Imagine riding a mountain bike across the Sahara Desert.
Or the Himalayas.
Sonya Looney has done that and more.
She’s competed in the hardest endurance races in the world.
But it wasn’t an easy start.
“In my first few races as a professional I would be upset and I would be crying in races because I felt like I wasn’t good enough and I sucked,” Sonya admitted on the Best in the World podcast. “But really you realise it’s not about that. It’s about the experience and it’s about the adventure.”
234 Miles
In 2015, the American became the 24-hour Mountain Biking World Champion. Sonya cycled 234 miles to win and says adapting your mindset is needed to achieve great feats.
”So every single time things aren’t going well you have a choice and an opportunity. And you can go down the rabbit hole of ‘This sucks, I suck, blah, blah, blah’ and that teaches your mind to think that way in all situations. You can train your brain and there are actually changes. Your brain has neuroplasticity so you can actually affect the way that your brain works.
“So whenever you are doing something challenging and things aren’t going the way that you want, you have the opportunity to look at the stress and say ‘I’m going to get better because of this. And here’s an opportunity for me to look at the next hill.’
“And instead of saying ‘Oh my gosh I’m so tired, my legs hurt, how am I going to make it up that hill?’ You can say: ‘I’m going to make my way up that hill and it’s going to make it even easier the next time I go up that hill because I know that I can do it.’”
Looney’s ridden in over 25 countries including in tropical jungles and the steppes of Mongolia.
“It’s not about doing it perfectly. It’s not about feeling good the whole time but it’s about conquering it. Because once you start building that and once you start overcoming hurdles and feeling good about it, you don’t have to enjoy it, but once you can overcome it you realise the more that you can do and it gives you more confidence in your life and it gives you more confidence to try new things that you haven’t done before.”
12 Week Year
The Albuquerque-born rider says the ‘12 Week Year’ book by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington helped simplify and achieve her targets.
“Annual goals are difficult because they are long and also because it’s hard to stay accountable and we usually wait until the end of the year. So the 12 Week Year, you set goals every 12 weeks and you pretend 12 weeks is a year and you also don’t set too many goals.”
You can listen to Sonya’s full interview on the Best in the World with Richard Parr podcast on Apple and Spotify.
“Enjoy this newsletter? Please forward to a pal. It only takes a few seconds.”
Some of the links above may be affiliate links so I might get a commission if you purchase.
On the ‘Best In the World’ Podcast, Richard Parr talks to sports stars who have reached the pinnacle.
World Champions, Olympic Champions, World Record Holders & World Number Ones.
The show reveals what these athletes do differently from the rest of us to be the best. This includes training techniques, nutrition, relationships, sacrifices, mental health, time management, home environment and much more.
Richard wants to know what they do so we can improve our own lives.
Connect with Richard on social media @richard_parr.