THE TRANSCRIPT BELOW WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT.  BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, WE CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY.

TX:  01.8.17 – Ep 21. Rest, recovery and summer holidays

HOST:  TAMMY PARLOUR

TP: Welcome to a question of performance. I’m Tammy Parlor and in this series I’ll be talking with leading figures from sport and business about improves, limits and drives performance. Join me for 20 minutes of discussion twice a month to hear a range of views on what it means to be successful, how to cope with failure and what people have learnt along the way.

At the end of each of these podcasts episodes, I’ve asked my guests a series of quick fire questions. One of those questions has been what’s your performance enhancer? If I were asked that question I’d probably answer “recovery” – which isn’t saying I’m particularly good at it.

Most athletes know that getting enough rest after training is essential to achieve optimal performance, but I know there’ve been many times through the years that I’ve pushed on through to a point of overtraining, or suffered massive guilt at the thought of taking a day off.

Despite what we can sometimes think, rest and recovery isn’t a passive exercise. It’s in those spaces when most of our physical and psychological growth starts to occur. So with that in mind this podcast is having a summer holiday.

Over the past year I’ve had the privilege of talking to some genuinely fascinating people. So before I head off I’d like to leave you with a reminder of how others have also answered that performance enhancer question.

Cath Bishop: I think it’s the mindset really. It’s actually self belief and a knowledge that you’ve done all you can and it’s time to go out and see what happens on the field of play.

Sharon Fuller: Coffee.

Nathalie McGloin: Adrenalin.

Sue Day: Belief

Annamarie Phelps CBE: Sleep.

Katie Richards: Oh okay so I’m going to sound like a right geek now but being mindful. So being able to be in the moment is my best performance enhancer.

Reshmin Chowdhury: I think it’s that mental switch is my performance enhancer.

Anna Kessel MBE: Oh wow! Definitely being physically active. Doing some exercise, doing some sport. That is wow! That just clears your brain and lifts the stress. It is magic stuff.

Kelly Smith MBE: Imagery. I was taught it from a sports psychologist with the England setup years ago, and that’s certainly helped me go out and perform to the high levels that I did and what I was taught was just to take myself off to a quiet place, your bedroom or your couch or whatever. Close your eyes and envision yourself moving across the pitch doing things successful. So maybe taking a few players on, that feeling of beating a player and then shooting and scoring a goal and that feeling of doing that maybe like making a tackle and then coming out the other side with the ball. All positive imagery stuff. Just do that for three or four minutes and then you come out of that and you have all those memories etched in your brain and then you go and perform and that certainly helped me.

Sue Anstiss: Sleep. Everyday a little bit of that so probably sleep.

Jeanette Kwakye: A sound mind. A sound mind. I think that if mentally you are in the right space and you’ve got great friends and family and a support network around you, that will enhance your performance because you then very suddenly realise that you’re not just doing it for yourself. You’re doing it for others who really believe in you.

Sally Munday MBE: Sharing an experience with other people.

Jo Bostock: Best performance enhancer? For me it’s….it’s going to sound ridiculous but it’s being in strong relationships. I know I perform well when I feel at ease in my closest relationships. So if I feel well loved but I can pretty much take on the world.

Ian Byers: Right you can’t beat the classic red wine in the evening but…

Claire Bennett: Self belief.

Andy Barrow: Training.

Goldie Sayers: I think being happy is…I think sleep is the most valued. I think people go on about supplements and everything else and actually it’s like the cheapest supplement you can ever not have to buy so I’d say sleep. I go a bit [unclear 4.32] if I don’t get enough sleep.

Ben Richens: In training wise to individualise a training schedule to what you’ve got going on outside of life, you can have the best training schedule, whatever it is in the word but if you’re coming into that on the wrong day or tired or whatever, it’s not…doesn’t individually…it isn’t individually specific to you then it’s useless.

Michelle Moore: Losing so yeah I mean if I was actually taken off the netball court last week for one reason or another which was unfair, but I had to suck it up and I was just livid and it just stayed with me for the whole week. I’ve never been taken off a court and you know, was about giving some of our players some time on court and what have you but the following week I made sure that I played out of my socks and there is no way on this earth that I’ll ever be taken off that netball match…that court again.

Hannah Cockroft MBE: Well strawberry laces.

TP: Strawberry laces?

HC: Yeah they make you go quick.

TP: Really?

HC: Yeah. I eat them for every race. You’ve got to get your strawberry laces in.

TP: Belief, sleep and strawberry laces. What an interesting combination. I look forward to joining you again in the autumn where we’ll resume our exploration into success and performance and continue to look at competitive sport from every angle. We’ll hear from the athletes, the performance director, the sponsor, the social media manager and a whole lot more….See you the other side.

Thanks for listening. You can follow the conversation on Twitter, Facebook and also don’t forget to subscribe online to a questiononperformance.com.