Coachinginterview

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR MOTIVATION | ERIN AYALA

with Erin Ayala

48:19·5 February 2025

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ERIN AYALA

Dr Erin Ayala is one of the more grounded sport psychologists working with endurance athletes — a PhD in counselling psychology, former Senior Editor at the Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, and founder of Skadi Sport Psychology. Her framing of self-efficacy as task-specific (rather than 'general confidence'), and of motivation as a habit problem rather than a willpower problem, is the cleanest articulation of the mental side that the show has run. For riders who plateau on the mental side faster than the physical, her work is the right starting point.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Self-efficacy beats general confidence. Belief in your ability to execute a specific task — the field sprint, the technical descent, the climb selection — predicts performance more reliably than a vague sense of feeling good. Build it from prior reps, watching similar teammates succeed, and reviewing concrete data like your power profile.
You cannot will confidence into existence. The harder you grip for it the further it slips, like trying to force sleep. Peak performance shows up when you stop monitoring how you look to others and trust the process you have already trained.
Motivation is fluid and unreliable, so build habits that run without it. Make the entry bar small enough to feel underwhelming, plan in advance for the day the motivation wanes, and treat the second missed day as the one that actually matters.
Mental toughness is not about blocking pain but welcoming it. Give the discomfort a nod, recognise it as a sign the plan is working, and stay curious about how deep you can go rather than trying to control the emotion.
Visualise the selection point of the race before you start. Decide what your thoughts and response will be at the climb, the technical section, or the team attack so your brain has a contingency plan instead of spiralling.

TOPICS

CYCLING NUTRITION

Confidence isn't just about feeling good—it's about understanding your ability to execute specific tasks when it matters. Erin Ayala breaks down how self-efficacy works, why anxiety and confidence are linked, and gives you concrete mental tools to build unshakable performance on race day.

Key Takeaways

Self-efficacy (your confidence in executing specific skills like sprinting or cornering) matters more than general confidence—build it through past performances, watching teammates succeed, and analysing concrete data about your abilities.
You can't force confidence by trying harder; instead, focus on what you can control: your breathing, preparation, and relationship with anxiety. High performers get anxious too—they just don't panic about the anxiety.
Motivation is finite and unreliable; build habits and routines instead so training happens regardless of how you feel. Make your goals underwhelming enough that consistency feels automatic.
Mental toughness isn't about blocking out pain—it's about welcoming discomfort, staying curious about how deep you can go, and recognizing that difficulty means you're executing the plan correctly.
Visualize the hardest moments of your race in advance and create contingency plans for how you'll respond mentally. This preps your brain to stay focused rather than spiral when things get tough.
Split process goals into specific phases (first 5k, middle, final push) to prevent self-sabotage and keep your mind anchored in the present rather than fixated on outcome.

Expert Quotes

"Confidence is basically your ability to execute tasks as needed when it matters—self-efficacy is more important for performance than general confidence. It's going to be specific to the situation and the sport or the discipline."

"It's like trying to fall asleep: the harder you try to fall asleep, the harder it is to actually do it. You can't directly build confidence—it shows up when you're not worried about how you're doing and what others think of you."

"Mental toughness is not about pushing pain away or ignoring it—it's about welcoming it and bringing it along for the ride. You give your pain the nod: 'Hey, how's it going? This is expected. I'm going to keep showing up anyway.'"

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

Each tagged with the strength of evidence behind it.

EXPERT
Self-efficacy — task-specific confidence in executing skills like sprinting, cornering or climbing — is a stronger predictor of athletic performance than general confidence, and is built from prior experience, vicarious experience watching similar peers, and concrete feedback from data.
Source: Erin Ayala, sport psychologist and former academic researcher
STUDY
A meta-analysis of psychological interventions in sport found mindfulness meditation produced an effect size around 1.0 standard deviation on performance outcomes, larger than the roughly 0.5 effect of healthy eating and exercise on general wellbeing.
Source: Sport psychology meta-analysis cited by Erin Ayala
EXPERT
Breathing is the only direct lever an athlete has over the physiological state-change response, because heart rate, GI activity and muscle tension cannot be consciously controlled — slow deep breaths down-regulate arousal, faster shorter breaths up-regulate it.
Source: Erin Ayala
PRO PRACTICE
Splitting a race into phase-specific process goals — for example holding a deliberately conservative pace through the first 5k of a marathon to prevent self-sabotage — protects against the common pattern of going out too hot and crumbling later.
Source: Erin Ayala coaching practice (sub-3 marathon athlete who PR'd by 15 minutes)
EXPERT
Habits and behaviours sustain training because they do not depend on emotion, whereas motivation is fluid and waves; relying on motivation is why most New Year's resolutions collapse within weeks.
Source: Erin Ayala

KEY QUOTES

“selfefficacy is actually more important for performance and that's basically it's more specific type of confidence and your ability to for example Sprint 200 meters at the end of a you know in a field Sprint at the end of a criterium race um or a stage race right so self- aacy is going to be like sprinting climbing cornering technical descent um other kind of tactics it's going to be specific to the situation and the sport or the discipline”
Erin Ayala — Sport Psychologist and former Professor/researcher

