Nov 10
24
Fight or Flight Response in Racing?
Everyone who has done year basic psychology knows about fight or flight responses right?
Some things to consider on Fight or Flight Responses
Fueling/Stomach Performance
If you get out on a race course and panic, work yourself into a bundle of nerves and pray for this experience to end then what chemical reactions does that set off?
Like any animal in danger we are programmed to shut down blood supply to the stomach and send it to vital organs instead. So apart from the fact that you feel nervous or scared you are likely to be unable to absorb any drink or food- this is a problem
Throwing up is a common problem in IM- just like any other emergency its natural to evacuate the bowels and stomach – think about a car accident
What makes it worse is that people keep trying to force food down when the stomach is in Flight mode!
Heart Rate and Respiration
When we are really scared or really aggressive the adrenalin system kicks in which works like drinking 10 red bulls- the heart rate elevates, we breathe shallower and quickly- none of this is good if you are trying to conserve energy and use aerobic energy systems
Muscles
Once fight or flight is triggered we naturally become tense and rigid – this is a form of protection- when you fall down stairs your muscles contract to protect your skeleton and organs inside. None of this helps produce fluid forward movement
Focus
Adrenaline system is only designed to work for so long. Just like a shot of nitrous oxide into a car engine- you have to back off and slow down to compensate- its very damaging to the parts and smooth running.
If you go out there and try and fight the first 80k of the bike you’ll exhaust your mental abilities to focus. Your adrenal system will be worn out before you even get to the run
So fighting is bad too?
I used to have a Karate instructor who said we needed to turn on cold and hot taps to make warm water but too much of either ruined proceedings. Racing is just like this you need enough “fight” to overcome any natural instinct to “flight” but not so much you burn yourself
So racing should never be about flight or fight- but we need both to make a balanced race
Flight- call this ability to back off when people fly past you or change your plan if things go wrong
Fight- call this confidence to ride at the limit of what you know you can do, to keep going when your instinct is to give up
Balance your Flight and Fight and you’ll have a great day. Look for ways to test both in your training
