Doesn’t it make sense that if you’re trying to achieve more success, and fulfillment in sport that you’d seek mentoring from an achiever??

Kathryn (KC) Wilder, Ph.D. Is that achiever.

As an athlete…she’s been there. Done that.  All-American cycling honors at UVA, a top twenty U.S. professional cycling ranking, two National Master’s Championships, and a top ten finish in the Masters World Track championships.

Yeah…THOSE World Championships.

As a Sport Psychologist, (M.A., and Ph.D. – UVA…you know…competing as an All American and completing GRAD School at the same time…) she works closely with people and groups at all skill levels as they pursue excellence.  Working on fitness and sports including cycling, running, swimming, squash, tennis, golf and volleyball.

…and she has two kids.

Oh…and she wrote a book!

She blogs, too….and interviews.

She joins Athlete’s Audio to talk about her book, Tour de You, and we dig in to some of the topics in the book.  Presence, Preparation, Focus, and Confidence, among others.

KC is reachable via her website, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can read a transcript of the interview below:  (powered by SpeechPad.com)

Bob: Welcome to the Athlete’s Audio Academy, where we bring together elite athletes and elite mind in sports psychology to talk about improving your mental game, and in some cases, even getting you out of your own way.

Dr. K.C. Wilder is both an elite athlete and an elite sports psychologist, and she’s written a new book called, “The Tour de You.”

Katherine, K.C., welcome. Glad to have you here on the Athlete’s Audio Academy.

K.C.: Thanks, Bob. Pleasure to be here.

Bob: Before we dig into the book, just give us a real brief idea of the elite athlete part and the sport psychologist part and how those things came together in your life.

K.C.: Absolutely. When I was at the University of Virginia and sitting in seminar classes with one of my mentors, Dr. Bob Rotella, and we were studying applied sports psychology, I thought, “I’m 24 years old. I still have an opportunity to compete myself. Let me see if I can apply some of these ideas in sports psychology in the competitive arena.”

So I did, and my first year back competing in cycling, I was All- American Cyclist, University of Virginia. And then my success continued from there.

Bob: Don’t cut that short. Your success continued to a couple of world championships. I mean, yes, college is great, but it’s not quite as impressive as where you went from there.

K.C.: That was just really the beginning. I got a taste for the competition and how I could concentrate more in the process versus the outcome. I could be more confident. And I went on from All- American to top 20 in the nation in the Fresca Cup series, top in the nation on the East Coast for the Fresca Cup, top five in many professional races, two-time US National Champion, top six in the world at the Master’s level.

I’ve been able to continue throughout my life and revisit cycling and have success, in part, due to my background in sports psychology.

Bob: Using those principles distinguishes you, I’m sure in some cases, from a lot of the women that you were racing against, and benefiting from that yourself as an athlete. That leads you to today where you practice sports psychology and you write books. In fact, you’ve written “The Tour de You.” Let’s talk a little bit about that. What inspired you to write it?

K.C.: We’ve got two young children and my husband and I both race bicycles. One of the messages, because we’re so competitive, seemingly, from an outside perspective, we don’t want to put extra pressure on our children to have to compete.

One of the things that I’m always emphasizing with our two boys, who are 7 and 5, Jack and Tom, is that you want to do your best. You want to be happy. It’s not about winning. It’s not about the outcome. It’s about feeling the way that you want to feel. Feeling good, feeling engaged in the event. And the more that you feel good, the more that it’s about yourself and your values, the more likely that you’re going to either win the race or win the event.

But along the way, I want my children to learn the values of teamwork, of honesty, of hard work, determination, dedication. Those are all the ideas that are instilled within this book.

Bob: I hear underlying some of what you’re saying, too, a piece about process goals and performance goals versus outcome goals. That might be a place to start, but what are some of the other key concepts in the book?

K.C.: The book is so simple in nature. It’s very simple words, and it’s a rhyming format with that deep message. That’s a great question. One of the lines in the book that people have asked me to create a poster of, is “Keep on your game face. There is never a perfect race.”

Take something simple like that. It’s about resilience. It’s about that there’s no such thing as perfect. Even if you win and you’re first, there’s no such thing as perfect. Don’t expect perfect. As a matter of fact, don’t bring your expectations to race day. Don’t bring them to the starting line.

Talk to your coach. Talk to your sports psychologist. Talk to a teammate the day before. Outline your expectations. Write them down, short-term goals and long-term goals. Take them, put them in a box, and close the box. As a performer, they do not belong with you on the starting line.

Bob: There’s a really important piece, I think, about presence in what you’re saying, too. I race bicycles, of no comparison to the level that you did, but I would talk to my cycling coach about what my heart rate was at this point in the race, or how fast we were going at this point in the race. And he made me take black electric tape and put it over my heart monitor, as an example of what you’re talking about, because he said, “Hey, guess what? The race isn’t down here. The race is in front of you, and hopefully, behind you.”

