JEDI TRAINING FOR ENDURANCE
(Sports Mindfulness)
Intro - Jedi training…
I first stumbled upon the concept of mindfulness and its importance in endurance sports, around 2013 when reading Mark Allen’s book.
After 6 attempts, Mark eventually took down Dave Scott in 1989 at the Ironman World Championships, in Kona Hawaii… the Iron War! This was a short time after he nearly quit the sport as he believed, he could never beat Dave.
A few days before the 1989 IRONMAN World Championship, Allen was relaxing in his Kona digs, flipping through a yoga magazine, Allen came across a picture of 110-year-old Huichol Indian shaman Don Jose' Matsuwa and his adopted grandson, Brant Secunda. "They both had a look on their faces that was very peaceful but powerful," says Allen.
Come race day, Allen was running stride by stride late in the marathon with Scott. "He started to surge," Allen says, "and I could barely hold on. I’m starting to think, 'I can’t do this. I’m never going to win this thing.' I couldn’t hold back the negative chatter." Then Allen recalled the picture of the 110-year-old shaman. "He looked so happy to just be alive, happy to be there," Allen says. "I got this surge of energy and hope, envisioning Don Jose' and everything completely turned around.
It was shortly after that he realized he could, indeed "win this thing." Allen did defeat Scott that year and the dam burst, seeing him running through five straight IRONMAN world titles.
The lesson
Soon after his breakthrough Kona victory Allen attended an eight-day retreat in Mexico that Secunda was leading. "It gave me a connection to the bigger picture of life," Allen says. "With the tools Secunda taught me I learned how to quiet my mind and to really feel that gratitude to be alive that I had seen in those photos of him and Don Jose'," Allen says. Secunda and Allen have since collaborated on multiple books.
Changing my coaching practice…
As a coach having studied conventional sports psychology and the other sports science in depth. I embarked on a mission to put more meat on the bones on how to help the athletes I coach and become more aware of their approach to training and racing.
After reading Alex Hutchinson's book Endure in 2019, where he writes about the work being done at the University of California’s School of Medicine, on brain imagery and scanning. It got me so excited, that I booked a flight to San Diego the next day, to attend their mPEAK (Mindful Performance Enhancement, Awareness & Knowledge) course.
This work is, literally mind-blowing when we see what happens within the brain after working through a mindfulness program. The difference in brain activity between subjects who have undergone mindfulness training and those who have not is truly phenomenal.
We have only in recent years been able to scan the brain to this extent, and this contemporary work had me thinking of “Star Wars” and the use of “The Force”. Picture Luke undergoing his training, putting the helmet on to fight/ defend himself from the flying droid!
Using The Force…
Once you learn to quiet your mind, you become a true version of yourself, you are no longer hampered by negative thoughts of the past or the future… you just are.
I believe this is the magic link that brings the conventional sports sciences and the Eastern practices of meditation/ mindfulness together to give us an optimal approach to sports coaching, racing, training, and yes, life.
About mPEAK & endurance sport…
When in flow, athletes are calm but highly alert, they don’t feel the need to distract from uncomfortable or painful experiences, instead, they learn to lean into them.
‘FLOW’ is recognised as the most desirable state in sports’
The Flow State
. Develop greater focus and concentration
· Tap into the power “flow states” during endurance performance
· Learn to live in the NOW (process) and let go of the attachment to outcome
Developing resilience…
. Learning how to accept & lean into physically painful experiences
· Practice responding wisely to stress rather than reacting out of fear
. Tapping into nature and drawing from this natural energy source
Quiet mind…
· Recognize and shift from critical to compassionate self-talk
· Process and learn from inevitable mistakes
· Leverage personal strengths and stretch your personal edges without giving up
mPEAK & real coaching…
Most coaches know enough about the technical, physical & physiological elements of triathlon/ endurance & this works well when the athlete is in a good place or in FLOW & seemingly untouchable. However, what do coaches/ athletes do when the wheels come off? Or to make the Olympic Games, the athlete has to improve from mid-pac to front-pac in their swim? Or has a loss of confidence?
Instructing an athlete to ‘relax’ tightens them up further… (more noise in their head).
You can nail the swim in training & for the first few hundred meters in the race… then you start to ‘think’ and this tightens you up & you go backward.
Are you able to stay focused during the Ironman bike leg or does your mind wander?
What about a loss of confidence “I just need a good race to get my confidence back.” Really? you want to lean on lady luck for your personal mastery?
Are you struggling to push through uncomfortable segments in racing/ training?
What about the athlete who always has gut issues during an ultra-endurance event? Is this psychosomatic?
Meditation …
One of the key Eastern practices allowing athletes to live, train, and compete optimally.