“the only actual lever that we have that we can pull on out of all of those things that we've actually got control over is our breathing so what athletes can do if they need a really quick State change if they're way too anxious and revved up it sounds cliche but it's effective the deep”
Erin Ayala — Sport Psychologist and former Professor/researcher

“she finished I think 303 which was still a 15minute PR incredible um but it was because she was mentally prepared for all of the things that could go arai and she knew it was going to suck so that's the thing too as I always tell athletes is like we can't prepare for us to feel like a superhero if you're actually racing at your limit it's going to hurt”
Erin Ayala — Sport Psychologist and former Professor/researcher

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT2 SECTIONS

Defining Confidence and Self-Efficacy

Confidence can make or break an Athletes Performance in this episode I sit down with the amazing eron iala to explore what it takes to build unshakable confidence as an athlete from overcoming self-doubt and performance anxiety to using mental tools like positive selft talk and mindfulness we dive into actionable strategies so you can feel more confident on and off the bike welcome to the roban podcast eron AA Aon welcome to rob my podcast thanks for having me excited to be here I'm excited to really hopefully get some tangible benefits from myself and the audience out with a conversation because I think as an athlete I was guilty of this whenever I had a session scheduled with a sport psychologist it was a bit like oh come on give me a break like you know there's nothing positive coming of this but with the benefit of hindsight I've seen when I try to deconstruct top performers be they athletes businessman confidence plays such a role and you look no further than a sprinter in cyclum when he loses his confidence it's this magic thing he has that allows him to navigate gaps seemingly at ease but when confidence disappears is whats can be the exact same but he just can't seem to find a result like execution isn't there yeah like how complicated is confidence can we Define what it is oh that's a good question I'm sure there are plenty of kind of scientific definitions so it's interesting when you look at semi former researcher I guess I still do research but former Professor so I'm very much an academic and so when I talk about anything mental or sport Psy related I it has to be grounded in the research um and so when we look at confidence I I argue that selfefficacy is actually more important for performance and that's basically it's more specific type of confidence and your ability to for example Sprint 200 meters at the end of a you know in a field Sprint at the end of a criterium race um or a stage race right so self- aacy is going to be like sprinting climbing cornering technical descent um other kind of tactics it's going to be specific to the situation and the sport or the discipline and that is really important and that's basically your confidence and your ability to execute tasks as needed when it matters so if you take a sprinter that's been on a hot streak I I struggle to tell when a sprinter has confidence but I don't struggle to tell the opposite when a sprinter is without confidence or a rider in general is without confidence I can tell that and that's not unique to Cy across any sport we've seen like football for years sometimes a striker just needs a ball to bounce off a and go in and that starts a goal scoring streak for them yep but can we deconstruct what confidence is into constituent parts and artificially build it or is it only based on prior performances good question so there are a couple of things that contribute to it one is previous experiences doing the thing so if someone's on a hot streak that's going to increase their confidence or their self-efficacy because they know that they've been doing it recently um and it's not just the power numbers are there it's also the skill set the intuition knowing when to make the move knowing what SWAG yeah and so it's like you've got to know that you've been doing it but then you can also get it from like vicarious experiences so let's say you've got a teammate with a similar power profile similar experience level similar skill set and then you see them doing it that can also improve your confidence um and then it's getting really good concrete feedback as well so it might be looking at your power profile or the data or the numbers and being like okay I've got a really solid 2-minute power profile so I need to roll off the front of the pelaton earlier um in order to make my move so that's kind of like being able to play with the data and get that personal feedback um the other thing that's really important about confidence and this is one of those things where you can't I say it's kind of like trying to fall asleep the harder you try to fall asleep the harder it is to actually do counting Che doesn't work build confidence now right no and like it's wild because a lot of endurance athletes cyclists especially tend to be really type a par we like control but bike racing for example is wildly chaotic and we don't have control so we have to learn how to let go of that and I sound cliche in saying this trust the process and then do in doing so confidence and Peak Performance is most likely to show up when we're not worried about how we're doing and what others think of us when you look at crosssection when you look at a cross-section of sports or business is there common traits for confident people yes yep I think people who are confident are going to be more grounded in understanding like their own value system and their knowing their why knowing what's important to them they're going to be less caught up in the comparison cycle um comparing their performances to others especially like you know comparing their training to what others are doing so they're going to be more centered um and then I think the other thing with confidence is confident people know that consistency is more important than intensity and so like sticking with the process is more important than like one bad day or one good day so they're just going to be more even keeled and grounded and kind of trusting themselves and their training and I think that feeds into so many things is because we've all had those training Partners or out on a group ride where they're not confident M themselveses there's an insecurity that's woven into the fabric of how they carry themselves and how they participate as part of that group and that a manifesting