How can Yoga, meditation and Enduro help your xc performance?
Your brain,
like your legs, is a muscle that has to be trained and also recovered if you
want it to be resilient under pressure.
You can go into a race hoping all goes well if there’s no adversity, or
you can do the preparation so that, regardless if things go to plan or not you
have the resources and skillsets to adapt quickly and get the best out of
yourself. Yoga, meditation or even a walk in the woods are a few tools I have
found really help focus my mind and energy to increase performance.
The busier
my mind, the more slowing down helps me prioritize, the more race nerves have
me feeling stressed, the more clearing my mind can lead to focused excitement
and confidence.
Yoga and
meditation are one of the best things I can do to train distraction control and
clear my mind so it’s ready to focus on what’s most important, rather than
getting caught up in every stray thought or sensation. Doing yoga at home is probably the best thing
to do if I want to keep a clean house, you see all those dust bunnies that are
hiding under the couch, the things out of place that you want to fix. You think
of all the things you really should be doing rather than taking some time out
to purposefully slow down. You get
distracted, just like you can get distracted in racing or training by
conditions, competition, your tired legs, mistakes and spectators. Once you learn
to let unwanted distractions drift by, thought becomes more focused on the task
at hand, the body relaxes, and your brain and body get the recovery as well as
the focus training they need and better performance can follow.
In training
or leading into an event there are always lots of distractions fighting for
mental space. Being skilled at letting
them drift by you while staying engaged in the moment is a very useful skill. The
more I feel I don’t have time for yoga or meditation, the more I feel better
when I actually do it, even if for just 15 minutes a couple times a week.
Enduro. How is this in the same post as Yoga
and meditation you ask?
If you’re
not familiar with it, Enduro is a form of mtb racing that involves a lot of
hours and climbing, but where only the descents are timed and actually count
towards the race. It’s about getting the most out of every second of your dh run,
being focused, controlling distractions, staying in the moment and riding as
fast as possible!
After
trying some enduros I have even more respect for what it takes for those DH and
Enduro racers that can push their limits and consistently perform. It’s not that these people are always having
flawless runs, nailing every turn, jump, root section or drop in. If you ask a race winner if they had a
perfect run, guaranteed they can give you a list of what didn’t go right, but
they are adapting more quickly to mistakes, noting them, but not getting hung
up on them and continuing to make the most of what is still to come. They are
focusing on what they can do in that moment and how they can do that to the
best of their ability and not letting distractions slow them down.
So if the
pace of Yoga or meditation isn’t your thing, Enduro or any timed technical
training can teach you similar skills, to stay present and noting but not
hanging onto those distracting thoughts that aren’t helping you race forward.
Ultimately,
if you can do both, timed technical training and purposeful mind quieting you
will get the mental recovery and training that will help you xc performance while
having fun pushing yourself in different ways and environments.
Comments