So pay attention to your surroundings and what’s going on, and be present in that moment where you’re not only paying attention but participating in and truly experiencing what’s going on, so that you can react, so that you can enjoy it. If you’re focused like this in the race, the whole race is happening around you and you’re not even present to what’s going on. Talk about the concept of presence a little bit.

K.C.: Well, when you’re present, you’re free of distractions. You’re free of worry. You’re free of doubt. You’re not thinking about the past, what you just had for breakfast, or maybe something going on at work and you’re thinking about it, and it’s still bringing stress. You cannot think about those worries or distractions when you’re in the present. And you can’t think about the future. Go ahead.

Bob: I was going to say you can’t even think about, “How was my training week last week,” or “How have I been preparing,” even those things that might take away from your confidence because they’ve happened in the past. None of that is really relevant when we drop the gate or when we make the first toss in a tennis match, right?

K.C.: Right. And I remember early on when I was learning with a sports psychologist, and these were some of the things that I knew, but now they were more ingrained. I’d be there with someone on the starting line, one of my competitors even, and she would say, “Oh, I feel so tired. We were in the car driving for three hours to get here. I don’t think I’m going to have good legs today. And then I didn’t have a good breakfast.”

And I’m thinking, okay, that’s her external dialog. I’d be really concerned what her internal dialog is right now, because it’s not relevant. As performers, we get to the line and we’re there. We did our best in our preparation, and even if we had obstacles throughout the week that inhibited our training, it doesn’t matter.

When we get to the line, what matters is that we have on our champion mindset or performance mindset. I’m here today, I’m aware, I’m vigilant, I’m going to take in my surroundings, I’m going to take a look at the competition. I’m going to know the course well, and I’m just going to do what I know best, and that’s race my bike.

Bob: In that example where the external dialog is, “Oh, we had a long trip. I’m not going to have good legs today,” what might you presume is the internal conversation that that person is having? I’m curious, because I think a lot of athletes, and I know I’m guilty of this, need something to snap their brain into. “Oh, wait, this isn’t the right way to be thinking right now.”

When I hear myself say this, or when I hear myself think that, what are some of those cues that an athlete might pick up on, in their own self-talk or their own external talk, to say, “It’s time to refocus and reframe this situation?”

K.C.: Bob, that’s exactly the word. Refocus. And it may be something as simple as patting your leg, “Okay, enough.” Bring it back to the present. I’m here. Bring it back.

It might be something as simple as teaching yourself thought stoppage. It may be something greater in working with a sports psychologist outside of that realm, so that all of that talk, that analysis, you can do, just not on the race line. Do it 24 hours before.

Bob: Just like any physical skill, just like anything else you practice, these are skills that sound super important to practice all through the various points in the season.

And I’m curious, too. I’ve never asked a sports psychologist about this, about periodizing that mental training. Are there some things that make sense to be working on at various points in the season to strengthen parts of your game? How does somebody approach the idea of periodizing their mental training?

K.C.: That’s a great question. Your periodization for your mental training should closely match your periodization for your racing. If we are looking for a peak race to be physical, we want to be on the top of our game mentally. That means working on the skills as you lead up to it.

One of the things that you can work on is your mental imagery. That’s above and beyond visualization, as you know. Using all of your senses. Putting yourself in the movie, not watching the movie. When you get to the big race, you already have that kind of sense of deja vu. I’ve been here before. I see the butterflies

One of the things we used to love to say in sports psychology in Bob Rotella’s program was, “Let the butterflies fly in formation.” By that I mean you just have control. We all know we’re going to have butterflies. Don’t let them get the best of you. Maybe visualize them flying in formation or flying in a circle, because that helps you to get the feeling that you have a little bit more control. That’s the toughest thing as an athlete, what’s ahead, that feeling of, “I don’t have control. Once that gun goes off, I don’t have control.”

Bob: Let’s come back to the book for a second before we wrap up, and talk about where somebody can get it. Again, the book is called, “Tour de You.” K.C. Wilder, elite sports psychologist and elite cyclist is our author and guest. Where can we find this book?

K.C.: First and foremost, you can find it on my website, kcwilderco.com. K.C. Wilder Company. You can find it on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

Bob: Everywhere books are sold, as they used to say. And kcwilderco.com would be another contact point. Are there other arenas where people can interact with you if they’re interested in any more info or to pick up the conversation as we leave it off today?

K.C.: Sure. You can always go to my website, and then that will give you links for my LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Bob: I can’t thank you enough for sharing the book with Athlete’s Audio and for sharing these ideas with athletes today. Dr. K.C. Wilder, “Tour de You,” author and sports psychologist, we appreciate your time on the Athlete’s Audio Academy. Thanks a million.

K.C.: Thank you, Bob. My pleasure.