{"id":1750,"date":"2013-07-11T20:29:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-12T03:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/o2fitness.net\/o2\/?p=1750"},"modified":"2013-07-11T20:29:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-12T03:29:38","slug":"us-mountain-bike-marathon-national-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/us-mountain-bike-marathon-national-champs\/","title":{"rendered":"US Mountain Bike Marathon National Champs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-25\"<\/a>I just returned from an amazing week in Ketchum, Idaho which included competing in the US Mountain Bike Marathon National Champs. It reinforced with crystal-clear clarity that the mental thoughts dictate the physical outcomes.<\/p>\n

I entered the week with injured ribs and \u00a0sprained right hand and fingers – my first mental opportunity to overcome adversity.<\/p>\n

I had the luxury of riding the course – which consisted of an approx 20-plus mile climb and 20-plus mile descent. Descending does not top of my lists of skills – as I don’t have bunches of time to devote to the mountain bike. The Ketchum trails are world-class and the race course was mind-boggling beautiful. However, the technical aspects of the descent toyed with me – trying to insert seeds of doubt with its ripping hour of twisting, turning, undulating single-track, intimately bordered with trees and hard rights with shear drops to the tiny town of Ketchum below.<\/p>\n

My pre-race mental prep and visualization focused heavily on how I wanted to ride the descent. My mental challenge was intensified by the fact that my currently injured ribs had resulted while mountain bike racing on a very similar, intimately tree-dotted descent. So I mentally had to hunker down – sweep away those negative hooks and replace them with the positive of how I wanted to ride the descent.<\/p>\n

Race day was picture perfect. I started the race with calm and composure – following my race day game plan. Until – one of my fellow-racers, hit the throttle, setting a pace – that was not exactly comfortable. I found myself falling in to a slightly frantic state, inefficiently struggling to keep pace. But I mentally gathered myself – regained my calm and composure and reminded myself to lean on my preparation and training – and trust it. My mind went to training sessions of hill intervals at sub to threshold and SFRs – working on pedaling efficiency – staying engaged in the trunk – and driving the linear force from my hips through the legs in to the pedals – maximizing efficiency and minimizing energy leaks. I also focused on find smooth, symmetrical fluid rhythm.<\/p>\n

I put my mental blinders on, settled in to my pace and rode my race.<\/p>\n

Before I knew it – I had passed my speeding-bullet, fellow-racer. As I passed and rode by, I kept with my game plan focusing on my race, trusting my preparation and not looking, or “thinking” back.<\/p>\n

Now I was on the descent – and it was an absolute dream – I floated with perfect relaxed, rhythm and timing. It exceeded my visualization expectations!<\/p>\n

I value the opportunity for these competitive outlets for self-challenge and resulting growth, confidence and empowerment. I especially appreciate my fellow-racers, who raise the challenge-bar and help me bust through self-imposed limitations – allowing expression of full potential.<\/p>\n

Seize the Day!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just returned from an amazing week in Ketchum, Idaho which included competing in the US Mountain Bike Marathon National Champs. It reinforced with crystal-clear clarity that the mental thoughts dictate the physical outcomes. I entered the week with injured ribs and \u00a0sprained right hand and fingers – my first mental opportunity to overcome adversity. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}