High Achiever Attitude

When You go out for your hard training session is it usually your motive to achieve or do you rather try to avoid failure?
Sounds like the same thing, doesn't it. But it is NOT. In the matter of Sportspsychology this is a huge difference.

Elite Athletes are keen on achieving successes, whereas so called "low achievers" are trying to avoid failure. I studied this theory with great interest last semester and yesterday got to experience it riding up Mt Cootha.
I was on my 3rd hill repeat and pushing hard. I passed an older cyclist, whose words to me were, "See you can do it!".
[I pause here for a second, to let you think about this statement.]
Without me thinking I replied "You can do it too!! Just keep going!".

But that was not what he meant. He was in the believe that I had doubt about making the hill. I never doubted though- instead I thought he meant something like, "see you can do it and I am a bit struggling here."

See the difference?

My Dad My Hero

I am done with Exams! The first thing I did was going for a long interval ride up Mt Cootha. In the last couple of weeks my training time was "Mental Rehearsal" of material that I will be tested on in the theory and prac exams. So this was the first ride in loong time that my thoughts were "free" to go and they ended up with my parents, my dad. I have semester break until March and instead of going to winterly Germany I will go "home" to Hawaii, to my Ohana (that is hawaiian for family). Though I do miss my parents.
When I was a kid, my Dad and I usually were sitting squeezed next to each other in a big living room chair watching Der Sandman. Then he would say, "so now the really interesting show starts, the News!". So I sat there trying to find something interesting about the News. I ended up bored, so I watched his belly instead rising and falling whenever he expired and inspired. I tried to go with with the same pace, which made it a really challenging game. I had to hold my breath forever and did not allow myself to breath in again until he started to. Maybe that is why my lung capacity is so well established nowadays (I tested peak flow and Forced Vital Capacity and so on in practicum and scored above average).