The Mental Game, for Runners (7 of 8)

There is debate over ‘the mental edge’, in terms of how of the outcome depends on the athleticism and skill of the competitor, versus their mental stamina and determination. Some say 90/10, some say 10/90 . . . of course, it takes both, but here are the 2 sides:

Athletes who fail to reach their physical potential – does this mean they lack the mental edge, don’t have the ‘killer instinct’ or drive, or couldn’t pull that up when they needed it?
Athletes who exceed expectations, defy their own limitations and PBs – does this mean they’re able to dig deeper, push past 100%, have more desire?

Despite the debate, no-one denies that the mental game is essential. We know this from past races, from past training seasons, from hard runs, and from each moment of the run – we have to manage the mind!

We have to manage the mind!

We know that we PHYSICALLY need to do all the hard training runs, cross training, and recovery modalities to push our bodies, to get stronger, and more athletic. We understand the physicality of it, so we DO the training, follow the program, and hope to see some improvement each race day. Managing the mind is a similar regime. We need to train the mind just as much as we train our physical body. If we let our mind soak in the difficulty our body is experiencing in the moment, we all know the downward spiral that can happen. “Who put that hill here?”, “You’re kidding, we’re only at 14k?” “My foot/calf/knee/hip/lower back hurt, maybe I should slow down, take a break.” Etc. Worse still if we’re training beside someone else who’s slipped down that slope!