stuff like half Wheeling yes which is just really annoying for everyone but for me it's a sign of somebody who's just so lacking confidence in themselves and lacking confidence in the process yes yep and wanting to like looking for those little tangibles of like okay I'm good enough I'm doing okay I'm hanging in the pack I'm sticking with them I'm making a move I'm pushing for you know the county town like road signs um the Sprints right and like they're looking for these ways to kind of you know steadily boost themselves instead of assuming they've already got it um so can we infer the opposite from it someone that's confident doesn't need that peer validation somebody that isn't confident needs the peer validation I yeah I think that's a safe generalization to make I think people who are more confident are more um what's a good way to put it there's more of that self assurance and understanding like their performance is not dependent on what other people think of them so they are going to rely more on themselves for that internal validation and kind of that moral compass um or the people in their Inner Circle like their coach who knows them really well they'll listen to coach when they have a heart to- heart but not necessarily you know a random guy who they haven't seen in the pelaton before giving them advice about such and such um how how do you deal with the athlete that's underperforming because they can't seem to get confidence that matches their ability yes I see this a lot especially with teens um I see it a lot with like Runners and cross country track and field where they're crushing their workouts they're pushing the paces on all the intervals I I will see this with cyclists as well and then when it comes to race day they just they crumble um so what a lot of it often has to do with anxiety um because they're concerned because they care frankly and they don't want to screw up they don't want to humiliate themselves they don't want to embarrass themselves they don't want to let people down if they're racing on a team letting their team down so the first thing I do is help them understand that whatever you're trying to do chances are it hasn't worked for you like that's why you're here um and so there's this sense of hopelessness and understanding that anxiety is going to show up regardless so we need to learn to work with it instead of against it um we can't try to keep controlling our emotions cuz it's a lost effort and so if confidence is the brother is the sister of Confidence from what you're saying performance anxiety yeah that's a good way to put it cuz often the more anxious we are the less confident we're going to be that said I would say this is a kind of a fluffy way to think about it or a therapist way to think about it is it's not even the anxiety itself it's like your relationship with the anxiety so high performers yeah so like high performers who are confident they'll also be anxious yeah um but they aren't freaking out about the anxiety whereas people who are not confident are going to be more likely to freak out when the anxiety shows up because then they're going to be like oh my gosh I'm not ready I can't do this um whereas the confidence is going to help them be like okay this I'm nervous I've got this that's okay Norms nerves are normal right there's a brilliant scene in a it's still on YouTube I think uh it's called a year in yellow it's a documentary that follows Bradley Wiggins for a year in 2012 when he wins the Tour of France and then 8 days later he wins Olympic gold but there's one scene in it that when you're talking about confidence I think about Bradley Wiggins because he's warming up for the final time trial in the tour to France so this is you know years if not Decades of preparation have gone into this moment he's in yellow already but he needs to deliver in this time trial and the documentary crew is interviewing Shawn Yates who's Bradley wiggins's coach and they like you know what do he say to Brad at times like this and he's like ah I just leave him alone he's like Brad his life is a train wreck he's like everything about Brad is a disaster he's like but this right here this is where he doesn't need tuition this is what he does he's like at this moment you just leave him alone you let him do his thing I like whoa that's just confidence from a coach in his athlete but also Brad internally just he executed on that so many times yep and it's knowing so it's like identifying the controllables and the uncontrollables and and knowing like okay I I know this race or I know this course or I know the the Prof the elevation profile that turns well enough that also I would bet he's visualized it he knows how he's going to manage his power and his effort he's got a game plan and the thing that's great about TTS is you've got more control yeah um so he can control that effort so is preparation the antidote to Performance anxiety or is it a partial solution it's a partial solution yeah so the preparation both physical and mental so and you know you think about it physical preparation if you're going in cold to a race you haven't warmed up you're feeling rushed um you're not going to do as well so the physical preparation is important to get a proper warmup in um and then you know like some hard efforts maybe some Sprints depending on the type of race the mental preparation is just as important and that's like visualizing like what I'll often do with athletes for races I'll ask them about okay what is the most difficult point of the race going to be for you think about the selection point of the race it could be a climb it could be a really technical section um it could be you know a certain team attacks and you have to decide whether or not you're going to go what are your thoughts going to be in that moment and then how are you going to effectively respond in that situation this is interesting I like where this is going so maybe as a follow on to this and both in the race and before a Race So before a race I'm rolling up I'm in the car park I'm in my cies I get into my Cas we'll stick with the time trial analogy I'm getting ready for it yep I get onto the bike you know I'm not super motivated cuz I'm just starting my warmup yep I'm looking to physically warm up but how do I elicit a state change in my mental psychology yes yeah so it's asking yourself okay what do I want to get out of today um athletes will often start with outcome goals so it'll be if it's a TT especially like a time or a place um how do you know if they want the podium or do they want a certain split power the average