Prof and I got to interview Pete Amstrong, a emotional fitness coach, and we ended up with an emotional episode of the Athlete’s Compass podcast.
I know that I place a lot of my self-worth on my performances on the bike. I know this is a tough topic but an important one. I spent a lot of years frustrated and angry when I didn’t get the results I thought I should be getting in cyclocross. Now, with age, I’ve come to some peace and can just ride for the fun and challenge of racing.
What about you? How is your emotional health when it comes to our endurance sports? Do you feel balanced?
I listened to this podcast with great interest. The core principles resonate with systemic psychological approaches I’ve come across before—but what made it so valuable was applying them directly to sport. As a still ambitious amateur runner in the M70 age group, I could immediately put it into practice during my half marathon this weekend. Especially in the heat, I kept reminding myself: ‘This is good. Run controlled. Be grateful’
Love this - haven’t listened to the podcast yet but am putting it on during a drive later today. As my therapist likes to say, “we like to talk about our emotions, our mind, and our body, as though they are completely separate things…but they really are all aspects of the same”.
That said, keeping unhealthy emotions from running things is easier said than done…