The Oldest Performance Tool In The Book?
One Word. That's All You Need.
It’s not just that this is one of my first bike races that had me spun-up to warp speed. Here I am, a college freshman accustomed to rural New Hampshire roads, in the heart of New York City, surrounded by guys way faster than me. Between the relentless city noise, wind gusting between skyscrapers, and trying not to barf during my warm up, my head is everywhere except where it needs to be.
One of the older riders on the team (probably sick of dealing with my pre-race nerves) tosses a beat-up roll of sticky athletic tape and a Sharpie at me. "Pick a word, write it down, and tape that on your handlebars. When the pace gets hard, say the word. When you're too far back and need to move up – say the word. About to get dropped? Say the word. Winning the race? Say the word. Just keep saying the word."
Mantras: Older Than Sport Itself
Humans have been using mantras for thousands of years — across cultures, continents, and traditions — as tools to focus the mind, calm the body, and find clarity under pressure. What ancient monks and meditators knew intuitively, modern neuroscience is now beginning to confirm.
A study published in Brain and Behavior found that silently repeating a single word produces a widespread deactivation of the cortex — including the brain's "default mode network," the region most associated with mind-wandering, rumination, and anxious thought. In other words, a mantra doesn't just feel calming — it actually quiets the mental noise at a neurological level.
That's a pretty compelling reason to have one ready before your next race.
What the Elites Know
Four-time Boston Marathon champion Bill Rodgers ran with the word "relentless" as his mantra — a single word that kept him locked in on the process, not the pressure.
You don't have to be a Boston champion to use the same tool.
Some mantras are action cues: flow, smooth, spin. Some are motivational: keep fighting, grit. Some, like the one I used most often as a racer, are tactical.
Mine was "position" — inked on tape, right there on my handlebars. Every time my mind started to drift — when the pack was sketchy, when the remaining 20 laps seemed impossible to complete — I'd come back to that word. Simple. Effective. Repeatable.
Finding Yours
A good athletic mantra has a few things going for it:
It's short — a word or short phrase
It's meaningful to you, not generic
It targets something you actually struggle with (anxiety, pacing, positioning, giving up too early)
It's practiced in training, not just pulled out on race day
Try this: the next time you're deep in a hard interval and the voice in your head starts negotiating with you to ease up, return to your mantra. Smooth. Fight. Position. Here. See what happens.
A word or phrase, repeated with intention, can be the anchor that brings you back to the task at hand.
Pick your mantra. Practice it. Trust it.
See you next week,
Steve