Persist or Concede

A huge part of performing at a high level in endurance sports comes down to how you manage your mental game in a race, and it is the mind that decides whether you persist through the discomfort for the win, or concede to the suffering. When up against some of the best athletes in your sport, everyone is training hard, fueling right, and is racing on top notch equipment. What the competition is doing to perform is completely out of your control, so it is wise to focus on what is in your own hands, and one variable you have the most control over in the heat of a race is what goes on between your ears.

Many athletes know how to push their bodies and how to train hard, but delivering a result on race day is different than hitting your marks mid week. There are many more variables at play when racing versus training—you have to respond to your competitor’s attacks, recover mistakes with urgency, and crossing the finish line first becomes the mark to hit.

We often feel lots of motivation training for a big event, visualizing how things will pan out, and strategizing how we will execute the race for the best result possible. Sometimes the race starts off and things are going to plan—youre pushing hard, hitting your marks, and your towards the front. In every race, there is a moment when reality sets in and things get tough. The suffering is somehow amplified and you start doing mental math about how hard you have been psuhing and maybe thinking about how long you have to go. This is precisely the moment, when you are having a conversation with yourself about whether you can keep the pace, stay on the wheel, or go for the win—that you must have the mental edge to persist your effort in the face of pain, adversity, and fear of the unknown.

There is more pressure when you are towards the front of the race, you have something to lose, and you have people chasing you to take your position. Personally, I have found it helpful to compartmentalize your race effort and think about how short of a time it is we are actually out there suffering in the grand scheme of things. An hour to two hours of suffering, from a type of discomfort we know can’t kill us, may help give you a mental edge when that moment arises when your mind is on the edge of persisting or conceding. Another great way to look at things is to think bigger picture and imagine how you will feel after your race when the effort is over. In the moment, the suffering is intense and it feels like it will never end, or that it will get worse. In reality, shortly after the race is over you will return to homeostasis and you will recover from the effort. Keeping this in mind reminds you mid race that this discomfort is temporary, and that achieving a strong outcome will be worth it at the end of the day.

This was just a sliver of the mental side of racing, where the ability to withstand discomfort and persist is often the difference between winning and losing. Coming up with strong reasons to endure such discomfort for a greater purpose beyond yourself is another great way to have a mental edge to persist. Next time you are in a race, and you are presented with this moment, think about why you are out there, and trust that persisting will be worth it.