Lincoln GP With Team Parcours Member Anna Boniface
We have an incredible group of Parcours Ambassadors this year, from a range of disciplines and levels of performance. We all love celebrating the successes, the achievements, the wins. But sport isn’t all sunshine and roses. It’s a rollercoaster of highs and lows. It is often in these times, where we don’t feel we achieved, or did as well as we wanted, that we actually grow and learn the most, and progress towards becoming a better athlete.
Anna Boniface is an “Advanced Critical Care Practitioner” on the intensive care unit working 13 hour shifts, day and night. She’s also been apply for a PhD, along side training and racing on the National Road Racing Series, the highest level of racing on the domestic calendar. We think Anna is incredible, managing all she does, and even more so as she took the time to talk about times when it doesn’t go to plan and doesn’t work out, and the lessons learnt!
Black flags
No athlete is immune to the ups and downs in performance. In fact, we become better athletes from the lessons learnt in the lows of the sport rather than the highs of our success.
It’s easy to say this in hindsight. The reality of underperforming is rarely spoken about when you’re in the thick of it.
Embarrassed, defeated, frustrated, jealous and guilt are just a few of the emotional examples I’ve experienced throughout my long-suffering running career, which ultimately came to an end, resulting in taking up cycling.
As per my standard approach, I threw myself in the deep end with my third ever road race being the iconic Lincoln Grand Prix, part of the National Road Racing Series. As the highest level of racing on the domestic calendar, it comes with strict cut offs. Falling behind a few minutes and you face a black flag, enforcing you with an automatic DNF. The benefit of being a rookie in a new sport, comes blissful naivety and lack of expectation. I found myself navigating my first
season road racing getting around the national road racing series without too much trouble, until I crashed, fracturing my neck and skull.
Consequently, last season was all about returning from that crash with several barriers to overcome. Yet again, no pressure, no exception. Amongst a few blips, including my first ever black flag at the national championships, it was ultimately a string of performances to be proud of.
“Expectation is the route of all heartache”
2026 has not been smooth. I’ve had been expectations of myself, not only in racing but my professional and academic career too. My job involves looking after the sickest patients in the hospital. An “Advanced Critical Care Practitioner” on the intensive care unit working 13 hour shifts, day and night, it comes with cognitively, physically and emotionally demanding work, clearly with a high degree of stress. Throw in the sleep deprivation and in the process of applying for a PhD has not been proving a conducive combination for racing performance.
Many of us mere mortal athletes find themselves balancing careers, families and other commitments outside our sporting passions. Yet it appears to be a normalised expectation to still train like a professional athlete, allured by the 20 hour or 100 mile weeks. Sure, we could do the volume, but does it mean we should?
Stress is stress
I’ve done the 100 mile weeks as a runner, until I couldn’t. I’ve been doing 20 hour weeks on the bike, but now I can’t. It all rides on the balance of stress andadaption with life stressors being the forgotten load, eventually being the tipping point to falling over the edge, and I found myself holding on by a finger.
All of a sudden, getting round the National Series seemed like a thing of a past, with black flag after black flag, the latest being the Lincoln Grand Prix, getting spat almost immediately. Post Lincoln, I couldn’t shake off the feelings of defeat and guilt, having a huge knock to my self-esteem, feeling as if my whole season was spiraling away from me. Fortunately, the FTP team setup provides fantastic mental wellbeing support, and following a session with Lisa, a mental
health nurse. We were quickly able deescalate the negativity spiral and implement strategies to help my mindset going into my favourite race of the season, just says away.
Combined with a significant de-load, some RnR (+ not being on nights!) and the good omen on having my lucky number for the race, I had more mental and physical sharpness required to navigate the dynamics of the peloton to make it in the break away up Edge Hill, at the Banbury Star Road Race, with a 5minute power PB for good measure. Spending most of the day in the break proved a physically hard day out, but a reminder that the underlying fitness required to have a good season isn’t far away.
Reflecting on the last few months, the physical fitness hasn’t been so much of the issue, but more the inability to have the mental capacity to focus and dig deep physically when racing being simply too exhausted to do so. For anyone who’s ridden in a peloton, you’ll appreciate how much cognitive load this can take.
Ultimately, it’s somewhat relief that this is potentially a quicker fix than originally feared. However, not being out of the woods, it’s a firm warning shot and lesson’s learnt to ensure I don’t dig myself a hole so deep I visit my Australian relatives.
My key learning points for anyone else struggling with performance are:
· Reflect on what’s going well and what the issue might be, both in training, racing and life outside of sport
· Have some compassion. For most of us, this is our hobby. If it’s not fun, something is going seriously wrong. Be kind to yourself and find enjoyment in your sport again
· Take a step back. It seems counter intuitive and when underperforming, it’s tempting to feel the need to do more, but more than likely de-loading and focusing on sleep, rest and good fueling will offer far more benefit
· Grounding yourself. Having a phrase or an action I’ve found can be a useful strategy to reset my focus and bring me back in the moment when I feel overwhelmed. Similarly, practicing gratitude can turn a negative headspace into a positive one.
