I remember interviewing Dame Sarah Storey and asking her if she’d ever used Imagery. She said she uses it all the time; but whilst on the bike, visualising the events going on around her. Never lying on a dusty floor being talked at. She couldn’t see the value in that. And she is not alone. There are lots of mental skills we teach in sport psychology which work wonderfully. But they often require athletes to sit still, or sometimes even lie down, eyes closed, to learn them. Those techniques are not popular. When we introduce them eyes will roll and stomachs will sink. They want to be outside, in the gym, on equipment – using physical energy.
So, take these athletes, who want to be outside, to be active. Cancel all their races. Wipe out their goals. And, if they are not key workers, ask them to spend three, four or five weeks at home with only a short amount of time to exercise each day. Of course, they understand why and will do what they can to help. But it doesn’t make it easy.
So I asked Tim Rogers, one of the UK’s leading sports psychiatrists for ideas to help them cope.
What do you see as the biggest mental health challenges for athletes who have to isolate?
Athletes don’t escape the same issues as non-athletes. In that sense, although social distancing prevents infections, social isolation can significantly increase the risk of other health problems, both physical and mental. Blanket corona virus coverage on social media and through 24-hour news cycles mean we miss nothing, including hearing about everyone else’s worries. Worry and anxiety become unhealthy when “what if” thoughts multiply and fill our thinking space with scary things all day. This is tiring and hard to sustain.
Specifically, in sport, athletes and coaches across the board are struggling with the sudden unexpected loss of their goals, their events (major and minor) and sometimes even their livelihoods. This was unthinkable only a few months ago.
Elite sports people can find these losses harder to cope with – emotionally – for a few reasons. Sometimes they have had to invest such a large amount of themselves in their sport: who they are; what they value about life; how they spend their time; who they connect with in their social groups; that sudden changes like this can feel catastrophic. Sometimes, they have set themselves extremely high expectations for what they want to achieve for their season. Although there is nothing they could have done to control the onset of a pandemic, they nevertheless find themselves feeling guilty about not training, having a negative conversation with themselves or feeling that they have in some way let themselves down.
The combination of these things can place emotional wellbeing at risk, at a time when it’s important to look after yourself in all respects (both mental and physical).
How do you advise athletes to cope with a complete change of expectations for their season?
Take a moment to pause, step back and notice how you’re feeling during such an unprecedented time. It’s OK not to be OK, whether or not it has anything to do with corona directly. If at all you do need support: reach out in the normal way; don’t tell yourself you need to push on through, single handed or alone.
Putting yourself out there to compete in sport has to come with an awareness that things might not go as expected. Sometimes this is the small stuff. Right now, it’s something unprecedented. Striving to achieve amazing things also means being flexible to adapt your goals when you have to. Once you’ve done the best you can, remind yourself that this is enough. It’s ok to readjust expectations.
Self-isolation need not mean social isolation. Being connected to others in a supportive community does more than just help us feel better, it buffers the biological effects of stress hormones/pressure. It’s so easy to forget to reach out and connect but it’s still possible to experience the same sense of community and the same mental health benefit digitally. One of the benefits of our era of tech is how readily we can now do this from our phones, tablets and computers. A great example is the digital community in which I work: Big White Wall
Don’t just reach out to those closest to you, reach out to your wider group and be together with them online. Giving support can be just as beneficial as receiving it. When you do that, take a moment to notice how many non-sports areas of life you actually value really highly: family; relationships; friends; community; hobbies; spirituality; leisure; physical health; politics; caring for the environment; something else altogether. Falling back onto the things that are important for each of us helps us through difficult moments and helps us manage unhelpful thoughts and feelings.
How do you advise athletes to cope with the increased levels of frustration and boredom?
A little worry or frustration can be useful if it nudges us to plan our way through difficult moments. Don’t revert to reading the news too much or ‘lurking’ on social media. Set aside 10 minutes each day to get up to date with the latest developments, then that is enough until tomorrow. If you are online for other reasons, think about what you post. Share stories of coping, share care and support and share the things that have helped you.
Give yourself permission to focus on something else: a to-do list for today. Any more worry about what might or might not happen in the future (or what cannot now be achieved) is not helpful for you or for others.
Routines are helpful. I read a great thread about life on a submarine recently. Submariners cope by routine: from making sure they rise early, wash and dress; all the way through the other aspects of the day.
There are lots of ways to help you get back into the moment right now, whether free mindfulness resources online, or anything else that pulls your focus into the present. This enables us to cope and to problem solve. Is there something you can take the opportunity to get done?
