Mental Preparation for my 70 mile Stand up paddle
In my Seventy48 race recap I briefly touched on the “mental toolkit” I packed for my trip from Tacoma to Port Townsend via the Puget Sound. Today I wanted to expand on the methods I used help me get to the finish line.
High Performance in any athletic endeavor is the coming together of psychology and physiology as an athlete seeks to maximize their full potential. By no means was my 70 mile paddle “high performance” but it was the coming together of psychology and physiology to push past any previous feat of endurance and set a new boundary for me to push past in the future.
To be honest my physical preparation heading into the race was pretty average, right around what I considered the “minimum effective dose” necessary to finish feeling pretty good in around 24 hours if weather conditions were good. With my physical preparation lacking, I knew the mental preparation would play a big role in being one of only 80 some people to have finished the 130 team race. Here are a few of the methods I used with myself and use with my athletes to help push their edges of performance.
Why’s
Defining a single “why” or “purpose” is limiting, even though popular self-help advice is flooded with this notion. We rarely have one single “why” for the choices we make and actions we take. There are a multitude of reasons and each one of those can be used to our advantage in performance if we are clear on what they are. Somewhere in the middle of 24+ hours of the same repetitive movement, your mind will wander and you will likely question what the heck you’re out there for…so you better have some answers that will keep you going. They don’t have to all be “for a reason greater than yourself” like your self-help guru will continue to throw in your face. We’re humans, there is an innate selfishness that can be a powerful driving force in high performance just like performing for something greater than yourself is also a powerful driving force. And the best athletes leverage “why’s” on both ends of the spectrum. They are tools to be picked up and used when needed. So it’s better to intentionally make sure you have them available.
Here was what I wrote down leading up to the race:
“it’s a vote for the type of person I wish to become”
“It’s an opportunity to deepen my connection (to self, nature, higher power)”
“I want to be a better coach to people who pursue these adventures and experiencing them myself is important.”
“Because my biggest fear is failure and this has a reasonable potential for that…which means growth.”
“Ego: I’d be lying if I didn’t acknowledge the part of me that drove my life for so many years. The part of me that carries the deep belief that success = worth. This is another opportunity to heal that…and use it temporarily if the situation requires.”
“The feeling: When I first saw a documentary on this race it was something I felt moved to do…so keep moving, mood follows action.”
‘Curiosity: What am I capable of? Where are my edges physically and mentally. How prepared am I to meet them and expand them?…I dont know, but there is one way to find out…keep paddling.”
“For all the parts of me that never took a chance, that were too afraid to try, because failure felt like death.”
At any point I had 8 different “why’s” to keep me moving.
2. Vizualization
Practice with your eyes closed. Science backed and high performer proven. I used visualization in a few ways leading up to the race.
The first was to build a stronger connection to the emotions of crossing the finish line. To create a visceral why. Close your eyes and picture yourself accomplshing a feat you care deeply about. Notice how your heart rate changes, your posture, your muscular tension. With just a quick imagine we can temporarily change our physiology. And I wanted the ability to do that in the race, in a moment of exhaustion be capable of traveling in the future to grab a little bit of the finish line “juice” and bring it back to the present to get through into the next moments. So I spent time, visualizing the finish in great detail. From the final 10 strokes into shore, to the sky color, to the people, water conditions, down to my posture and facial expressions. The more detail I brought in, the stronger my emotional response and the more “juice” I had available to use.
The second way I used visualization was to prepare myself to stay calm and make good decisions in worst case scenarios. I made a list of possible scenarios and then practiced how I would problem solve them. Less important were the solutions to the scenarios because I would inevitably run into scenarios I couldn’t image, but it was more important to practice my regulation tools to maintain the necessary demeanor and thought patterns to problem solve efficiently and effectively. Those tools could be applied broadly across any scenario so I visualized using them in a number of different stressful circumstances.
3. Labeling
One of the first meditation techniques I learned was “noting.” A simple practice where I would bring awareness to my internal environment and if a thought arose I would “note” it as “thinking.” And if a sensation arose I would “note” it as “feeling.” Overtime when I wanted to better understand my thought patterns I would come up with different ways to label them. Two I like using the most are labeling “past or future” and “productive or unproductive.” Past and Future help me get clarity on if I am ruminating about something that could be let go of or worried about something that hasn’t happened yet. Productive and Unproductive help me double down on thoughts that are supportive in accomplishing the task at hand and releasing thoughts that are not supportive to that task.
Since I had a single objective in this race of “cross the finish line” I could simply recognize and label the thoughts that would arise as either “productive” or “unproductive.” This process gives me the opportunity to intentionally build a productive thought stream if I wanted to rather than unconsciously be swept away by an unproductive one. Every now and then I would find a thought as “productive” and stay with it for a bit, maybe build a story with it that was supported by my visualization work. Other times I would just label and let it pass. With the unproductive thoughts I would simply label and let pass, and eventually they just stopped coming around that much. If you stop feeding the birds they’re going to stop coming back. Same with your thoughts, stop feeding them with attachment and they’ll stop coming around as often.
4. “What Would _______ do?”
Creating a performance identity is something i’ve had a few of my athletes do. I do it in a slightly different way that I have used with my athlete’s, but find what works and use it.
I don’t have a single performance identity, rather a cast of characters I can step into when needed. I love movie quotes, and I generally watch comedy and action movies it’s easy for me to call on quotes or attributes of certain characters to snap me out of an unproductive state.
And I like to use it in a more humorous way because if I have to ask myself “what would ______ do?” it means i’ve just had the awareness i’m in an unproductive thought stream and laughter is a good way out. So I kept a cast of some of my favorite movie/t.v. show characters in my back pocket in case I needed them. “What would Ricky Bobby do?” He’d say “Here's the deal I'm the best there is. Plain and simple. I wake up in the morning and I piss excellence.” and then he’d go out there and do some driven. Or “What would Kenny Powers do?”Or Xander Cage. Find a line, dialogue, or scene that creates a productive emotion for getting back on track and use it when needed. High Performance doesn’t always mean taking yourself seriously, it means finding the optimal state to accomplish the task…and humor can be a great way to down regulate out of stress, anxiety, and fear to get back into a better state for high performance to occur.
5. Chunking & Single Point Focus
This is really two different tools that I used together. 70 miles and roughly 24 hours is a long distance/time and could seem daunting when viewing it as a whole. So before going into the race I had broken the race down into smaller sections (chunking) and had checkpoints every 8-15 miles or so. If I felt it was necessary I would chunk the distance down into as small as necessary to build momentum. Here’s what this looks like in practice:
I see a red buoy up ahead, so i’m going to keep my eyes focused on that red buoy. Anytime I notice a thought that is not about that red buoy I will return to that as my single point of focus by saying “red".” Once I got the red buoy I picked a new objective up ahead, identified its main characteristic, and used that as my single point focus to return to.
The fun thing about chunking this way is that if you pick things only a short distance ahead, you can celebrate a lot of wins in a short time and it builds a productive emotional momentum.
I’m sure there are some other tools I unintentionally used on my trip, but these were the 5 intentionally used going into the race and throughout.