power it could you know whatever it is they're going for it's often some sort of PR person best or Podium and so I always say okay that's great and how are you going to get there because if you're focusing in the first kilometer on what your time is going to be in like 39 kilometers from now you're not doing yourself any favors you've got to focus on what you're doing in the moment and so in order to mentally shift during the warm-up that's what you're going to do is kind of go into that space and kind of think about okay mentally how am I going to be feeling for the first we'll say 10 kilomet I'm going to settle in I'm going to manage my effort I'm not going to let my nerves and excitement get the best of me so I a lot of visualization yeah and then like mentally preparing for just contingency planning of being like okay let's say such and such happens how am I going to mentally respond and physically respond so so I'll give you an example I had a one of my recent athletes um is going for she was going for a sub3 marathon running um and she knew from past experiences she has a tendency to go out too hot totally the case for a lot of marathon runners you know they get excited they feel good they feel like a superhero but they pay for it later um and so we created a goal we split up the course for her we're like you can go for sub three that's cool we know you have to average this per mile it was like sevenish mile minute mile um but what are you going to do in the F like where are the the ways you could self-sabotage and then we created goals to prevent them so the first 5k we're like you're going to average like a seven I think we were shooting for like a 705 or 710 mile instead of 7 minute she's like we know a negative split is really hard but that's going to be the process goal for the race because that's going to get you to that sub three so then the goal for the first 5k was to chill and not get ahead of herself and she executed it beautifully it was like 711 712 splits or something and then of course I'm like sports psychologist watching tracking being like okay where's the next split where like how's she doing has she hit the wall yet right and she crushed it um and finished I think 303 which was still a 15minute PR incredible um but it was because she was mentally prepared for all of the things that could go arai and she knew it was going to suck so that's the thing too as I always tell athletes is like we can't prepare for us to feel like a superhero if you're actually racing at your limit it's going to hurt so I always think that moment as well like whether it's in training or a race it's like that moment where it's hurting and you have that voice gone should I quit or should I not right that's the only moment you came out for that's the only moment that matters the rest of it's like autopilot it's easy so it's like I left the house for a reason I took those days off work for a reason I stayed away from you know family events for a reason this is the reason like what am I going to do at this moment like am I going to show up or I going to sh responsibility exactly and that's where and that's what you plan for and then it's reminding yourself okay everything's going according to plan I should hurt right now like this is how I'm supposed to feel if I'm actually measuring my effort appropriately circling back to the idea of stay change cuz I think that's helpful both from a warmup but it's also helpful in a road race because road races can be depending on the level you're racing at you could be racing for you know some of the World Tour guys 300K from Milano you drift off and then you need to switch on for really select moments in that race battle for position into naio yep like how do you CH change state within those moments is it just visualization or is there a framework to elicit that state change there yeah there are a couple of Frameworks so we know arousal regulation is really important for any athlete but like a you know biathlon is a really great example of this because you've got shooting um and so in when any sort of Dart or Precision like archery sports or Shooting Sports the heart rate is really important they've got to bring themselves down from arousal they can't be super revved up cuz they're not going to be as accurate but then they hop on a PA of Nordic skis and they're busting their butt for cardio going as fast as they can so it's up down up down so in the case of a pelaton and let's say it's a you know thre hour race like they're naturally you're going to check out so there's kind of there's two things that I would suggest in this case one is that arousal regulation and understanding when you start hearing gears clicking behind you or shifting um you know teammates starting to kind of talk um like what are some of those tells or those sign off with the Bell is it for the dogs it's like like okay Something's Gonna something's about someone's going to throw down right and so that's where you've got to kind of and then you arousal you start to kind of ramp yourself up but your nerves will you know if you've been racing long enough we know um so heart heart is going to start racing we're start going to start a little anxious jittery right so you've got to be ready peripheral vision is like locked and loaded and then the other thing that you have to do and this is where where I often get eye rolles from athletes because in general we don't like to do it mindfulness meditation helps with those sorts of situations because the purpose of mindfulness meditation is to notice when you're getting distracted and then just bring yourself back home without judging yourself so in a pelaton you notice you check out or you miss a move then you're able to respond accordingly and not get caught up in the mistake and start beating yourself up for it and then be like oh well the race is over clearly that was the move I lost it someone who's regularly practicing mindfulness can be like well that sucked what can I do now yeah and then they're going to notice when they're getting distracted and not paying attention and then they can bring themselves back so they'll be a better racer because of it we are so excited to announce that we are partnering with whoop whoop are changing the game when it comes to wearable technology and health monitoring whoop is a wearable health and fitness coach that provides you with feedback and actionable insights into your sleep your recovery your training your stress and your overall health Sarah and I 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Breathing as a State-Change Lever

