Feed your head.
Historically my training for races has either been:
These training plans have scheduled track workouts, tempo runs, long runs. What they lack is mental training; training for mental toughness.
I follow my training plan, I eat pretty well and have a good work/life balance. However, I often struggle with feelings of self-doubt, feelings of not being good enough and feelings of not belonging. I struggle through my speed and track workouts because I dread them. Because I have already decided in my mind that I'm not fast and I'm not going to hit the goal pace.
One thing that has been helping this year is using the Believe Training Journal for my run log. It's more than just a training log. It's a workbook for goal-setting and getting my mind right. There are spaces for post-race analysis and brain-storming negative thoughts and positive rebuttals; There's space at the beginning of every week to answer a question or to give an example. Last week's: A good example of your resilience. My answer was my LA 26.2 experience. As horrible as that race was for me, I've bounced back stronger and more confident.
Training my mind and training for mental toughness is key to improving my performance and life in general (self-doubt works its way into all aspects of life).
This article (Improve Your Run with Mental Toughness Training) simplifies the process:
During my training break and as start my fall training, I'm definitely going to incorporate some mental tricks.
- No training--just run (pre-2010/2011)
- Join a marathon training group and follow the schedule for increasing mileage for long runs (2010-2014). Run throughout the week, just to run.
These training plans have scheduled track workouts, tempo runs, long runs. What they lack is mental training; training for mental toughness.
I follow my training plan, I eat pretty well and have a good work/life balance. However, I often struggle with feelings of self-doubt, feelings of not being good enough and feelings of not belonging. I struggle through my speed and track workouts because I dread them. Because I have already decided in my mind that I'm not fast and I'm not going to hit the goal pace.
One thing that has been helping this year is using the Believe Training Journal for my run log. It's more than just a training log. It's a workbook for goal-setting and getting my mind right. There are spaces for post-race analysis and brain-storming negative thoughts and positive rebuttals; There's space at the beginning of every week to answer a question or to give an example. Last week's: A good example of your resilience. My answer was my LA 26.2 experience. As horrible as that race was for me, I've bounced back stronger and more confident.
Training my mind and training for mental toughness is key to improving my performance and life in general (self-doubt works its way into all aspects of life).
This article (Improve Your Run with Mental Toughness Training) simplifies the process:
Thinking à Feeling à Performing
During my training break and as start my fall training, I'm definitely going to incorporate some mental tricks.
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