within a certain HR window because the purpose of the workout was simply to build endurance. While hammering the rollers of the Farm-Market roads is great fun, it can be detrimental to progress. After repeating the instructions to my athletes, I had to think back to what I did when Joey passed me last week-I took the pace down, this ride was a bit longer and I had committed to setting an example of staying in your window. I had pictured before what a successful outing would look like, and my training goal of the day was obviously to make sure everyone had a safe ride and to stay my easy range.

You can imagine what happened, I got passed up, but this time, as I imagined it would, I simply looked down at my computer, HR monitor, and thought about how strong I felt. While there were other factors that helped make it a good session, picturing what to do beforehand did help with focusing in. In short, perhaps to get the most out of your training, don't just read the book, but watch the movie-as many times as it takes-for the best results in purpose-driven training. Funny thing is, many of us already picture something when a workout comes to mind, but I challenge y'all to put some purpose to the pictures in your head as you plan your next session.

Do any of you visualize in training and racing? What images tend to help you perform?

Stay the course.