Okay, okay, so the racing season started, but you feel like you are light years behind everyone? Get real! Half the battle of bike racing is mental, so get mental with it. Last week I was 14th out 16 people in the time trial results. This week 8th out of 33. What made the difference? Mental focus. I set a goal for myself to get into the top 10 in my category and then checked last year's results to see who came in 1st and how fast they rode to get there. Then I set that time as my mantra and rode intervals all week to get my lactate threshold up a little. And then during the race, I kept repeating the mantra of that time I wanted to meet. I didn't freak out when I couldn't hold the pace, I just kept talking to myself, "C'mon, you can go faster than that. Feeling rested, come on let's push it some more, you can do it!"
I have to admit, I wanted to barf across the finish line, but the next day when I saw my results...that was the best feeling. Not only did I come in 8th, but one of my team members who is 20 years younger than me only beat my time by two seconds.
Now that feels great.
Now back to you. Set a goal for yourself to achieve a better result. Then research what it takes to get there. Then everyday, see yourself hitting that goal, play it over and over in your mind and body. Use that "as if" princiiple until you can sweat no more. Then on the day you need to be number one, keep that positive focus until you reach your goal. A picture is worth a thousand words. So use that mental imaging to achieve success.
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