Whoop.com for/ roadman I'm going to pop that in the description below and you're going to get a fre month's access to whoop membership on me I promise you won't regret it so you mentioned gears shifting down so yeah would it be fair to label that like an association between estate change and a catalyst and if that's the case can we build other triggers like that like because it could be because the gear change you know you could have people with you just flicking the gears up and down in the background it's playing your mental state so it's like but could you Peg that I don't know something else a sticker on your bike or a mileage goal on your car yeah there are some so it's interesting because when you look at kind of that state change often so you know from a biological or physiological standpoint we're looking at the all the things that are affected it's your heart rate it's your breathing pattern your how tense your muscles are or how activated they are it's your honestly your thinking and whether you're making really emotional decisions versus very clear-cut like clean decisions um or critical thinking um it's also your GI system so this is why a lot of athletes will have to you know go to the bathroom 10 million times before a race is like that's that those anxiety those nerves right um but the only the only actual lever that we have that we can pull on out of all of those things that we've actually got control over is our breathing so what athletes can do if they need a really quick State change if they're way too anxious and revved up it sounds cliche but it's effective the deep breathing is actually effective because that's the way of telling your body like slow down we're good because you can't tell your heart rate to chill you can't tell you know your GI system to stop freaking out like that the only lever you have is breathing so it also works for the opposite so let's say you're got like you know it's like a group one of those like road races where it feels like a group ride no one's making moves you're cruising but like no it's not hard um it's kind of getting boring you're starting to check out and you notice that you can start doing more like breathing exercises it's basically faster inhales and more shorter paced inhales to start to kind of activate that state change and it'll help and it's almost like you need to periodize this as well don't you because you can't just be I remember having a friend over before and he had a w bike excuse me I a walk bike in the house and he wanted to do like physiological testing with his girlfriend he wanted to do a a ramp test so a protocol she started off like 120 watts and added on you know whatever it was 20 watts every minute y but she literally just started the effort so she's at like you know Zone one heart race Zone one Watts three four out of 10 R to perceived effort and he's like screaming at her go go let's go let's go let's go let's go and I was like where you go with that like where like a three out of 10 effort like where does that go at an eight out of 10 at a n out of 10 right and I had a chance uh two weeks ago to work with one of the best coaches in the world John Wakefield over in his lab in Jona and I was doing V2 max testing and I think his protocol is like one water every two seconds or something so the test lasts 25 minutes or so yeah but he almost didn't say anything he was joking around the lab he was moving stuff chatting with his co-workers until we hit about 380 watts and then he just turned to his friend and he's like do what you need to do now is get your most hardcore hip-hop music and put it on full blast he's like because it's go time and he's like the test starts now and I was like y whoa that's how you do it totally yeah how use that same analogy though in self talk yeah it's so it's basically finding like what are those phrases that are going to really light a fire in you um we know music is a good is a performance enhancer can't use that in the pelaton can't like turn on the playlist sing to yourself doesn't work right I mean you can try to sing to yourself that'll also actually I wonder what that would do um you get some friends I'm sure so it's trying to basically ask yourself what are those lovers for some athletes it's it's anger um which it's interesting because the research shows technically anger isn't super constructive like over the long term for performance um so it's going to be more of the like okay go time or it's going to be like go now this is it um is trying to find those personal phrases or tools that will work for you and I've also found it's best for athletes usually to to mix them up um because they can get kind of stale after a while so they have to keep them fresh has there been studies on like neural Poway activation on certain phrases or certain music is there anything that's like universally like who's going to carry the boats just works for everyone that's a good question yeah I don't know the answer to that that's a really great question M it' be interesting to see I guess music is quite a individual choice but it would assume that fastpaced stuff is going to bring higher levels of arousal yeah the thing that is really interesting is you know and for all the listeners it's like if you think about the best race you've ever had or the best performance you've ever had whether or not it landed in a Podium or you know it doesn't even it doesn't have to even be about the place but you were just like you were dialed you executed you showed up in the way that you're proud of the common denominator the Common Thread usually when I ask people is this kind of like calm sense of confidence or Assurance or they like they're not putting pressure on themselves they wanted it really badly but it was from this like motivation hunger for it this desire um it's not to prove a point it's more of like I want this and I'm ready for it let's let's go um and then the other thing that I often hear is often it's when athletes go into a race without specific goals because you know life got really messy and they're like you know what I'm just going to have fun no expectations for this one and that's when they get a really great performance whereas the athletes would then you you know then ask ask yourself what's the worst or most humiliating or embarrassing performance I had usually they were putting a lot of pressure on themselves yeah um and that can lead to you know poor decision making it's also just a waste of energy um cuz your body is just so revved up then you're not is there a split though where the best athletes like you know I come from a football background or soccer for the US listeners and you always see that the best athletes deliver at the key moments like the highest pressurized situations yep MJ is coming up with a three-pointer yep those clutch moments yeah yep and that's where we know like there are a couple of things that are important for that it's this it's this awareness that this is it and then there we call it like having a very key like a goal task like task goal or task oriented goal where it's going to be just about that one specific thing that they need to do in that situation and it's that state change where they're able to so think of like game-winning point of just being like they're able to kind of cut out the rest of the noise they're not worried about what other people think of them they know they need to deliver this is the moment and then they're trusting themselves that they can do it which takes a lot of mental work beforehand right um so and I would argue a lot of practice this yeah for sure so something that's actually quite common for athletes it's motivation or lack thereof so oh yeah is willpower finite cuz for me I know if I get up in the morning I just get out straight away and train