"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - any recommendations for books on toughening up mentally?

I need some ideas on how to push through the pain. Anyone have some good reads on that side of the sport?

thansk

Isn't the notion of "reading" to "toughen up" a bit oxymoronic?

Set a stretch goal and go out and beat it. That's how you toughen up.

Depends.

I've had to read some stuff that was absolute torture.

Dickens for example.

I would start with him.

Maybe pick up a book on philosophy of natural science if that's what you're into. Maybe something about logical empiricism as well.

Just come back here often, there are many of us Deputized Constables...

257273

Depends.

I've had to read some stuff that was absolute torture.

Dickens for example.

I would start with him.

Maybe pick up a book on philosophy of natural science if that's what you're into. Maybe something about logical empiricism as well.

Or go to the 41 and read a few pages of their threads...

no book can make you mentally tough. Only experience IMO.

However I found 'dog in a hat' and 'the rider' to be motivating...

no book can make you mentally tough. Only experience IMO.

However I found 'dog in a hat' and 'the rider' to be motivating...

Good point jack@ss. I think the only way that you can become more mentally tough is to have experienced defeat that has come at the hands of your own shortcomings (i.e. training, diet, motivation) - it is from this failure that you either grow stronger or continue looking for places to point fingers...

rkwaki has a really good point...

and if he had more hair nobody would see it.

rkwaki has a really good point...

and if he had more hair nobody would see it.

If I had any hair I would be lucky :(

Some of the greatest lessons I have learned in this sport have come from losing, rarely from winning.

My coach prescribed me 10x1min maximum efforts with 2min recovery for tonight. HTFU and doing this interval workout could probably fill in for whatever book you are wanting.

Maybe this can help you.... (http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Be-*****-Chris-Miller/dp/1456352784)

It's a little off topic.

OP --> Pushing through the pain?

That's the easy part.
Suffering is innate.

If you are lacking motivation, I agree with reading "The Rider"

If you are lacking motivation, I agree with reading "The Rider"

I'm reading it now, and I'm enjoying it. I haven't gotten to where it's motivating. In due time, I guess.

For me, the thing that motivated me most this year was losing at Somerville. It was after that loss that I decided what the focus of the rest of my season would be, and how I would get there.

For me, the most successful thing I ever did was to put a piece of tape over my computer. Once I could no longer look down and see how many watts I was putting out or what my HR was or how fast I was going or even how long I had been riding allowed me to just ride as needed without thinking about how hard it was.

Now I find the blue painters tape I use to cover the computer screen comforting. People always ask why I don't just put the computer in my pocket, but I like seeing that piece of blue tape.

And I find winning to be more motivating than losing. Improvement seems to inspire further improvement.

I'm reading it now, and I'm enjoying it. I haven't gotten to where it's motivating. In due time, I guess.

I love the book. I've bought it many times. I lend it out and never see it again.

Like you I don't find it particularly motivating. I enjoy it because it is the closest thing I have read or seen that captures what it is like to be in a road race. And it also is about the days when 10-speed meant 2 on the front and 5 on the back and not cassettes with 10 cogs. It was a very different world back then.

I lend out the book to new racers hoping that they get a shortcut to understanding the sport. Having said that I have to admit that my experiment has been a total failure. They read the book and still race like idiots. Sigh.

For me, the most successful thing I ever did was to put a piece of tape over my computer. Once I could no longer look down and see how many watts I was putting out or what my HR was or how fast I was going or even how long I had been riding allowed me to just ride as needed without thinking about how hard it was.

Now I find the blue painters tape I use to cover the computer screen comforting. People always ask why I don't just put the computer in my pocket, but I like seeing that piece of blue tape.

And I find winning to be more motivating than losing. Improvement seems to inspire further improvement.

I never used to use a computer while racing, I didn't care how fast, far, etc as I knew we all had the same things to contend with, either I was in the mix or I wasn't.

