If I ask you go to race, what do you start thinking about? How would you mentally prepare?
If I ask you to go for a run, does that approach change?
I know to some it might be semantics...same word but for me they have very different meanings and invoke very different emotions that effect my workout.
A couple weeks ago, I ran the St. Louis Half Marathon (read about it here). I had a pretty good training plan and stuck to it for the most part and that definitely gave me a little more confidence going into Sunday. I felt ready physically but the night before I started getting anxious as I do for about every long race. Doubting myself.
Can I do it? Will I be able to run the entire time?
After a while of doubting, I went to bed and woke up anxious. Anxious about "the starting line" and just about the race in general. On the way downtown, I started thumbing through my mental Rolodex of mental strategies and what I landed on surprised myself but it felt right.
Just treat this like any other run...that you just happen to be doing with thousands of your closest running buddies. For some reason it stuck and worked. The anxiety went away and I didn't worry about the distance or the course. I just focused on getting this run done.
So it got me thinking just how much of our success is really in our heads. I know everyone says it but if you can figure yourself out, you can become your best friend in situations like this rather than your worst enemy.
Maybe it's age and experience but I like this mindset and I like the confidence it gives me.
How do you mentally prepare? Do you treat a race different than a run?
The mental prep is just as important as the physical prep in my experience! I try to plan ahead more for races than runs to eliminate extra stress before race day.
ReplyDeleteI treat long distance races like a training run and just go by feel, usually I end up doing better than I thought I would but I'm still new to racing distances over 5k's/ If it's a 5K I try to go into with a plan based on how I'm feeling that day - I know not every day can be your fastest. Being mentally prepared is key!
ReplyDeleteI definitely treat them differently. Running is so mental and a lot of the time that is a bigger challenge for me than the physical.
ReplyDeleteI do look at races and runs very differently. Runs I use to get me to the start lines of races and races are where I show all the work I've done on my runs. My competitiveness comes out at races whereas runs are based on my training plan.
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