16 Week Face of America Training Plan & Guide | Page 16
Fluids and bottled water for race site (don’t
assume they’ll have it).
Self-Talk
Self-Talk is also commonly associated with Cue
Words, Negative Thought Stopping, and Positive
Affirmations. Positive Affirmations are positive
words used to affirm or reaffirm the truth concerning
your performance readiness, and stop negative
thoughts. Certainly, Self-Talk can be negative and
quite prevalent; however, here we’re going to focus
more so on the positive aspects, and how Self-Talk
can be an effective tool in aiding performance. SelfTalk is an important part of our lives – as we do it all
the time and in various situations. The important
thing to remember is that Self-Talk can be guided,
beneficial, healthy, and performance enhancing – just
as much as it can be negatively debilitating. In line
with Cue Words and Negative Thought Stopping,
below are some suggestions for incorporating SelfTalk into your teaching points for your athletes:
Teach your athletes to be more conscious of their
Self-Talk, to use techniques to stop negative
thoughts, and to regain control, motivation, and
energy through positive Self-Talk and thinking.
If you want your athletes to “bring it down a
notch”, suggest cue words to aide calming such as
“breathe,” “relax,” “steady,” “calm,” “loose,” etc.
If you want your athletes to get psyched up or
“take it up a notch,” suggest cue words that might
motivate, inspire, or take action such as “you’re
ready,” “attack,” “go for it,” “that’s it,” “commit,”
“you’ve got ‘em!”, “strike now,” etc.
Utilized positively, Cue Words can be powerfully
effective in combating negative thoughts and a
drifting Attentional Focus.
Whether athlete or coach, always try to be positive, or
find positive learning aspects of situations. By being
positive, you/your athletes will learn to be more
positive, which will carry over into training,
competing, as well as elsewhere in daily life.
Ultimately, this will lead towards more stability,
effectiveness, happiness, and optimal performances.
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Other Considerations – Equipment
Preparations
Tires. Check tires (especially) during the last days
leading up to race day, and if you see any
significant cuts, deep embedded debris such as
thin metal shards – that you cannot remove, dry
rotting or splitting along the tire wall, replace
them with new tires.
Chain. If your chain is loose and unnecessarily
worn due to excessive stretch from “cross
chaining” (big chainring up front and largest cog
in the rear or the small chainring up front and the
smallest cog in the rear), replace it. If your chain is
in good condition, then just ensure you’ve cleaned
it well and lightly lubed it. Also, while cleaning the
chain, make sure there’s no buildup of clumps of
chain lube and road dirt and debris.
Drivetrain. Specifically look at the chain and
chainrings (up front), and the cog