easy it's almost automatic it's like brushing my teeth having a coffee just happens yes the longer I leave it into the day I start going maybe the 2hour ride will become a 60 Minutes KI on the kicker maybe I'll go for a run stairs oh maybe I'll shift my rest day to today yep start negotiating with yourself yes yeah there's um so I think willpower is I don't I think it can work in specific situations I don't think it's sustainable um because I mean at there's kind of there's two things two ways you can think about this we've got habits and then we which are behaviors and then we've got emotions which is like motivation would be an example I'm feeling really motivated today we cannot base our training plans or performances off of our motivation because motivation is very fluid it's always changing just naturally um habits and behaviors they don't have to depend on our feelings or our emotions and so get up first thing in the morning you know put on your kit have breakfast fill up the water bottles get out for a ride if that's your routine then you don't have to rely on the emotions or the motivation to show up and this is what often happens for people at the start of the new year with New Year's resolutions because they're really motivated but then that it's just not sustainable cuz they're waiting on this motivation the motivation then wanes so I wonder is the goal too big for people that like you know if you have James Clear has this idea in atomic habits of instead of a habit being something that's huge yeah chunk it down to the smallest possible positive step you can take and then build it into a habit and then expand the Habit once the Habit is established would you go along with that fully yeah wholeheartedly agree um and so what I'll often tell my athletes I'm like you don't want your goals to be super like fun or sexy or exciting like you want them to be kind of underwhelming where you're like okay I can do I can do that when it comes to habits anyway outcome goals like the course of your season you know if you're chasing upgrade points or a big stage race those should be a little scary right because then you're stepping outside of your comfort zone but if you want a new habit or behavior change like was talking to one of my athletes this morning she wants to stop Doom scrolling at night before bed and read a book for fun like great so what what counts as reading a book for fun is it going to be a self-help book is it going to be science fiction like are we kind of falling into this productivity trap where now you just want to like get your streak like why are you doing it let's start there um and then we also plan for okay when the motivation wanes and you're scrolling on Tik Tok and you're watching the clock tick and you're like oh I should then what are you going to say to yourself and then you have to kind of plan for that in advance which I think that's where a lot of people fail in the sense that they forget to do that and then they'll like lose their streak or their motivation then it's kind of this eff it mentality like okay well I screwed up so I might as well not do it anymore yeah like all yeah so and really it's about and you know James Clear will say this is it's about the second time not the first time that you miss it's like the second day that you miss are you going to pick it back up again because that's the GameChanger and so it's that persistent again that consistency over intensity so then if motivation is quite a a finite resource that we can't rely on how do you think about mental toughness when you hear people saying Oh The Athlete's mentally tough what does that mean oh I love this conversation I there's so many like debates about this I think Society I think General I think most people think of mental toughness as like put your head down do the work regardless of how you're feeling um kind of like un like put the pain away um it's kind of like ignore the pain um block it out those types of things when I argue that it's actually quite the opposite where it's like we welcome it and we bring it in and we bring it along for the ride so mental toughness is like letting those emotions in and I always kind of make fun of when guys will pass each other they'll give each other the nod of like hey what's up um and so it's like you give your pain the nod hey how's it going yep you're right time like this is expected um and then you continue to show up anyway so you're not trying to block it out or ignore it or control it you're recognizing like yep things are going to going according to plan um Ultra traal Runner Courtney de Walter is a really great example of this so she loves what she calls the pain cave it's like those moments where you're like this is it this is what I've been training for am I going to ease up or am I going to keep pushing and so she frames it as every time I get to that moment moment one I've worked hard to get there you can't just turn on the pain cave in those moments and train for them unless you've put in a lot of work beforehand to fatigue yourself right um so then there's kind of this interesting sense of gratitude of being like okay I worked for this moment even though it feels like it sucks right now and then she has it like all this sense of curiosity of like how deep can I go so are there and she has this analogy that she uses of an actual cave where she's inside of this cave and she's chiseling out the inside of the cave to make it as roomy and comfy as possible I think Edward Norton does this in F Club yeah so you could stay longer next time it's like this like how long can I stay that's the mental toughness is being it's like that Curiosity and being like okay this sucks and that's okay as opposed to trying to push it away I also wonder is there a benchmarking effect on it because if you take uh you know I race in Ireland most of the time and a lot of times March April May poor and 2 four 5 de it's a bad combination but I've had days like one that Springs to mind racing in Toronto this race Lake of bay is like the worst day you can ever imagine on a bike you know the bottles are frozen into the cage your gear cables are frozen everyone's hypothermic Y and you finish that race and now that becomes a benchmark point in your mind so now you're racing and it's 4 degrees and it's raining you're like okay this is bad but it's not as bad as that was exactly true uhhuh yep that we know that kind of exposure sometimes people call it in other sports like pressure training um helps with the mental toughness because then you're able to look back what you've got that Baseline of like well this sucks but it wasn't as bad as last time um so then you're it that helps with the confidence to kind of come full circle because then you know that you've executed in those situations in the past and you'll be okay in this one as well the caveat to that are kind of the important I don't know asteris is being like safety right so at what point is being too mentally tough no longer working to your benefit and so I do argue that in order to be mentally tough you do have to pay attention to your body and what it's telling you and understanding like okay at what point am I becoming getting frostbit um for like winter Ultra races or hypothermic I get PTSD that I'm not recovering from right yeah so it's knowing like knowing when you need to like step back and pull the plug or pull the parachute to prioritize health and wellness cuz otherwise that's where again ignoring the signs and the feelings that's when you sign up for more like injury burnout things like that h j Japanese have this culture of a a butcher word someone will correct me in the comments I think it's h Yaki or something like that where it's once a year they will try and do something that has as much chance of success as failure so