Mind-Body Doctors and Crazy Cyclists

OK, so it's been like forever since I posted.

Don't shoot me.

I was busy finishing up my doctorate.  Yep.  Now I'm officially Dr. Susan Bernstein, the world's leading expert in integrating body awareness into major career change. 

My new title, Doctor, still feels weird.  I successfully defended my dissertation (do images of swords and battle gear arise for you, too?) on June 30.  Basically, that means I made a PowerPoint presentation about my research (which is on the role of embodied awareness in major career change) and then answered questions from the academics on my committee, plus some questions from the audience, which included my parents and brother and a few friends.  Nice.  After seven years of taking courses and conducting research and writing, writing, writing, it's time for a break.

But no, I press on!  I've been busy training for the Marin Century!  I've never ridden anything over about leisurely 30 miles in a day, and now I'm going to ride 62 in a single day, August 2, 2008.  Just three weeks away.  I know that the reason I can do this is my team.  I'm riding with Team-in-Training, which offers outstanding training for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  I've learned so much.  My speed is quicker, too.  In just five weeks, I've gone from an average of 10 mph to about 14 mph.  Now, that's not on the killer climbs, but I'm getting better at those, too.

So, how does this relate to mind-body doctors and crazy cyclists?

I'm currently a junkie of cycling news.  I want to learn everything I can, including how to stay cool on my bike when it's hot outside (try hydrating properly and using a Kool Tie).  But I also wanted to know about cycling psychology.  Like how do you keep going, when you're tired?  Can you really fatigue just from muscles? 

Well, I'm amazed at a NY Times article, that debunks something most of us have thought for years about fatigue. 

The theory went like this: working muscles, pushed to their limit, accumulated lactic acid. When concentrations of lactic acid reached a certain level, so the argument went, the muscles could no longer function. Muscles contained an ‘‘automatic brake,’’ Hill wrote, ‘‘carefully adjusted by nature.’’

Now, they are finding that the body's performance is not limited solely by the muscles.  The brain plays a role in stopping the muscles.  Fatigue, the researchers argue, is less an objective event than a subjective emotion — the brain’s clever, self-interested attempt to scare you into stopping. The way past fatigue, then, is to return the favor: to fool the brain by lying to it, distracting it or even provoking it.

I'm amazed at this article, That Which Does Not Kill Me Makes Me Stranger, about performance athlete Jure Robic, who barely sleeps during 7 day performance events.  He might sleep 9 hours in seven days.  That's unbelievable.  And eat 100,000 calories.  I'd be a mountain. 

But Robic gets delusional during rides, thinking that people are chasing him, for example.  So he rides faster.

Well, if the mind can be used to help us keep going, no wonder I am a much better rider with my team, especially my coaches, particularly my speed (or lack thereof) team coach, Carol Wright.  She knows how to deliver just the right message to keep me going.  Whether it's a "good job," or "your team isn't that far ahead of you -- don't fatigue yourself by working too hard right now, just wait for a food stop," my brain feels more at ease, my heart rests easier, I relax, and I can keep going.

Amazing what a well-tuned mind will do with a well-tuned body!

Here's to great coaches!
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author
www.WorkFromWithin.com
Work From Within, LLC