Throughout the warm summer months, you’re spending hours training physically for your fall race but this is also a great opportunity to sharpen your mental skills. Here are three mental skills you can practice during your training to improve both your training and your race!
Visualization
Visualization is a great strategy to boost your confidence and decrease your anxiety. As you prepare for your long run each week, spend some time imagining what the run will be like so it doesn’t feel so daunting when set out the door in the morning. Get yourself in a comfortable position, close your eyes, and imagine, with all of your senses, what it will be like to run your long run this week.
Imagine yourself executing your training plan successfully, pushing through when things get hard, imagine the scenery and the filling of going up and down hills, and enjoying the feeling of accomplishment as you check off each mile. As you move closer to race day, start visualizing the race course (you can study the race course on the TCM website if you’re not familiar with it). The more you visualize the better you become at it and the more effective it will be!
Chunking the Race (or Long Run)
An effective strategy for making long distance races feel more manageable is to think of the distance in chunks. There are lots of different ways to do this. For example, If you’re running the 10 mile race you might think of it as three 5Ks and a 1K or if you’re running the marathon it might be two 10 miles and a 10k. When you’re training you can practice what you're going to focus on during each section of the race.
“I don’t have time to think about that right now, I’m busy running mile 22.”
Another favorite chunking strategy of mine comes from Mackenzie Havey’s book Mindful Running – run the mile you’re in. I used this for my last marathon and prioritized focusing on only one mile at a time. When I finished a mile and went on to the next mile I practiced letting go of what had happened before and not worrying about what was to come. I focused on doing what I needed to feel good about that mile. I remember running up Summit Ave. and when intrusive thoughts about how hard the race was snuck in I said to myself “I don’t have time to think about that right now, I’m busy running mile 22.”
Smile :)
This might seem a little silly but researchers have found that smiling while running is associated with better running economy and lower perceived effort as compared to frowning or relaxing, meaning that it can make you feel like the run is easier and it can make you run more efficiently. During your training try smiling every so often. As you’re running your race, let yourself smile when you see a funny sign, or a cute dog, or when you remember what a huge accomplishment this race and all of this training has been!
This article originally appeared in the The Connection, TCM's weekly e-newsletter. Subscribe here.
Photo by Ben Garvin.
Hayley Russell, PhD, is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant, runner, and professor of health and exercise psychology at Gustavus Adolphus College. She is one of the team of Motion Experts TCM has gathered to help its subscribers and participants get the most out of their running. Have a question for Hayley: [email protected] or visit psychologyofrunning.com.