they're pushing themselves with an extreme task every year almost pushing that benchmark point out but I had a recent conversation with ex world to ro where magos at Theo T Spain's a really interesting guy because he's always pushing the limit to what's physically and mentally possible so he likes each year to put himself into a position where he's on AO and he reaches the point of no return so psychologically the point of no return is an interesting place to be most of us don't get to the point of no return in our lives right maybe ever and he puts himself there every year almost as an intellectual experiment it's wild what happens if I push past right now or what's the consequences of pushing past five more minutes means there is no going back right that's scary but I wonder is there a benefit to it as well I think there is again like assuming you know every you're still safe you know assuming it's not like I don't think you are though at the point of no return you definitely are not safe you can't sanitize that so then it's like asking yourself what are the potential consequences if I go past this point and am I and am I willing to make those sacrifices or am I willing to face those consequences like him it's this like there's he's in the wilderness he's up in British Colombia it's snow there's wild animals yes it's straight up you're CH does he have like a does he have like an exit Point like um a satellite GPS where he could call someone if needed I don't think so I think that's almost to idea of there can't be an out here or else it's not the point of no return yeah so then that's the consequence that he's willing to accept um so like I think the benefit the psychological benefit I mean we'll see this with um like free divers you know they're really pushing the boundaries like you know how long can I go without oxygen and how deep um and so they'll have some really close calls and I mean you know elex honold will talk about this as well and just kind of like his idea of fear and the consequences he's willing to take some people are just wired that way where they're like I'd rather die doing something that I absolutely love it's what magnetizes us to them though like whether it's Fain or Alex H like there's a mystery and an Intrigue about those people that's yeah it's quite alluring yep we call it like um some of the I think it's it might be one of Matt Fitzgerald's books um like the central Governor there's like this part of our brain that holds us back and prevents us from going too deep and it like there is a benefit to it it's looking out for us it's protecting us um but it doesn't necessarily help with performance so it's knowing when to listen and when not to Roan whether your weekend warrior or a world tour Rider the right tools can make all the difference enter 4 I's Precision three plus power meter the latest Innovation from 4i designed to help you reach Peak Performance the Precision 3 plus parameter is a compact yet powerful unit it weighs just nine G and it's packed with features that set it apart including integration with app fine mind Network giving you the Peace of Mind by letting you track your param meter wherever it is plus you've got up to 800 hours of battery life we all know that accuracy is key and For Eyes delivers a groundbreaking plus or minus 1% accuracy thanks to their unique 3D strain gauge technology for those seeking even more data the Precision 3E plus pro parameter offers dual-sided param meter metrics giving you detailed insights into pedling efficiency torque Effectiveness and left right balance for eyes offers versatile product options to suit your needs choose from R ready parameters with pre-installed units on Shimano cranks or up for factory install parameter where you send in your crank set for a custom installation ready to elevate your cycling game trust Four Eyes Precision 3 plus parameter Precision performance and peace of mind all inone learn more by visiting four i i i i.com that's for II ii.com I'm going to put that in the description down below I've seen a meme uh from a marathan running coach and I'm always up prefs this with coaching air quotes like yeah you know everyone's a coach now like you never know with 2,000 Instagram followers is suddenly a coach yes and their meme was about Martin running and he said uh something along the lines of 99% mental 1% physical and I repost and going like please train it's not 99% mental yes I agree yeah but like where is that I don't think it's the other way either I don't think it's 99% physical 1% mental what is that division do you think yeah I don't in terms of percentages I don't know what it is there was a um trying to how the easiest way to explain this from like stats terms so there was a meta analysis that was done two probably going on three years now and so it's a study of studies it was a sport meta analysis so they looked at all of these different psychological tools and interventions with athletes to see are there actual like are they actually making a difference um do these things matter and short answer is yes they matter and they do make a really big difference so to put this into context I think they use the example of if we look at healthy eating and exercise with the general population the difference and this is where I get I I'll try not to get too Nerdy with stats get at okay sweet so it's called cones D which is basically it's called effect size so how big is the change does it matter so if you had two groups of people one was eating really well and exercising regularly and the other group wasn't there would be A5 standard deviation difference and like I think the outcome was psychological well-being or it might have been health or something so 0.5 is considered like a medium effect size that's pretty solid mindful meditation is like 1 point something which is huge so then if you were to put like two pelons together you know it compare them one you know or two teams we'll say one team is regularly meditating for over the course of the season and one team is not the team that's meditating could AR research suggests could be over one standard deviation higher in performance than the team that was not meditating that's massive it's it's massive especially when you get to the pro elite level when any type of difference could could make the difference between success and failure so why wouldn't you capitalize on that so more the average kind of overall when they look at all the combined psych effects I want to say it was closer to like 08 or something which is still massive um because when you're looking at psychological well-being like there are so many factors that go into that same thing for performance like the physical is important you need the power you need the Finesse you need the strategy the intuition but the the mindset is huge because those are the moves where it matters push back on academic studies is and this is someone who spent seven years in Academia yeah is we can take the meta analysis we look okay across these 10 different studies there was a 500 participants if I'm UAE I don't care about that I care about what's the effect on T Pacha right what's the effect on Jay VY it doesn't matter if it's this worked on 94% of people so it's statistically very significant T is in 6% it's not working on him so how do we go about figuring out as an athlete all I care about because I'm so self-interested as me how do I figure out now which of those tools work on me and how do I assess a if it's working and be the magnitude of that yes honestly trial and error um which mean athletes love biohacking these days and we're always looking to optimize so ADD the mental game to your schedule um so we know goal setting is hugely effective um especially when they're more process or performance goals that are