I ran a pb in a 10 kms race in Eynsham on Sunday. So what? Nice sunny day, lovely flat course, very well organised. What was odd was that I'd had a hard training week with over 60 miles on the bike and about 25-30 running, with 2 swim sessions. I arrived late ; no time for a warm up ; I should not have run quickly (for me that is) but half way round I had a really strong mental image of what I would look and feel like while I was running the second half of the race. It would look smooth, feel strong and relaxed etc and blow me if that wasn't exactly what happened. Instead of blowing up I ran the second half faster, with good form and haven't really come down yet.
I tried it again on my recovery ride yesterday and a similar thing happened. It's hard to be sure if the brain drove the physical performance, or just unlocked the potential. Anyone experienced anything similar?
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Well done! You obviously 'cracked' the mental barrier on these occasions and was able to use it to perform at your best.
I have experienced this kind of running and it feels powerful. I wish all runs felt that way!
I was unlucky not to get a place in the London Marathon this year, but instead I helped out on the course and was marshalling, and to see Paula Radcliffe run a great marathon, and again for the second weekend running I just felt on such a high.
Ever since them weekends my runs have meant alot more to me and apart from flu and a slight injury to the ankle recently I feel really motivated and on a real high at the moment.
Sometimes I think its not always to do with the training but mentally preparing ahead.
another example of the minds power, or weakness, is if you tell someone to run until they can't anymore, when they give up and stop, offer them £1,000,000 to sprint 100m, i garantee they will be able to. thats because they weren't too tired, but their mind gave up.
if you think about it, the mental thing is the only difference really between a good run and an amazing run. when i get into the zone when i'm running, i feel invincible, i feel incredible, and light, but above all, i feel more in touch with my body then at any other time in my life, and thats a mental connection.
sorry, i didn't mean to go on and bore you all but i find the power of the mind unbelievable.
-peace
I know this probabaly sounds really sad but to have broken 50 minutes ( bear in mind I'm a knackered 46 year old) was a real thrill, and having done it once I'm convinced I can run even quicker now.
It strikes me that while visualising getting one's technique and/or co-ordination right is one thing, and might well give you the confidence to get it right more often, trying to do the same for running is a different matter. Too tired to take this further I'm afraid.
For instance when I start to feel pain, instead of thinking, oh my god it's hurting I change it to mean, great I've been expecting this and I know that I'm running at a good pace now. The trick is then to relax into the pain rather than stiffen and tense against it. All the time I have the picture of a smooth flowing action to my running. I imagine how other people would describe the way I look when I run.
After a lot of failed attempts it seems to have started working. I'll try and dig out the reading refrences for you Evil Pixie.
Oh the other thing is that fail gets deleted from the vocabulary : it's either win or learn. Best of luck!
-peace
A couple of books on the Power of Belief are Feal the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers, and Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins :
On Mastering your Motivation there's a book by Jim Steele/Colin Hiles/Martin Coburn called Peak Performance in Action.
There is also some really good stuff by Speakers International who are management consultants specialising in commercial growth through personal development. Sounds a bit heavy but I went through one of their courses and it was brilliant fun. Their tel no is 0171 602 9498. I think they publish support material which is well worth a look.
Happy reading!!
Flat fast local course ; very well organised.
On the Saturday I was waiting for my girlfriend to have hair done ; 3 hours!!?? and of course she was worth the wait!!
While I was waiting I re-read the mental preparation section of Amby Burfoot's Complete Runner : (a Runner's World publication)
Worked on strong mental images again, but was secretly thinking that maybe my last pb was all just a happy co-incidence.
Wrong !! I took another 46 seconds off my 10k pb to finish in 48.47. That's 1 minute 48 secs off my previous 10k pb in the space of 3 weeks???
Maybe a lot of it is to do with having trained for and run 3 half marathons this year but this is the end of a long hard year for me, so this shouldn't be happening. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining but there is definitely something different happening with my running.
Happy boy today!!
The problem was always the 'deep foreboding' I would feel towards my run... all day I'd be thinking "oh no, I 've got to run tonight" etc etc. I'd try not to think about sometimes. So, when the time came to pull on my running shoes I'd either be facing something I'd been dreading all day or the shock of the prospect would really put me off.
Now, I make a conscious effort to think of good things all day about my run.. I picture myself running effortlessly with long strides along the actual route... of approaching the last 1/2 maile and of finishing, but more importantly, of actually doing and enjoying the run.
When I come to pull on the shoes, it doesn't seem such a chore.
It sounds like crap but the last race I did I found repeating John Fashanu's mantra (I told you it sounded like crap!) ReFeCo helped a bit - Relax Focus Come On! Also trying to submerge yourself into the feeling of running and block out extraneous thoughts - and associating with the pain rather than worrying about it - are both helpful.
I am a slow runner and although I had read various articles on visualisation etc, just thought it was for hard/fast/very competitive runners. However an experience a couple of years ago changed my mind.
I was running the Robin Hood Marathon, at my usual 5 hour + pace, when at mile 22ish a police motorcyclist offered to lead me for the next mile or so along the coned section of road, where we turned through Notts Forest ground. So there we were, the police bike with blue flashing lights, the traffic at a standstill on the otherside of the road - and suddenly I felt really proud and important, my head automatically went up, the pain in my legs was forgotten and I started to stride out down that road, I ran my fastest mile of the race. I thanked the MPC, and finished the rest of the race in my best marathon time that year, and from that point on I have continued to set PB's every year in various distances, mainly because I believe I can do it and visualise myself striding along. Before I just told myself that I was doing too many distance events to improve on time and this was affecting my shorter race times - rubbish. I just never thought I could do it.
So, there you go...