by huw williams » Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:17 pm
Wiggins and any other rider/athlete listening to music before an event would usually be using it as a focusing tool to block out any unwanted distractions, therby allowing them to concentrate on the job in hand. This is a fairly well-grounded sports-psychology technique where the athlete in question will be asked to associate a certain piece of music with a time in their lives when they were happy/relaxed/performing to the height of their abilities - they will then play the same piece of music during training and before an event to re-invoke this sense of well being and confidence. Another way of using music pre-event is as a motivator - such as a boxer using an inspiring pice of music when entering the ring - usually Survivor's 'Eye Of The Tiger.' If the athlete then goes on to perform well in their race/event, you could argue that the music was a significant factor in the performance, though I'm skeptical you could attribute Bradley Wiggins' performance on the Ventoux to Paul Weller, who he'd been listening too several hours earlier.
This of course is entirely different to listening to music DURING training sessions, where it might be useed either as a distraction from the mundanity of the session or as a stimulus for a heightened training effect. Personally I think that if you need a distraction from the fact that your riding the bike - you shouldn't be riding the bike in the first place - why would you choose to do something then find a way to trick your mind into believing you're not doing it?
As for listening to music to enhance your performance - well that's easy - pick a training session where as many factors as possible are constant and do it with the headphones on then do it with the headphones off. If your performance improves with them on, keep using them.
