Hi FLRunners! First I want to thank Todd for letting me share some of my experiences with all of you and I want to congratulate all Florida runners on a great start to the season. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Sinclaire and I am currently a junior at Lake Brantley High School.
There's always much talk about the physical part of running, actually running, but there's never much talk about the mental part of running. If you ask me, running is as much a mental game as it is a physical game. “You're going too fast. You won't be able to keep up. You went out too fast. You are tired, just stop now. You can get them next time, today is not your day?" These were the constant phrases I kept hearing from that little voice inside my head. But, I didn't just experience this nagging voice in one race, it appeared race after race after race my sophomore cross country season. I really felt like I couldn't escape it.
Soon these voices started affecting my running. Finishing track workouts became really tough and I never performed as well as I wanted to during races. I kept blaming my poor performance on poor nutrition or dehydration or not getting enough iron, but after I tweaked all these things, my performance was still the same. Going into races I would feel completely ready but as soon as I hit the 1-mile mark of every race, the voices crept into my head and the last part of my race became a real struggle.It's the worst feeling wanting to succeed, but never being able to get through that wall. Running takes a lot of physical strength, yes. But in my opinion, it takes more mental strength than it does physical. I couldn't agree more with the quote, “Running is 90 percent mental and the rest is physical.” Anyone can go out, run around the block a couple times and call themselves a runner. What sets us apart from the other “runners” is that we have an immense amount of mental strength that no one understands but us. Enhancing that mental strength can only make us runners better and I think a lot of us forget about the mental side to running. I know I definitely did.
Now, you're probably asking how you improve something like that. Well, I am about to share a couple tips that I started doing going into track season last year that has tremendously helped. When you're lying in bed about to fall asleep, envision your entire race. Yes, the entire race, from start to finish. Envision yourself toeing the line about to take off as the gun goes off. Envision the clock at 1-mile with the split you would like to hit or hearing your coach call out your split time. Envision your placing. Where do you want to be at 1 mile? 2-miles? Envision where you will start to pick up your speed for the finish. Envision yourself passing that person you have been trying to beat all year. Envision yourself crossing the finish line knowing you gave it your all. Doing this will make you feel that much more prepared come race day. We spend more time practicing than we do racing, so what better way to work on mental strength that at practice? By this I mean during that last mile on mile repeat days or last hill on a hill workout, let your fatigue and pain fuel you to go faster.
Every runner experiences negative thoughts, but the difference between a good and great runner is using those negative thoughts as fuel to go the extra mile. Learning to put the negative thoughts aside to make room for the positive thoughts will help tremendously. Once your mental training equals your physical training, there will be no stopping you from accomplishing your goals