Your full training plan might not be possible for now but movement is still medicine. Set yourself a goal to find the best ways of staying active and fit for your own situation. For most people (except in situations of exercise dependence or disordered eating) any activity – however little – helps your mental health. Try to find some physical activity that is fun and enjoyable for each day.
Tim’s biography:
Tim is a medical doctor and consultant sports psychiatrist. For many years, Tim has worked across the spectrum of wellbeing and performance with both individuals and teams in elite football, in the Olympic and Paralympic Systems, elite rugby, cricket, tennis, horse racing and many other areas. He is one of a very small number of experts to have undertaken dual postgraduate training in applied sport and exercise psychology. He understands the culture of professional sport and the unique pressures that come with this. Tim is also clinical director at the Big White Wall, an anonymous online mental health service with projects across sport, both in the UK and internationally.
Just a short post as I am trying to fit as much writing in before the schools and nurseries close and I have to work whilst entertaining an energetic and adventurous 3 year old. If any magazine articles get published in the next few months with random Peppa Pig phrases in them you’ll know why!
So the big focus for this past week was The Big Half. A fab half marathon which starts near the Tower of London, heads under the Rotherhithe tunnel all the way to Canary Wharf, back to Tower Bridge and along to Greenwich. You finish in front of the Cutty Sark. We got a stunning day and the organisation was great but I forgot to tell my body all this. I’ve had a cold which had started to go into my chest and while I thought I would be fine I know realise my asthma inhaler wasn’t working and so I felt like I only had the top third of my lungs working. I was light headed and wobbly and just had nothing. Knowing my little girl would be waiting with a high five was enough to get me to Tower Bridge at seven miles but by eight miles I was really low. I had a little sit down on the curb. Sulked. And had a chat with myself. This could either be a DNF and I’d feel rubbish for ages or it could be an opportunity to prove I was mentally tougher than I think I am. I repeatedly realised I would have to tell my little one that mummy found it too hard and quit. That was enough of a kick to stand up and go again. I also realised having to write a blog post about DNFing was going to seriously dent my ego. I kept repeating my mantra (more below) and just jogged it though. Finished in 1:55. Probably a personal worst time for the distance but proud I made it. Next time though I won’t race when struggling with my asthma. It is not big or clever!
I know an additional issue was that the night before the race the French government banned all gatherings of over 5000 people. This meant the Paris Half (supposed to be starting 12 hours later) got cancelled and now we don’t know if Paris Marathon will go ahead. Frantic searching for another marathon in April which still had places led me to the Bungay Black Dog marathon. Not what I was hoping for in a big city marathon but all reports suggest really nice and friendly and interesting course. And it is near my parents so I might get some extra support. But because that big goal I was working towards got all fuzzy I definitely lost excitement for The Big Half. When we don’t have a strong ‘and tummy turning with excitement’ goal it is really hard to stay motivated.
The Brighton Half marathon was fun. But it took a lot of mental energy to make it that way. A few days before with Storm Dennis on his way they decided there would be no finish barrier or infrastructure that could be blown over but other than that all was going ahead. The day before I went for my shake out run and it was 17 minutes out, 13 minutes home. Strong winds.
Last week’s training went ok – I’m not great on sticking to paces outside so when one of my sessions called for different paces throughout I thought I should do it on the treadmill. We have a treadmill in the garage so at least I didn’t need to fight to be allowed to hog one in the gym for ages but even still 100 minutes on a treadmill is the longest I’ve ever done and was mentally really tough. And really annoyingly I was using imagery to get through the session visualising the screen showing 100 minutes when I’d finished it and didn’t realise the number of digits was limited so as I finished it clicked over from 99:59 to 00:01. Cue big sulky bottom lip! But the session was definitely one to consider a ‘gold medal session’ to give me some confidence when it comes to Paris race day.
Another green week. :0) I’ve now hit my goal of four green weeks. Some of this is more focus and effort on my part – some of this is down to working more closely with my coach so the training which goes in matches my workload better – giving me fewer excuses. I did procrastinate all day Sunday about a horrible 70 minute treadmill session but actually, as usual, once it was done I realised it wasn’t that bad.
I knew on Monday this week would not be a ‘green’ week as coughing and sneezing flew around everyone in our house. I have asthma and every cold turns into a chest infection (if I’m lucky) or sinusitis (if I’m unlucky) so I try to be really gentle with myself when a cold pops up. Owning a gorgeous but snotty 3 year old means colds pop up a lot (thanks nursery!)
I missed a blog post. I’ll go back to the ACT stuff when I get some time but in the hope of catching up and getting back on track here is where I am at 11 weeks to go.
