At the foothills of success

September 07, 2010 09:50 PM Comments - 2

Been a busy few days, starting with a long and early drive from Sheffield to Kent for the British paracyling championships.  Karen was racing in a road race on Saturday, and a time trial on Sunday, then I was talking to some big wigs at Hewlett Packard today, then a visit to the university of Cardiff tomorrow to do some testing on Karen (V02 max etc). 

We’ve been camping while on the road - but not very effectively, as I forgot my sleeping bag, and Karen’s mat (borrowed from Ian Parnell) had a leak.  This meant I had to use a blanket the kids had left in my van instead, and Karen had to sleep on her padded bike bag. I did remember two pillows though, so it wasn’t all bad. Turns out camping down south is pretty pricy, with the top prize going to Folkstone (perhaps the worst place I’ve been in Britain… well after Dover!), where one night cost £24, a lot when you’re sleeping in a Bibler tent with a footprint as big as a picnic table.

Karen’s race was held in a disused coal mine, with the field being very small, with only four female riders (2 brits, 1 French and 1 Slovak), with Karen’s main rival being the amazing Rachel Morris - the Paralympic gold medalist.  Rachel is far stronger than Karen, and in every race she’s shown that she’s the boss, literally leaving her in her wake.  In these races Rachel came first, and Karen second, but slowly, race on race, she’s getting faster (only a 13 second gap in time trial).

Until Karen started racing I’d never been to any kind of organized event, and the experience has been really valuable.

I’ve learnt that before a race athletes focus on every reason why they will win, then are quick to focus after the race on every reason why they failed.  They set out to win, then when they see that’s not going to happen aim for second, and then third, and then not to come last, and finally to simply finish.  To ‘compete’ in the hardest races is to suffer both the best and worst of emotion.

As climbers we’re lucky, and ‘the race’ plays no part in what we do - well apart from the race against ourselves… and the odd french guide.  What we share in common is the need for self belief, and those that lack this will never achieve any kind of self greatness (surpassing what you once thought impossible).

Blah blah blah.  Bottom line is it’s not about taking part, not at this level.  It’s about winning.

I seem to have become Karen’s stand in sports psychologist, having far more confidence in her abilities then she has - and it’s role I really enjoy, as everything I do is about applying a positive mental attitude to some task that I know I’m outmatched by.  I know she has a huge psychical and mental potential, and she can get a gold medal at the Paralympics (I would change the ‘can’ to ‘will’ if I was talking to her now, as in the game of minds there’s no place for flim-flam).

To begin with her aim was to simply get to the Paralympics, but slowly she’s began to hope that she may get a bronze. As her psychologist I’ve band any talk of bronze, and that to start any race without knowing you can win is a total waste of time.  In everything she does, and all she says and thinks, her focus has to be an Paralympic gold, no matter how stupid this seems in the face of strong opposition (both in the form of other bikers, and also in her grasp of reality).  By focusing on coming third she limits her potential, just we all limit ourselves by ‘knowing our place’.

To these ends she has to believe she can make this possible before she can try to make it possible, as the body won’t go on a fools errand.

It’s a bit like that saying “Jump and the net will appear” as to get close to even going to the Paralympics requires a huge leap of faith, followed by hard training, and more training, until you get to a level were you simply get to the foothills of successes.  Once there - looking up at the summit - you have to focus again, and imagine that you can train harder - that you have it in you to scale the heights.  Standing at the bottom, looking up, you need so much belief not to just turn back. 

To be successful is the scariest thing you’ll ever do. 

To be a failure the easiest. 

Plug Alert - I'm still trying to raise funds for my daughter's cheerleading squad (Cheermania!) with sales of my hand strength ebook, so if you've got £3 spare than please buy one here.

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