Pressure Training with Jolan Kegelaers | KoopCast Episode 169
Episode overview:
Jolan Kegelars is psychology professor and a lifelong athlete with a strong interest in the combination of Sport and Clinical psychology. This interest is situated both in research and applied practice.
His topics of interest include: existential therapy, behavioral therapy, biofeedback, personality testing, performance enhancement, eating disorders in sports and talent development.
Episode highlights:
(40:33) Ultramarathon example: missing nutrition or crew, blinding nutrition during long runs, giving the athlete effective nutrition but poor flavors
(45:43) Pressure training as a mental skills test: developing mental skills between pressure training tests, examples, previous two episodes on mental skills
(55:24) How to use pressure training: identify situations that might challenge you, brainstorm potential solutions, simulate specific aspects, training can be less pressure than the race, incorporate mental skills training, implement pressure progressively, reflection
Our conversation:
(0:00) Introduction: pressure training, introducing Jolan, Pressure makes diamonds? Study
(1:36) Setup and appreciating research: the Olympic training center, elite athletes transitioning to normal life, the impact of good journal articles
(4:22) Jolan’s background: clinical psychology, sports science research, the development of psychological resilience in athletes, segway to pressure training
(5:43) Why study pressure training: team sports examples, some athletes excel under pressure and some choke
(7:49) Defining pressure training: terminology, different approaches, executing skillful tasks under stress, pressure training for executing specific and general skills
(10:37) Common practices: game simulation and artificially incorporating unexpected stressors into training, considerations
(13:25) Effective pressure training: having a deliberate objective, creating relevant training disruptions, general pressure is not necessarily beneficial but simulating specific pressures can be beneficial, reflection
(16:24) Robert Bowman and Michael Phelps: example of smashing goggles before a key workout, learning translatable pressure-coping skills, visualization of pressure situations
(20:31) Harmful pressure training: pressure training is not abuse, dealing with frustration, preserving positive coach-athlete relationships, avoiding excessive fatigue and burnout, avoidance behavior, sink-or-swim coaching
(24:38) Coach-athlete relationships: dealing with athlete failure, talk to the athletes ahead of time, involving athletes in the pressure training setup, reflection
(28:06) Koop’s takeaways: outlining the pressure protocol for the athlete, using previous challenge points to inform what skills to pressure train, the power of novel training interventions
(30:47) Track and field example: practicing the chaos of baton exchanges in 200m relays
(33:50) Endurance examples: identify your specific goal, performance anxiety, creating practice scores, attaching consequences to performances, simulating performance environments, rival world cup example
(38:03) Physiological versus psychological tradeoffs: pressure training necessarily detracts from the physiological outcome, the difference between practice and performance can inform where that tradeoff point lies, pressure training should be implemented infrequently
(40:33) Ultramarathon example: missing nutrition or crew, blinding nutrition during long runs, giving the athlete effective nutrition but poor flavors
(43:16) Jolan on Koop’s nutrition example: test the example to see if the desired response occurs, importance of the post-training reflection, gauging improvement over repeated effects
(45:43) Pressure training as a mental skills test: developing mental skills between pressure training tests, examples, previous two episodes on mental skills
(47:54) Using mental skills on race day: translating skills from practice to performance, incorporating mental skills into specific pressure training exercises, the post-training reflection
(49:05) Resilience: resilience versus mental toughness, resilience is highly trainable and includes internal and external factors
(51:53) Using your support: resilience includes how you capitalize on the resources available to you, the role of the coach in creating a supportive space
(53:49) Building the coach-athlete relationship: Transgrancanaria example, working across a language barrier
(55:24) How to use pressure training: identify situations that might challenge you, brainstorm potential solutions, simulate specific aspects, training can be less pressure than the race, incorporate mental skills training, implement pressure progressively, reflection
(1:00:37) Banter: crowdsourcing ultramarathon pressure training ideas through the KoopCast
(1:01:07) Wrap-up: giving thanks, where to find Jolan
(1:02:01) Outro: share the podcast, support by writing a review
Additional resources:
Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible
Information on coaching-
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