Performance: it’s more than just the legs

“It never gets easier, you just go faster” is the famous quote attributed to Greg Lemond. And of course we all want to go faster, right?!? But how does getting fitter and going faster translate into performance?

Performance is about more than just laying down the watts that you have developed through training. There are many aspects to it - think of the Toolbox concept. How you apply your watts through efficiency and smarts plays an important role. The mind however is one of the biggest components of our ability to perform. One line I heard when I was starting to race was that performance was 90% mental, 10% physical. This I would attest is true.

Questioning

One of the hardest things mentally is to believe in ourselves. There isn’t an athlete in the world that doesn’t question their ability to perform to their expectations. Even the best riders in the world question themselves - can I? should I? what if I fail? Whether we can overcome this internal dialogue is a big part of our performance. We need to believe in ourselves. Testing in our training program - where we always put pressure on ourselves - and smaller events are great occasions where we can learn to deal with, and overcome, this internal questioning.

Pushing to the limit

Overcoming this internal dialogue is the key to reaching our physical limits. You want to see good numbers on your ramp test? Do you always finish and say - I could have gone a bit further? Your mental approach is what will allow you to get there and tap into that final extra bit of wattage. It isn’t your physical fitness that lets you use all or your ability, it is your mind.

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My personal experience with this occurred back in my early days of racing full-time. The end of the season was a huge goal that year. Some of the best riders in the world were coming to compete in the Tour of Canada (a week of racing from Quebec to Niagara Falls) and our small team had secured a spot. It was to be a highlight of the year and an opportunity to showcase our talent to the best teams.

Unfortunately though I hadn’t paced the season well. I had ridden well all year, and was on good form come the race, but I didn’t have the mental ability to push. I made a few attacks thought the week, but on the key climbing stages I was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t have the mental capacity to push to my limits. After the race I was like a motorbike and at the final local race of the season simply rode away from the field after a while. I had fitness like never before but no mental capacity to put it to good use.

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Your mind is what really manages your effort and allows you to suffer - this concept is know as the central governor model. It is in the suffering moments that we really see what we can attain and whether our training has worked.

It actually gets harder

Back to Lemond’s quote. I would say that in fact the fitter you get the harder it gets - the fitter you are the more you suffer, the greater is your capacity to push and hold efforts at or close to your limit.

Which brings us to our training and the importance of rest and timing our peak fitness. Our rest periods are about more than just managing our fitness. They are also about managing our mental energies - think of our bucket concept. To perform you need to have both your mental energies and your physical fitness come together on the same day. When this happens you will finish the day exhausted and in pain, lying on the ground, but you will know that you tapped into every ounce of your ability and performed to your best.