Sports Psycology Clinic

Today I went to a free sports psychology clinic by Carrie Cheadle . I think everybody takes away something different from a clinic like this depending on what you need at the time.

What was most interesting to me was the relaxing methods. I had heard of most of them before but hadn't really thought of applying them methodically when I needed to most. The part I liked best was the active relaxing. We sat in our chairs and worked up the body, first pressing the toes hard into the ground for 5 seconds and then relaxing, then one at a time, the feet, legs, glutes, shoulders, fists, eyes, eyebrows, and jaw. Each time we would clench or tighten followed by relaxing while taking deep breaths and slow exhales. Wow I felt better already. So now I need to do this a few times before each race to calm down before I get too stressed out.

We also practiced breathing techniques and relaxing while riding by consciously making the hands and face relax. When I was warming up a the track once last summer I heard one of the coaches yelling "relax your fingers, relax your toes". I tried it and it made an immediate difference in how my whole body felt.

We also learned how to think positive thoughts in practice to make it automatic in the race.

It was a good clinic but I also learned that the people around me all have great ideas that work for them that can help me too.