linked to you and what you've got control over as opposed to kind of the outcome or how you compare to others so that's one lever that people can pull which are usually pretty effective um motivation which we talked about like knowing how to increase and decrease motivation one needed that's another really good tool in the tool belt mindfulness meditation is one self-efficacy is another really big one um task cohesion so this is especially for team tactics everyone knows what their role is who they're working for and when they're going to make certain moves or kind of who's who they're targeting so they're all on the same page that's also huge for performance so when it comes to individuals athletes I'd say like stick with meditation for example consistently for at least a month and see how you feel um and sometimes the winds aren't a matter of what place you are or how many points you might have or your power profile the winds are more sneaky and subtle like oh I was supposed to do an urg test or I was supposed to do like a ramp test and my heart rate monitor wasn't charged and then I was also rushed so I kind of had a crappy lunch and so I was not feeling it but I pushed on and did it anyway yeah as opposed to Great point cuz there so many athletes I see that's like i' call I had a great guest actually one of my we're on episode 00 or something now and one of my first guests I think he was like top first 50 guests was ni niik molasses and he was a tier one Navy sale operator Y and one of the things he drilled into me was they spend most of their time doing what he called admin that's getting ready for the fight yes like because the fight when it comes it's like it's go time you can't be looking for yeah no you just got to do yep and so that's across the cycling as well I was like you see so many athletes who just bad at admin and they're like I can't find my shoe can in today session gone exactly yeah and there's um are you familiar with Oliver burkman um he's a thought leader really great um from I think UK he just came out with the book mindfulness for Mortals which is really good not related to sport at all but very much related not written for athletes but relevant to athletes and he talks about the importance of just acting instead of planning because we spend so much time trying to optimize and plan that we can get in our own way and not just start doing the thing so he talks a lot about the importance of that like we're never going to fully optimize our performance as athletes you know like life is messy but we've got to do the best we can on the day so what does that look like right and in this case it's going to be like okay I guess I'm going to do the ramp test without my heart rate monitor because I don't have an extra battery like it is what it is and yeah that's brilliant and it's getting so relevant for the direction cycling is gone one of the things I do each year with friends is bike packing and all bike packing is if you do it at like this year we went and had a brilliant moment Slovenia Bosnia Montenegro Croatia so there's some pretty wild countries Albania well all you're doing is solving problems all day long you're never getting to this utopian place like the stoics called it that honic treadmill that i' be happy when fallacy yes so you never get to that place because it's like okay we're lost I'm out of water I'm hungry sounds so crashed I'm sunburned I just got bitten by an insect there's some sketchy looking dudes driv and be in a van for the last 5K there's always problems so it's like if you Matt Damon has a great quote in the movie The Maran where he gets left on Mars and he's just on his whiteboard and he said you solve one math problem then you solve another and if you're solving enough problems you get to go home right right but it's like the um you know when you're trying to put a screen protector on a screen and there's a bubble and like you get rid of it and another one comes up like that's how performance is for athletes like you might optimize one area of your life and figure it out but something else is going to happen so it's never going to be fully dialed but that's what makes I'd argue that that's what makes a good athlete is they to Circle that very back to the start as we wrap up the podcast we started off talking about confidence is there confidence then in your personal life if you're executing as an athlete to be okay with some messy edges and say you know what I'm devoting quite a lot of time to ride my bike it's okay if my kitchen isn't always the cleanest place in the world yep yep um and just being clear with those you know those expectations because another thing I think a simple concept that I say to my athletes is the bigger that the Gap is between reality and expectations the more distress we're going to have so if your reality is pretty close to your expectations for training for racing for keeping your house clean-ish while you're in season then we're going to be okay so that's why people are always talking about the importance of setting real realistic goals because if athletes keep moving the goal post or the Finish Line they're never going to be satisfied and that's super common with endurance athletes it's like the you know I'll be happy when it's the hedonic treadmill it's looking for the next race or the next chance it's like slow down like look at where you started um let's take some measurements to see how you're doing compared to where you were a year ago or three years ago and sometimes we just forget to see that progress and in doing so we're hurting our confidence because we've got to look at what we're we're doing well because that's what got us to where we are right and we just we're often too hard on ourselves and we we look over it ER this such a valuable conversation thank you so much for your time yeah thank you this is great if you enjoyed this conversation please click up here there's another video I know that you're absolutely going to love click over here and subscribe to the channel so you don't miss any of our amazing upcoming guests

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do you build confidence as an endurance athlete?+

Sport psychologist Erin Ayala recommends focusing on self-efficacy rather than general confidence, meaning your belief in your ability to execute specific tasks like climbing, cornering, or sprinting. The three most effective sources are prior experience completing the task, watching teammates of similar ability succeed, and reviewing objective data such as power numbers to reinforce what you are capable of.

What is self-efficacy in sport and why does it matter?+

Self-efficacy is your confidence in performing a specific skill or task, rather than a broad sense of feeling good about yourself. Erin Ayala argues it is a stronger predictor of athletic performance than general confidence because it is task-specific and can be deliberately built through experience, observation, and concrete feedback.

Why do some cyclists half-wheel in group rides?+

Erin Ayala explains that half-wheeling is typically a sign of insecurity rather than genuine competitiveness. Athletes who rely on external validation to feel confident often display behaviours like this to assert themselves, whereas truly confident riders tend to draw on internal measures of progress and consistency instead.

How can I stay motivated when cycling progress feels slow?+

Erin Ayala advises shifting focus from outcome-based measures to consistency and process, since motivation tends to follow a sense of competence. Reviewing power data and reflecting on past performances where you executed well can reinforce belief in your ability and sustain motivation through periods where visible progress stalls.

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