Many people say their best races have been due to a positive mental outlook. Try two approaches and see which works better for you:
1 – Dissociation, or focusing thoughts away from fatigue and effort. Techniques to practice dissociation are 1) playing music 2) counting – count the number of mail boxes, or green cars your pass, for example 3) picking a category like countries or names and talk through the alphabet and 4) imagining what you might do if you won the lottery. Avoid thoughts that can create tension.
2 – Association involves focusing on bodily sensations and monitoring any internal changes – usually internal – that occur. Breathing rate and muscular sensations provide physiological cues that allow you to pace yourself while avoiding a focus on pain or intensity. You can 1) focus on controlled, relatively deep rhythmic breathing – and picture tension leaving your body every time you breathe out 2) think of relaxing, starting with your head and working down your body, focusing on each muscle group or 3) try “self-talk” with positive thoughts (think “I am strong” in the third quarter of a race). Many athletes say they’ve planned positive phrases to think about before their races.
Recent research has shown the following:
1. In general, association seems linked to faster running times.
2. Dissociation can reduce the sense of effort and awareness of physical sensations such as pain and fatigue – usually up to moderate-to-high intensity.
3. Athletes of all levels appear to prefer association in competition and dissociation when training.
4. Elite athletes tend to use both strategies during training and races, and are able to switch between the two, as required.
Thanks, C. I needed that. I use these strategies all the time but it’s easier said than done. I ran a mile last Fri.night and everything I had planned for the last 3 laps just went out the window. I didn’t do one thing I had thought of prior to the race to help in those late stages; I just became the proverbial deer in the headlights. Again. The mental takes as much (if not more) discipline than the physical.
Comment by coreen steinbach — February 3, 2010 @ 3:48 am
All good ideas – disassociation works well when having a terrible long run – making plans to bring about world peace, end hunger – or my long time favorite – change one of my course syllabi – I learned early on in my teaching career not to decide on big changes while running downhill – I would be much too ambitious.
Association – thought about that last night while running the mile- my problem is that at my age – my short term memory is getting shorter – and combined with oxygen debt – I quickly forget what I was supposed to think about. Was it counting laps or counting sheep. For the most part I focus on lap splits.
Comment by Mary Harada — February 3, 2010 @ 6:06 am
I’m glad to hear your feedback, Coreen and Mary, on thinking ahead and the ‘ole memory “ploblem”, as my daughter used to say… Mary, do you remember your mental mindset when you set the world record in the mile and went out so fast (or maybe everything was a blur)? Coreen, where was your “mind” on your fastest performances? Just interested — maybe others would be too.
Comment by Dr. Cathy Utzschneider — February 4, 2010 @ 4:39 am
sure do – first it was “dear God – way too fast -gear back just a bit but not too much- and then when I realized that the record was do-able – don’t trip, and don’t pass out before the finish line” I got a bit of energy from realizing by lap 6 that short of falling down I was going to get the record. I generally focus on the splits – trying to either run consistent splits the first 2/3 of the race and then picking up the pace, using my arms more and trying to relax my shoulders. It was one of those races where I was “in the zone” – and my mind was not wandering around thinking about other stuff.
Comment by Mary Harada — February 4, 2010 @ 2:00 pm