Train the Brain

Sometimes I think one of the hardest things for distance runners to do is believe and have confidence. I know it is for me, at least, and I’ve seen many others, some much better than me, face the same problem. This is a planned down week for me, and the three weeks leading up to it have gone about as well as they possibly could have. I’ve run a strong volume and knocked out a few decent workouts on top of it, and I’ve also started to address some of my weaknesses, such as my neuromuscular system. Furthermore, I seem to be recovering fairly well and there have been times where I’ve been able to tell my fitness has increased.

Still, I doubt. I wonder if I’m doing the right things. Even if I am, I wonder if those things will lead to the results I’m looking for. I wonder if age has caught up to me and I just don’t have it any more. I wonder what’s going to happen when I toe the line in a race and attempt to run fast. I question if I even want to race. Certainly I don’t enjoy the pressure, even if it is mostly self-inflicted. All these things hold me back, and what’s worse is the fact I know it, it’s not a new phenomenon, and I still haven’t been able to do anything about it. Honestly, while I still very much enjoy this sport, it’s taken some of the fun out of it over the years.

I’m in the midst of making some changes to my training that I’m excited about. I’m going back to some of the training methods that Steve Taylor has given me over the years, which are some of the things that have worked best for me and led to some of my best performances, and I’m getting serious about getting serious. Rather than train like I prefer to train, I’m going to train how I know I need to train. I’m also going to be more diligent about planning and looking at the big picture rather than the more helter-skelter, day-to-day, week-to-week approach I’ve had going on for a while now. None of this will be an overnight process and the results won’t be instantaneous, but I fully believe that if I stay committed and focused, I’ll eventually see significantly positive results.

However, I’ve still got to train my brain, and that may be my biggest challenge. The mind is a very powerful thing, and the body often follows wherever it leads. If it’s leading in a self-doubting, negative direction, even though the body is very fit and more than capable of doing something great, it still won’t perform as it should. I really want to figure out a way to ignore the doubt and face running and racing from a no-pressure perspective. Ultimately I know this is how I will run my best. I have to run with no expectations and no limits. I have to view each workout and each race as a step in the process and as a chance to improve. Even when performances might be sub-par for whatever reason, if the effort is there, it will pay off at some point in time.

I’ve heard it said that there are no risks on the starting line of a race, only opportunities. It’s going to take some time to change the poor mentality that I’ve developed over the years, but this is how I want to approach running going forward. I want to have a positive attitude regardless of how a day might go and just have fun with it. With all the injuries I’ve had over the years, in particular the double Jones Fracture in 2010, my running career could very easily be over and I’m blessed to even still be able to do this, especially at the level I can. It’s more than time I view things from that standpoint and just enjoy whatever I’m able to do. That doesn’t mean the desire to be the best I can be is any less; it just means I have to handle that desire with a positive mentality instead of a negative one. It will be an ongoing battle, but I am determined to not only conquer the pain but also master the brain. Run Hard; Run Fast; Run Happy!