Visualization With Scott Lacy

Visualization is a powerful tool to train your mind to be familiar and practiced with a given situation.  The situation can truly be anything - obviously athletic endeavors, but also something as simple as flipping an egg or shifting a manual car to something as complicated as a Juilliard piano recital or performing heart surgery.  Beyond the physical acts and athletic performance enhancements, research has documented the benefits of visualization in many other capacities as well including anxiety reduction, finding inspiration, meditation, and being empathetic. There is no doubt as to the constructive qualities of visualization in a skiers tool kit for training and racing.  

This left me wondering what visualization actually is and how do I use it to gain all these benefits.  I was coached as a youth skier with some mental training, but it ultimately left me lying on a hotel bed, the night before a race, picturing a map of the race course with a little dot moving around the course and calling it visualization.  This may have been better than nothing, if only for knowing every twist and turn of the course, but is not at all tapping into the power of the human brain to improve a given performance.  

In this article I hope to provide a simple guide and some pointers I have found helpful for visualization.  I am not a psychologist or neuroscientist or physiologist, I am an elite biathlete who spends 90% of my waking hours thinking about being the best athlete I can be and this is my experience on using some of that thought power for higher returns.  Let’s jump in! 

Visualizing an entire race in one sitting is a lot.  In fact, I would argue it is too much to be effective.  So instead I have found visualizing specific parts of skiing or racing, such as the range process in biathlon - skiing into a range, getting into position, shooting, and leaving the range (about 1 minute or less of actions.)  In skiing, I choose parts of the course I may struggle with or moments in the race I want to practice such as a mass start scramble or skiing a technical section effectively.  This allows a high level of focus and intention in the visualization. 

Within those moments I am visualizing, I then choose specific aspects I am working on.  Much like going for a ski and spending 20 minutes skiing with no poles or with the left pole only, this is the part of the visualization I can then bring conscious thought to and create the patterns in the brain of having done the action many times.  For example, when I visualize the minute I spend on the range for a shooting bout, I am often focused just on my breath timing OR my equipment management (poles off, glasses up, onto mat, rifle off, mag change, sling on, into prone, shooting/rebolting, rifle on, off the mat, poles on, glassed on…)  Or for skiing this could be the changing body position, rhythm and timing of skiing the technical course or the path through people and lanes in a mass start scramble.  

The goal is to choose things I actually think about when I am out on skis and physically working on them.  I never go into a training session thinking I am going to work on everything that day because the brain can’t focus on everything at once.  So I treat visualization like a brief, non-physical training session and if I want to work on multiple things, I use multiple visualization sessions to keep it effective. 

Since visualization is simulating training and allowing focus on a singular aspect in a moment, a key part is to add the details which would normally be there on course.  This means thinking of all the stimulus the brain receives and bringing that into the visualization around the aspect I am focused on.  What do I see, hear, physically feel or possibly smell/taste.  For example, when skiing the technical part of the course looking for every bit of speed, I think of the cold air, the friction of the snow, the blinding sun or maybe blizzard, the feed I just choked down and struggling to breathe freely. These bring my mind into the scene which strengthens the value of the visualization once out in reality. 

I then think of the non-physical components to the moment, which are often overlooked but I have found to be the most valuable.  The fatigue in my muscles, the nerves I may have at the start line, the feeling of urgency that often rushes decision making, the adrenaline, pride or lack of self-confidence, etc…   These are the things which often affect what I do in reality the most often.  Rushing and out of breath on the range while shooting, or tripping over my skis trying to go as fast as I can because it’s a race! I think of all of these things and acknowledge them, but then let them sit in the back of the visualization as I bring up the true focus.  

When thinking of the true focus or intention of the visualization, I find starting in an external mindset and moving into an internal mindset can be incredibly powerful.  That is, run through the visualization picturing myself as a coach on the side of the trail.  A coach knows I’m tired or nervous or rushed or that it’s cold or slushy or windy…  What would they coach me on for my technique or mental process or whatever I’m working on? And then I run through the visualization again but from my own point of view, doing the things I was just coached on.  At the beginning of each run through, I remind myself of the details which make up the scene and remind myself of how the “coaching” reacted to them which results in successfully doing what I want to be doing in the scene, ingraining that pattern in the brain. 

It may help to do this slowly, going through every motion with specific intention.  Then visualizing the same thing again and again, speeding up the pace to reality or even faster (which makes reality feel controlled and more manageable). This is what I have found to be a great way to engrain actions and feelings so when the moment comes, I don’t even have to think about it, my body knows what to do and how to feel. 

The above steps are a great way to visualize the way I have found most effective for me.  Of course there are a number of ways to do this and I have been experimenting with a few variations.  My favorite variation is focusing on emotions instead of physical actions such as feeling confident and trusting my training in the start pen - visualizing the same way, setting the scene and going through the physical motions, but focusing on the feeling of confidence and the knowing that the training has been put in and I am ready!  Or coming into a shooting bout and knowing I am newer to the sport and the wind is blowing and I’m out of breath and tired, but I trust my training, I know how to get into position and I am confident in my own process and my ability to fire a good shot.  Putting those patterns into the brain. 

Another variation is doing a visualization while standing and going through the motions in a physical way.  Not being at a high heart rate or moving fast, but being in a skier’s position and having timing of arms/legs in play or wearing a rifle to feel the weight and swing.  It makes motions feel so much more practiced and aids in muscle memory.  

A third variation is saying the steps out loud - naming the details, naming the emotions and feelings, saying the things you are working on as a coach would be from the trail side. I am just now beginning to say things out loud during visualization and then saying them out loud in reality.  Skiing into the range and naming the steps I am taking, or telling myself the technique cues while skiing that technical section. This can create a mental cueing the brain can react to in reality to bring about the practiced plan from visualization. Or writing the components of the scene or steps or cues down on paper before visualizing and bringing them into conscious thought that way. 

And lastly, the variations in the actual scene are a great way to prepare yourself for reality.  I find myself adding wind or different snow conditions to a visualization knowing that I can not predict the conditions on any given day in the future. Maybe I drop a magazine while loading, or maybe the perfect race-day in my mind found me in reality when I didn’t sleep well or didn’t eat enough food.  Preparing for different conditions will only leave you more prepared.  

So this is my experience and I hope it contains relatable, useful material to be applied in a personal way for everyone. Visualizing is different and personal for each brain.  It becomes easier with practice and intention and is a wonderful tool in the tool box for any elite athlete and everyone else too. 

Thanks for reading, see you on the trails!