In Part 1 of this post, I introduced my thoughts on meditation and how my experience with a 5 minute daily practice has compared to the mental struggles during the hardest parts of a marathon. I also referred to a theoretical form of mental purgatory in marathoning. Given you have the mental ability to actively control your negative thoughts and achieve some sort of this mental neutrality, which I proposed you could develop through consistent meditation, you can benefit from simply pushing away the toxic unconscious that creeps in at the worst times of the race.
Considering this blog is based on my own theories, we’re going to keep working with the idea that our “mental purgatory,” a form of meditation in itself, is a much better position to be in than allowing negative self talk slowly creep into our mental state at mile 20. In Valencia, I tried to get into a state of mental purgatory for a good portion of the race. We had a pace group through 16, so I slipped into the pack, trusted the pacer, and just focussed on taking one easy step at a time until mile 10, when I had planned to reassess how I was feeling and how the race was developing. Muscle memory is powerful, so as long as the pace felt relatively easy, as it should through early portions of the marathon, then why wouldn’t I zone out for this portion of the race?
While I don’t believe (yet!) that a complete meditative, non-thinking state is all-together possible, let’s ground ourselves a bit, once we’re comfortable with the idea that we can clear our minds and improve our mental focus, we do want to ask the question…what’s next? What mental state do you want to be in come 16, 20, etc.? I only know what I know, so I’m going to reference my race in Valencia one more time. At mile 16, when the pacer dropped out and two men made a move off the front of the pack, I let them go. I LET THEM GO DAMN IT!
Why did I do this? I was afraid, and I had 10 miles to go. I’ve run the last 8 miles of a marathon in pure agony, and that’s a fear that’s hard to suppress. That could have been the end of my race right there, but about three minutes later I decided I would also chase after those two guys. I don’t remember consciously making that decision, but after I caught them, two miles later, they were only two people I ran with for the next 7 miles until approximately 800 meters to go when a demon running 4:30 pace blew by me. I can confidently say that self-belief I somehow (uncharacteristically) mustered saved my race. No one in the pack that I left broke 2:19 (except the demon running 4:30 pace).
Every runner’s nightmares of the last 6 – 8 miles of a marathon creep in eventually, we’re not monks. Whether the pack breaks up and you’re stuck in no man’s land, you get the butt clench, or any other of the many dreaded marathoning fates befalls us, we still want to be able to catch ourselves if, and when, our mental fortitude starts to waver. Further, if we have a chance to actually make a soul crushing drive for the finish, then we want to be able to will ourselves to this fate and avoid moseying through the line in mental tranquility. Let’s make it hurt and push ourselves!
A Visual Evolution of Positive Thought
Many Negative Thoughts Mode, M.N.T. Mode, “Mountain” Mode
I don’t know who this guy below is, but he’s in Mountain Mode, as in, he’s got a mountain between him and the finish. He’s begun to let the negative thoughts creep in, that it hurts, that he can’t do it. He’s straining…and has to climb a metaphorical mountain to get to the finish. WARNING: this mode is not to be confused with “Mountain Mode,” which is a mental state desired when climbing a real life mountain. This mode is DEFINITELY not to be confused with “The Mountain” Mode, the Game of Thrones character. Don’t fall into Mountain Mode and become a Mountain Mode Mouse! Prepare yourself mentally!
Zen Mode
The man below has obviously taken up a steady meditation practice before starting his daily 9-5 job, and actually appears to be levitating. I may go into levitation in a later post in order to fully elaborate on the benefits of such a skill, but I don’t have any practical knowledge as of today, so I’m going to side-step this topic. I digress, because the guy below does appear to be mentally strong, focussed, and buffered for the longest parts of the marathon. Mentally prepare yourself to be a Zen Mode Zebra for a good portion of the race and you’re bound to come out on the bad side of the first 20 in good shape.
Supersayan Mode, a.k.a. Kipchoge Mode
Super Sayan mode (a.k.a. Kipchoge mode), is the ultimate next level of emotion control. Kipchoge Mode in laments terms is what I also like to call, “Just developing a bit of self-confidence.” Kipchoge is the best in the world, and must have developed a supreme degree of mental control and confidence.
