Amateur Sports Psychology

I went out this morning with a couple of the lads for the first time this year, Stuart Neesham and Dave Lane. Now, you’ve met Special Dave before but Stuart has not been mentioned here until now (I don’t think).

As we hit the first undulation (not even a hill), I was shocked how little power was in my legs!! Since the beginning of January (22 days), I’ve exercised 14 times:

I’m pretty pleased with that, but as you can see it’s most running and swimming, with only 3 rides, the last of which was a fortnight ago. Looking at it like that, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised but when I went out, I thought I’d feel it less.

As it turned out, we took it steady and I warmed up nicely. Stuart was also fine with it, as he is a pretty committed mountain biker. And if he can’t get out, I think he’ll do some training indoors (rowing machine or something like that). For Dave though, this is the first time he has been out for a couple of months at least, and I don’t think he has done any other training.

So by 7.5 miles in, I think he was really feeling it. He was saying we should go on and leave him. And then, that he was thinking of stopping and resting.

At that point on our ride, there’s a big drop followed by three smaller climbs. I think the thought of these was what was worrying Dave. So to keep him going, I told the story of a quote I heard Lance Armstrong make one time, many moons ago.

“Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever”.

Whether you are a Lance fan or not (and he certainly divide’s opinion), the motivational quote is one of my favourites.

All credit to Dave. He didn’t stop. He kept going. And when we got back to Tickhill, he said the Lance quote helped him keep going. So next time, your out training and hurting. Think of Dave, or Lance, and hopefully this will get you round too!