ALL BLAZED OUT

Cycling ignites passion but too much pressure and expectation can burn it away. Psychologist and racer Steve Mayers tackles the delicate issue of burnout

- Dr Steve Mayers

Two days after Christmas 2022, I woke up covered in bandages. The day before, I'd had a mechanical issue mid-sprint during a training ride and went over my handlebars at 52kph (32mph). I'd gone to A&E but spent only about five minutes there before deciding I would manage the injuries at home - possibly a mistake. What hurt most was that I had just begun a training de-load after three months of intense buildup to the Australian National Championships elite road race, which was only two weeks away.

Four days later, on New Year's Eve, I was in my bathroom with the tumble dryer on, no fan, in the middle of the Australian summer, completing my heat acclimatisation training. Sweat dripped through my bandages and onto the blood-soaked floor. I made it to my target race, but immediately after began experiencing anxiety, a lack of energy, detachment and irritation. It didn't feel like a temporary low; it felt like I was done with cycling. I've kept riding since then, but looking back, what I experienced was burnout. Context is important here. I was 37 at the time, a decent-level amateur cyclist, and working full-time as a clinical psychologist. This isn't a story about me, but I recount that episode because it shaped my interest in burnout in elite sport, particularly in cycling.

Most people have some idea of what burnout is, but the term is often used trivially. Burnout isn't just tired legs or a bad training block. In sports psychology, it is defined by three interlinked dimensions: a persistent sense of emotional or physical exhaustion, a reduced feeling of accomplishment, where your efforts seem to count for nothing, and a creeping sense of detachment from the sport you once loved.