I lend out the book to new racers hoping that they get a shortcut to understanding the sport. Having said that I have to admit that my experiment has been a total failure. They read the book and still race like idiots. Sigh.

Loan it out to only those with 200 races under their belt (anything less than that and it'll just be "interesting").
Then have them read it once a year, until it finally makes sense.

I read it once a year to this day.

I never used to use a computer while racing, I didn't care how fast, far, etc as I knew we all had the same things to contend with, either I was in the mix or I wasn't.

I like my handlebar "clean" as well.
Numbers are fun, but going without gadgets is pure bliss

Trainer facing brick wall for endurance rides?

Well, I'd disagree about "you have to have been there". To me there's a bit of the Cat5 training syndrome behind that...throwing kindergarteners in a room with books of matches and see who comes out in one piece never seemed to be an ideal methodology. But it's a common answer because the people who give it tend to be the people who made it out of class without burning up.

Just HTFU has it's place at times, but the sport produces a fairly big scrap heap of folks who burn out and quit, or have burned out and quit and come back later in life. So having a few tools in the shed that you can use from time to time is not a bad thing.

And there's plenty of evidence that addressing the mental side can produce better results in both training and racing.

What I've found is that one book on the subject is not going to cut it, because each one will have things that resonate, and things that don't. I'd suggest:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51F4noesxzL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uTcg0JwSL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

And finally, I've read this three times. It's both motivational and actually discusses a bit of sports psychology:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41QQJtSzQzL._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA160_.jpg

The sports psychiatrist that worked with the British team likened the riders to different breeds of dogs. You don't train a Rottweiler the same way you train a Labrador...each requires a different approach. Same with people.

With Winning in Mind by Lanny Bassham
The New Toughness Training for Sports by James E. Loehr

in that order. They are both good, but Bassham's book is more concise. Loehr's book covers a wider area, like how things outside your sporting life will affect your performance, and how you deal with that.

One of the best things I got out of Bassham's book is the "mental program," that gives a guide on what your mental state should be like just before, during, and just after performance. That probably has the most relevance on the "pushing through pain" issue.

Ex good points. There are two rkwaki's:
1. Training rkwaki
2. Racing rkwaki
Two different animals altogether. I feel, once ready, that I will as strong as ever due to the fact that I am in a better place mentally. I have worked to get rid of the ego and selfishness that plagued me for a long time and for that I believe I am stronger...

I like my handlebar "clean" as well.
Numbers are fun, but going without gadgets is pure bliss

Plus when it comes to a sprint for example - I don't care how fast the computer says I am going all the matters is that I am in front of You (figuratively speaking you being whoever I am sprinting not you YMCA :))

you want to get tough, read this book:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/06/01/article-2153036-04FD9E150000044D-320_468x615.jpg

1000 pages of dense stream of consciousness. the irish advanced military academy has students read this book to prepare them for possible violent interrogations and the mental fatigue of captivity. before i read this book, i was a dewey-eyed dough boy that could barely motivate myself to ride more than an hour in the best of conditions. by the time i was done, i rode in the snow with no gloves, i ate cytomax powder without water, and i frequently did three hour time trial efforts on rollers twice a week (always facing the wall of my basement with no tv or music allowed, and sometimes in the dark).

To put the following in context I have set my best 60 second time in the last lap of races. I often finish a race 10 bpm higher than the "max" I was holding during the race. The last lap is usually pain free because I am too busy to think about pain.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/letters/?id=2004/mar12letters#There

To put the following in context I have set my best 60 second time in the last lap of races. I often finish a race 10 bpm higher than the "max" I was holding during the race. The last lap is usually pain free because I am too busy to think about pain.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/letters/?id=2004/mar12letters#There

F'ing beautiful. And I'm not even a sprinter (that I know of...).

no book can make you mentally tough. Only experience IMO.

However I found 'dog in a hat' and 'the rider' to be motivating...

too subtle for the OP.