💪 The everyday athlete newsletter #8

👋 Hey.

Welcome to issue #8 of The Everyday Athlete Newsletter. Thanks for being here!

Here are my 3 favourite ideas, learns and resources to help you improve your performance this week (4.5 min read):

🎯 You know, you have the right to miss

There's a yarn that an average pistol shooter made a breakthrough and rose to become one of the best in the Russian armed forces after his coach told him, "You know, you have the right to miss."

His coach essentially permitted him to focus on the process, not the outcome. To focus on the things he could control.

We've all heard this before... A couple of the biggest clichés in sport, right there.

But what's interesting is that there's actually physiological benefits in doing it too 🤯 

Enter, dopamine (the feel-good chemical)...

When we do an activity (training session, sport, task, game, etc) because we enjoy doing it, our brain constantly releases dopamine during it.

But when we focus on the outcome, or the reward that comes after the activity (winning, the trophy, internal satisfaction of a personal best), we only get our dopamine hit then, at the end.

Here's the thing:

Dopamine controls our perception of time. The longer we experience a dopamine release, the more enjoyment we associate with the experience.

But when our dopamine spikes at the end when (from the outcome), we tend to associate less enjoyment with the activity.

And if we don't enjoy it, we're much less likely to do it.

What's cool is when we get our dopamine release during the activity, we get a heap of benefits that help us perform better:

• 🧠 Increased focus
• ⚡️ Increased energy levels
• 😆 Mood booster

But if we're too focused on the outcome, we're not getting them 👆

That's not to say rewards and goals aren't important. They give us incredible direction and motivation.

But there's a balance.

And learning to access rewards from effort and doing is only gonna help us reach our goals.

I've been super outcome-focused in the past. But I'm getting better.

Here's how I'm thinking about it now:

• 🧭 Our goals set our direction. Once we have that trajectory set, getting better every day becomes the focus (growth mindset).
• 🔍 Then we can focus on the day-to-day, the enjoyment of doing.
• 🥇 Reframe the outcome as feedback: We won. Great, that worked. What can we learn? 
• 👍 Accept we'll make mistakes along the way. Embrace our imperfections. As Mark Manson puts it: "We can be truly successful only at something we're willing to fail at".

👆 Easier said than done.

But there's a hack:

We can trick our brains by literally telling ourselves that we're enjoying the effort (even if we're not). And eventually, our brains believe it. Hello, lasting dopamine.

So, you have the right to miss. 

🎥 Youtube video: Train smarter

I first saw this about 12 months ago. It's massively reframed how I think about training.

In 3 words: Consistency beats intensity.

Intensity isn't sustainable. But it's how most of us train.

Volume is how we improve over the long run.

More on this soon.

🏃 Cadence: more efficient distance running

I've been diving into distance running lately.

Very new. I grew up sprinting. Even thinking the 100m was too far for my short pegs.

But running is running. Or so I thought...

Turns out that efficient distance running is completely different to sprinting.

Sprinting generally rewards long strides, the fewest usually winning the 100m. World-class sprint coaches teach longer strides.

But distance running tends to reward high cadence. 

(Running cadence is the number of times your foot hits the ground per minute).

Benefits of high cadence:

• 🏃 You are more efficient as there's less vertical movement of your body. Think less exertion per stride. More energy.
• 💪 Less injury risk as you won't overstride, hit the wrong part of your foot and add strain on the body.

If you've got a watch that can track it, a good cadence to strive for is 180.

Audio cues can help. Use a metronome app (set to 180BPM) or search Spotify for "180BPM" playlists.

Particularly under fatigue, if I can focus on increasing my cadence, it stops me running like a gremlin.

That's it!

• If you've got a mate who'd enjoy this, please pass it on 
• Is there a specific topic you want to see in future issues?
• Also, if you have anything interesting to share, I'd love to hear about it.

Have a great weekend 

Matt

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