"Bobbing for Wisdom"

from the blog of Sara Gross 

Sara Gross, Professional Triathlete

Sara's  high performance training adventures with Bob Palmer started a few weeks ago.  Sara lives in British Columbia and Bob in Ontario but geography is not a barrier as their training sessions are via Skype.

Sara offered to blog about her training as both a professional triathlete and coach and we invite you  to read her entertaining and witty blog and find out what the SportExcel high performance buzz is all about. 

Here's an excerpt from Sara's recent blog post....  

Q & A with Bob Palmer

Q.  Winnipeg Trap Shooter David Mosscrop writes: "There is one line in your recent article  in Trap & Field Magazine that caught my attention: 'Elite athletes have no self-talk.'  Can you elaborate a little more on it?"

A.  To better demonstrate the unnecessary nature of self-talk, simply think of any time you were performing effortlessly and you will get the answer.  There is no self-talk.  

To put it in another way, how often do you talk to yourself when you are performing a very complex task such as driving a two-ton car 70 miles per hour on a freeway.  There is no self-talk; you drive unconsciously. Similarly, when you are in the Zone in your sport, there is no self-talk either (until there is, which is an indicator that you are no longer in the Zone.)

Self-talk can be a useful tool get you back on track and back in the Zone, if needed.  But when you are back in the Zone, your mind is quiet and it is an impossibility to have self-talk.  

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