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The Performance Rut, Written by gary semics

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Posted: May 08, 2006 05:38 pm	kxaddict
Every great competitor hits the old performance rut from time to time. The important things to know are how and why you got in the rut and how to get out of it. Some of the most common causes to have gotten in this rut in the first place are things like an injury, being sick with a nagging cold or flu, personal problems, over or under training, and so on. Most of the time you can overcome one of these problems quickly and not go into a downward spiral leading to a performance rut. However, what can take even the best competitors down into this performance rut is when they get dealt a combination of setbacks at the same time or in a row, one after the other. When these set backs come in this manner the racer doesn’t have time to recover from one problem and the next one is already affecting them. This is exactly what happened to Supercross Superstar Jeremy McGrath in 1997. Jeremy was at the top of his career, coming into the 97 season as the dominate rider with multiple record breaking AMA Supercross titles and wins and World Supercross Titles and Motocross Des Nations wins from Europe. He also proved himself as a National Motocross Champion in 1995 by winning the 250 National Title. In 1996 Jeremy could hardly loose a race. In 1997 he could hardly win one. What happen to Jeremy McGrath between 1996 and 1997? He was dealt a combination of setbacks one right after the other. He lost the 250 National Title to Jeff Emig in 1996 because of a serious foot and angle injury (set back number one). He took a well deserved break from racing after the 1996 season, maybe a little too long (set back number two). He didn’t like the new 97 Hondas in per season European Supercross races and was having arm pump problems and getting beat (set back number three). Jeremy had good political reasons to make a late switch from Honda to Suzuki just two weeks before the 1997 Supercross Series. The extra pressure and adaptation problems set him up for (set back number four). A few major mechanical problems created (set back number five). Jeremy was overcoming all these problems and finally starting to get his winning confidence back. Then he choked and crashed in two supercross races when he looked to have the win in the bag (set back number six). Jeremy ended up finishing 2nd in the AMA 250 Supercross Series in 1997. When a competitor gets drilled by these types of setbacks it can take even the best of them on a downward spiral into the dreaded performance rut. Of course, we know that Jeremy did finally overcome these set backs and he climbed out of the performance rut by winning the 1998, 99, and 2000 250 Supercross Titles. So if you're in a performance rut don't be too hard on yourself, over come one problem at a time and stay positive.	n00b Group: Members Posts: 2 Member No.: 19 Joined: April 15, 2006

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