Transcript The Psychology of Endurance Sport

Drew Brannon, Ph.D., CC-AASP
The Lowdergroup
 The Role of Sport Psychology for the Endurance Athlete
 The Psychology of the Endurance Athlete Lifestyle
 Psychology of Peak Performance
 Mental Hurdles
 Next Steps
 Where does it fit?
 How can it help?
 If the sport is “so mental,” why don’t we work on it or
consider it more (Grand-Maison, 2004)?
 Relying on self-report data
 Few (if any) funding sources
 Outcome variables difficult to measure
 Limited interest by researchers/current faculty
 High need for control (works for and
against)
 Driven or rigid?
 Life-balance needs (periodization)
 Social benefit/social cost
 Perfectionistic tendencies
 Self-monitoring – solitary training can hide many
things
 Accountability – use others for more than just pace
 Motivation – listen to your internal barometer
 Stress reliever? Source of stress?
 How do you define success?
 Too narrow?
 How do you handle adversity?
 Have you personalized your mental
approach?
 Are your expectations realistic?
 No history, no future (in the
moment)
 Laying the foundation
 Mission Statement
 Trigger statements
 Is it who you are?
 If you saw yourself on tape?
 In your face
 No impact without contact
 Ink it, don’t think it
 Pain
 Focus (on what?)
 Pre-race anxiety
 Comparisons
 Worries
 Injury
 Yerkes-Dodson, 1908
 Proper perspective on it
 Imagery
 Breathing exercises
 Self-talk
Controllable
Uncontrollable
Effort
Competitors
Intensity
Bike problems
Focus
Weather
Perspective
“Bad day”
Physical Prep
Wave start
Mental Prep
Cramps
 Confidence
 Motivation
 Self-talk
 Intensity
 Focus
Good performance
Importance
Difficulty
Conditions
Thoughts (before/during)
Emotions (before/during)
Physical Feelings
Poor Performance
 Breathing
 1 to 2 Ratio
 Imagery (Murphy, 2005)
 See it, feel it, live it
 Yoga
 Progressive muscle relaxation
 “Go to” music
 Triggers
 “I’ve done the work, today’s my day.”
 “My race, my goal.”
 Imagery
 See that moment, feel that moment
 Perspective
 “Control what I can control.”
 Where do you go from here when it happens?
 Do you expect to always be “on?”
 Growth opportunities
 Motivators
 Do we assess and grow when things go well?
 Create your “race day plan”
 Imagery
 Self talk
 Goals
 Internal drive
 Assessment
 Putting the plan
together
 Executing the plan
 Evaluating the plan
Goal
What
When
Increase motivation
Set goals
Every Monday
Grow confidence
Develop positive self-talk
Prior to/following races
and/or training
Improve focus ability
Create triggers
During weekly track
workout
Handle pain better
Use trigger response
During interval workouts
 The Power of Full Engagement (Loehr)
 Inner Strength (Vernacchia)
 The Triathlete’s Guide to Mental Training (Taylor)
 Golf if not a Game of Perfect (Rotella)
Drew Brannon, Ph.D., CC-AASP
The Lowdergroup
86 Villa Road, Suite B
Greenville, SC 29615
p: 864.239.4110
[email protected]