| Any sporting achievement requires good | | | | the race. |
| preparation and the right kind of training | | | | |
| but winning margins are often very small. The | | | | Sometimes when racing halfway round you may |
| difference between winning and losing can | | | | find yourself thinking about something |
| often be the matter of a few seconds. To make | | | | completely unrelated. It is often at such |
| sure we optimize our performance we need to | | | | times that your effort levels will have |
| make sure we have the right attitude to | | | | fallen. To race at your highest level you |
| racing on the day. | | | | need to actively work to maintain a highest |
| | | | effort level. |
| 1. Prepare in advance of the race. | | | | |
| | | | 6. Be wary of your mind, which wants to hold |
| Make sure all your equipment is ready and | | | | you back. |
| prepared the previous day. There is nothing | | | | |
| more stressful than adjusting your brakes 30 | | | | The top riders all share a common ability to |
| seconds before you are due to start a | | | | ride through the pain threshold. There are |
| national championship. If you know your bike | | | | times when we need to hold back but at the |
| is working well it is one thing less to worry | | | | same time we should avoid finding numerous |
| about. It allows you to just concentrate on | | | | false excuses to slow down. |
| your race. | | | | |
| | | | 7. Visualise your competitors racing from |
| 2. Be focused on your own race. | | | | behind. |
| | | | |
| Don't spend time thinking of your opponents | | | | When you feel your competitors are behind you |
| and thinking how fast they are. Just | | | | it will give you extra motivation to go |
| concentrate on getting yourself ready. To be | | | | faster. |
| concentrating on other competitors will mean | | | | |
| you lose focus and you may feel inferior and | | | | "If somebody is chasing you, your speed will |
| unable to beat them. These kind of thoughts | | | | be faster than if somebody in front of you is |
| do not help at all. | | | | pulling you toward him with a rope. If you |
| | | | feel that a magnet is pulling you to the |
| 3. Don't allow negative Thoughts. | | | | finish line, you will run fast; but you will |
| | | | run faster if you feel that somebody is |
| Negative thoughts undermine your capabilities | | | | chasing you and you are running for your |
| and capacities. If you worry about how badly | | | | life." (1) |
| you do, you are more likely to perform | | | | |
| disappointingly.. If such thoughts come, | | | | 8. Don't be overly disappointed or overly |
| don't pay any attention to them; just let | | | | excited on your result. |
| them go. Either think of nothing or try to | | | | |
| think of something positive. A clear mind is | | | | We can't help be happy when we do well, but |
| a real boon to getting the most out of your | | | | if we perform worse than expected we should |
| racing capabilities. | | | | not feel miserable. Often to make progress we |
| | | | cannot improve in a straight line. It is |
| 4. Visualise your best performance. | | | | necessary to have peaks and dips. If we |
| | | | become miserable because we didn't fulfil our |
| Before the race you can visualise in your | | | | expectations then can lose motivation to |
| mind performing how you would like to. If you | | | | train. |
| bring into your mind the idea of going very | | | | |
| fast it will help you to be focused. | | | | (1) Excerpt from Carl Lewis: The Champion |
| | | | Inner Runner, Part 1 by Sri Chinmoy. |
| 5. Don't lose concentration midway through | | | | |