A 2 week cold (beginning to think its sinusitis..) has not really helped with training recently.. With now 4 months until departure day in Rotterdam, i appreciate that training needs to be taken to the next level. Weekend rides over the next month need to be 100+km, with at least 3 other sessions on the indoor trainer in the week. Mix that in with 2.5 hours footie training on wednesday/thursday, a match on Saturday, as well as 1 hour personal training/kickboxing on tuesday, and i'm confident my base fitness level will be good before i start winding things up.

On an endurance test such as my undertaking, i have often discussed what the mental:physical ratio really is. Only over the last several years have i appreciated how much of a difference the mental aspect of sport makes. At the very top, superior mental strength really can be the difference between the guy or girl that finishes first, and the one that finishes 10th.

At Mako (where i work) we have a specialist that comes in every few months to discuss performance coaching for our business, however the main skill of the specialist, Jeremy Snape, is performance coaching for sport. Jeremy is an ex- England one Day Cricket International, was Sports psychologist for the England Cricket team at the 2007 World Cup, and is currently the performance coach for the hugely successful South African Test team. (Jeremy's website "The Sporting Edge" here)

Here are a few mental skills that Jeremy told me top sportsmen and women use:
Tiger Woods has an imaginary "8 foot ring" around him within which he is allowed to analyse what went wrong with his previous shot (if something went wrong with it...), but the moment he steps outside of that 8 foot "ring", he forbids himself from thinking about that shot any longer. That way when he approaches where his ball next lies, he faces the next challenge with a completely clear (and non-emotional) mind set.
Tim Henman - bouncing the ball as he is about the serve is a well rehearsed specified drill that clears his mind of any emotion generated by the previous point.
Kenyan marathon runners train with music that has a beat exactly in line with the pace they are to race at. When it comes to their race, that song is playing over and over in their mind so they can focus on rhythmic pacing.
It is fascinating to hear so many little mind tricks that professional sportspeople use to enter a non-emotional mind set in order to perform at their best.

Jeremy gave me some very useful "tools" to use whilst i'm sat in my saddle cycling around France. Techniques such as counting (leg revolutions, up to 100 and back down (Paula Radcliffe's favourite)) focusing on breathing, pre-imagining a mountain or stretch of cobbles (so when you do experience it, you brain has "been there before") are all things to focus on before and during my challenge. As the Tour is over 20 separate stages, you have to focus your mind on each day as it comes (almost blocking out anything that is to follow that day completely). This will be hard, but i can understand the benefits of this even at this early stage. Thinking "2 days down, 18 to go" is not a good way of keeping a focused and positive mind set.

The point of this blog? To remind myself (and anyone reading) of the importance of your mental state before and during endurance challenges. Taking yourself "out of the challenge" by counting, imagining music, or controlling your breathing, takes you away from thinking about how tired your legs are and into a mental state that means you are more likely to keep going and suffer less.

Thanks Jeremy for the chat. The answer to the physical:mental ratio of this challenge? I would put it at one third mental, two thirds physical