3. Assess: As you run, assess the messages you're being told, and start to sort them. The pain you experience during a workout is temporary and it's different from the pain associated with an injury. Sort the "usual" pain into the ignore pile, and get attuned with the "different" pain that could signal an injury.
4. Reassess/Rework: Now that you have the "ignore" pile, it's time to reassess those messages. You know you can't stop these messages from coming in, but you can override them with the following runners' coping mechanisms:
- Visualization: By practicing how you will run before you start, you condition yourself to stay positive and controlled during your running, racing and workouts.
- Self-Talk: Mantras work well. Flip the "I can't keep this pace up" negative talk into something productive, such as: "I am strong" or "I will not let this break me."
- Focus on the "Controlables": When the pain of running becomes more intense, hone in on the controlables, like stride, form and breathing. Counting steps or breaths acts as a distraction.
- Goals: Always set goals for your workouts and races before you run them. Don't ambiguously complete them because, without concrete numbers or goals, it's easier to let your brain talk you into just settling and giving up when the pain starts.
- Selective Denial: The little white lies, such as "I'm only running one more repeat or five more minutes" get us to the next point in the workout or race. Then we have to trick ourselves again to get to the next milestone. This helps you compartmentalize any non-injury pain or fatigue signs, and keeps you moving.
More: How to Run Relaxed
How to Build More Confidence
A runner draws confidence from a lot of places: past workouts, a full season of uninterrupted training, race times, training with those who have faster PRs than you, etc. A large part of being mentally tough is being confident that you can warp the messages coming in to your brain, and override them to push through the pain.
This confidence is built the longer you run; it's a snowball effect. As with all other rules of running, confidence hinges upon consistency—you have to prove consistently to yourself that you can push through the pain. There are margins for error and, just like bad races, there will be days where you don't do a great job of running and overriding the pain messages.
More: How to Manage and Focus Your Energy on Race Day
But, you get through the bad days, learn where you went wrong, and take those lessons with you into your next run.
Let you running be ruled by brain warping that flood of sensory feedback you get from your body. Don't let the messages steal your confidence because you can run and do a lot more than your body would like you to believe.
More: Do This, Not That: How to Learn From Common Running Mistakes
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