Confidence is obviously a state of mind, and one that varies based a unique variety of internal and external factors. While we can control for both, much of the time external factors are largely out our control. Therefore, I’m going to focus on the internal factors that we can potentially influence through practice.
I think its important to consider if confidence in running can be characterized in “chicken or egg” terms…does running fast promote confidence, or does confidence promote running fast? Maybe it’s the latter, and maybe we can positively impact running through a practice much like meditation. Further, maybe it’s more of a feedback loop than we think, where confidence feeds strong performance, which therefore feeds more confidence, etc! It sounds reasonable enough to my basic brain, so I’m going to try to inject a bit more effort into the internal factors driving confidence to see if it can speed up the loop. Let’s just try to be a Kipchoge Mode Kipchoge!
Can we all enter Kipchoge Mode?
Positive Self Talk
I ticked away at my laptop meticulously describing what “Positive Self Talk” is before realizing that everyone who reads this likely knows exactly what I mean. Everyone has some degree of internal dialogue running, some positive and some negative, but are we actively controlling for this? I don’t! No one coached me to! Hopefully some runners out there are doing this, but it doesn’t appear to be a widely developed enough skill for such a basic and obvious mental exercise. I know that I spend quite a bit of my time worrying about how my words affect how other people feel, but rarely give a thought to how my dialogue is impacting MY mental health. Why is this?
A study on male kickboxers described how a motivational self-talk routine improved confidence, increased positive affect (experience of joy and interest), and decreased negative affect (experience of anger, contempt, or nervousness). Simply applying a self-talk routine before, during, and after performance by both identifying negative self-talk and apply positive and motivational self-talk resulted in this statistically significant improvement in affect and confidence over the control group. If you read the study, there is a further mental training program utilized that shows even further mental benefits, but for now, let’s just worry about the self-talk routine!
Based on this study, we can conclude that three exercises may improve our mindset:
1. Practice control negative self-talk. We’re already working on this independently of our positive self-talk routine through our meditation practice. The ability to actively identify these negative thoughts as they come and either suppress them or push them away is something we can improve through practice. Science already shows us that meditation improves the way the brain operates in a positive manner, which we may be able to use to support our mental strength in running.
2. Replace un-constrained negative thoughts with a positive alternative. Once we’re able to recognize when negative self-talk occurs, we can either support these thoughts with positive alternatives, or dismiss them completely as irrational, as they often are.
- Try keeping a notepad with you in order to identify negative thoughts relating to your running. Read them back and ask if it is something you would ever say to another individual besides yourself.
- Consider how this negative thought could influence your psychology down the road (hah…road racing), or how it may be a reoccurring thought pattern influencing your confidence.
- Frame the thought in a positive way, writing it down next to the negative thought.
3. Develop an independent positive self-talk routine. The possibilities are endless! While everyone will have a different preference regarding their own routine, experiment with what makes you feel the most confident. Or, you are welcome to try some of my pre-fab phrases:
Pre-run:”You are really really really ridiculously good looking.”
Mid-run:*Screaming* “I’M REALLY DOING IT! I’m FLYYYIIINNNNNGGG”
Post – run: “Did I just run? I barely felt it.”
Conclusion
To conclude on a serious, and philosophical note, if I could separate myself into Young Austin side 1 and Young Austin side 2, and speak soft whispers of love and affection into one ear while also speaking toxic negative self-talk into one ear, what difference would it make? Further, is this measurable and does it make a lick of difference in the end? Could I coax Young Austin side 1 into Kipchoge Mode while denigrating Young Austin side 2 into Mountain Mode? Would I kick more ferociously at the end of my race with a little more confidence? It’s possible that these techniques won’t do much, but it’s also possible that they makes all the difference in the world, and that this hypothetical verging from our best possible self is always occurring, we just can’t tell because it’s a slow moving train wreck. Even if it’s just a small difference, it’s placebo, or it has no application to running, what’s the harm in trying this 30 second exercise? Worst case scenario it has no effect, but in the best case scenario, it could be the confidence booster that allows you to make the decisive move.
I’m still looking .05% game changers, and this one is backed by solid science. Even if it doesn’t translate into running performance, maybe this will just make me a happier person overall. A little more self-confidence can’t hurt!
Do good,
Young Austin
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