Psychology for Triathletes II

 

In part I, we spoke about what Sergio Santos said and that Psychology was doing things instead of talking.  Pain in athletes exacerbated by environmental conditions and inner world is nothing new; as we can see in this vignette written by Simon Whitfield:

The worst moment, and it was nearly a complete meltdown, came during an ill-advised-pre-Athens training camp we set up for Brampton, Ontario, less than three weeks before the 2004 Summer Games...Bystanders thought I was overdosing and called an ambulance.  When it arrived, the paramedic immediately saw there was no real physical distress but the signs of an emotional breakdown (68)... "Son, you're okay. Calm down. Get your act together. You´re fine. I recognize you. I watched you in Sydney. I know you can win." Simon Says Gold. 2009. Canada.

 

The above is a problem encounter by coaches.  How much you push the athlete to continue?  When do you stop pushing athletes to return to train? Is he/she faking it?  What is happening in the life of the athlete?  What doctor you choose for treatment of your athlete?  I will try to give you an answer to each one of them, taking into consideration that you need to personalize the formula; also, what I say is for high performance individuals that are 120% involved with the process of “performing at the highest level possible.” Try what is prescribed someplace for the “regular athlete” if he/she is not involved 120%, otherwise you get into a lot of problems legally or you can loose your athlete.

  

What is happening in the life of the athlete?  In the case of Whitfield and Jenkins, the Olympics were around the corner and they were favorites to win gold.  It is simple; there is a lot of pressure.  We have routines to decrease pressure; eating routines, training routines, relaxing routines and problem solving time with collaborators.  DO NOT LOOSE RHYTHM that is the key.  Work seven days a week on the project; do not take time off.  DO NOT STOP TRAINING EVEN IF YOU FEEL SORE; change the routine to something softer or lighter.  Divert attention to different subjects instead of thinking about the big competition and that you are not ready or how bad you feel. This is easy to say than done, that is why I wrote, 3 août 2012 Triathlon and the Denial of Saint Peter  

Do not choose a doctor who is not an Olympian himself/herself, chances are very high that you are going to get unpleasant surprises or loose the gold for that same reason.  Remember research: “Patients are often not reassured by investigations; in a study of patients suffering from NCCP (Non Cardiac Chest Pain), 44% believed they had heart disease in spite of a normal angiogram.[9] There is some evidence that the process of investigation itself may entrench the mistaken idea of cardiac disease.”  WWW.MEDSCAPE.ORG Management of Noncardiac Chest Pain in Women.  It is not just for chest pain, this is valid for any kind of pain, perhaps not the 44% that you see with patients complaining of chest pain.  MEDICINE IS MORE AN ART THAN A SCIENCE. There is an abyss when correlating radiological finding and patient´s complaints.  An abyss fulfilled by doctors depending on our idiosyncrasy. And on top, the interpretation of radiological findings has more than a quarter of false interpretations or idiosyncratic interpretations.

What you should do is what the paramedic did for Simon.