Taosports
Yesterday I received my December email newsletter called E-tips from Joel Friel at Ultrafit. If you don't already subscribe to this free newsletter I recommend doing so. It covers short articles for improving fitness and performance for endurance athletes.
I usually check out what Andy Applegate and Dave Brown have to say since both focus on cycling and are highly respected in our neck of the woods. Andy wrote about your season's summary while Dave is unfortunately absent this time around.
However, the one that really caught my eye was by Dr. Jerry Lynch in the "Thought for the Month" section. He begins by mentioning an old Japanese saying, "From little streams come big rivers." Lynch's advice is to focus on the little things in order to reach desired results.
Personally I've seen athletes so focused on one game or desired result they lose sight of all the necessary preparation and details that prepare them to compete. Or, every single activity is a big deal in order to achieve the really big deal. The mental approach overtakes the hourly and daily routine so much so that the journey is forgotten with failing results.
One situation comes to mind during my junior year in college. Our pitcher for one particular playoff game became intensely focused several days in advance of an expected opponent, too focused really. He isolated himself and went completely off his normal routine, which as anyone knows you simply do NOT do in baseball.
We lost that game, not entirely due to his performance, but as the catcher I knew from the start he didn't have his usual stuff. His head was not in congruence with his body. I know his talent was better than that one performance, but he lost sight of the little things that flowed into the big thing. Even if for only a few days, which certainly applies to cycling as well.
What bothers me today isn't that we lost, but that I didn't keep him focused on the little things. If I wanted to really bore you I could provide my own lack of focus experiences, but I'll only say professional baseball is littered with guys focused on the big prize and not the little details of getting there.
That's a long winded story to reach the more interesting aspect of Dr. Lynch, which is his website Taosports.com. Dr. Lynch has counseled many top professional athletes, coaches and business executives in order to improve performance. He seeks to integrate the mind, body and spirit. A familiar strategy for sure, but he has helped many turn little streams into big rivers.
Check out Dr. Lynch's site and you'll see books available as well as several insightful articles. The article I found most interesting was The Competition on the Edge: The Art of Being Courageous. Read it, you'll be glad you did.
I usually check out what Andy Applegate and Dave Brown have to say since both focus on cycling and are highly respected in our neck of the woods. Andy wrote about your season's summary while Dave is unfortunately absent this time around.
However, the one that really caught my eye was by Dr. Jerry Lynch in the "Thought for the Month" section. He begins by mentioning an old Japanese saying, "From little streams come big rivers." Lynch's advice is to focus on the little things in order to reach desired results.
Personally I've seen athletes so focused on one game or desired result they lose sight of all the necessary preparation and details that prepare them to compete. Or, every single activity is a big deal in order to achieve the really big deal. The mental approach overtakes the hourly and daily routine so much so that the journey is forgotten with failing results.
One situation comes to mind during my junior year in college. Our pitcher for one particular playoff game became intensely focused several days in advance of an expected opponent, too focused really. He isolated himself and went completely off his normal routine, which as anyone knows you simply do NOT do in baseball.
We lost that game, not entirely due to his performance, but as the catcher I knew from the start he didn't have his usual stuff. His head was not in congruence with his body. I know his talent was better than that one performance, but he lost sight of the little things that flowed into the big thing. Even if for only a few days, which certainly applies to cycling as well.
What bothers me today isn't that we lost, but that I didn't keep him focused on the little things. If I wanted to really bore you I could provide my own lack of focus experiences, but I'll only say professional baseball is littered with guys focused on the big prize and not the little details of getting there.
That's a long winded story to reach the more interesting aspect of Dr. Lynch, which is his website Taosports.com. Dr. Lynch has counseled many top professional athletes, coaches and business executives in order to improve performance. He seeks to integrate the mind, body and spirit. A familiar strategy for sure, but he has helped many turn little streams into big rivers.
Check out Dr. Lynch's site and you'll see books available as well as several insightful articles. The article I found most interesting was The Competition on the Edge: The Art of Being Courageous. Read it, you'll be glad you did.
posted by NashvilleCyclist.com at 12/15/2005 01:27:00 AM
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