Mental Aspects of Training Distance Runners - an Introduction
- Austin Tobelmann
- Apr 7, 2024
- 5 min read
Distance running is a grueling endeavor that utilizes an athlete’s complete physical and mental capacity. The physical characteristics that are needed to become a great distance runner have been tested for over a century and the specific physiological markers to enhance are largely agreed upon (See 'Physical Aspects of Training Distance Runners - an Introduction'). Sport psychology, however, is a younger field with much to be studied in how certain mental characteristics may affect performance, and which psychological tactics should be deployed in certain sporting situations.
In order to achieve a performance-enhancing psyche, a high degree of personal mental toughness needs to be developed.
What is mental toughness?
I like to define mental toughness as ‘confidence in one’s abilities, and resilience under stress and pressure.’
How to develop mental toughness…
Confidence stems from consistently putting in the required work each day and allowing yourself to witness the progress. When you see yourself being better than you were, it is easier to be confident in knowing that you can be better than you are.
Resilience is developed in almost the opposite fashion as confidence. Resilience comes from enduring failure and hardship. Failure and hardship are not here to make you hurt; they are here to help you learn and grow. Accept them as they come and move through them with grace. You cannot always control when they arrive.
However, there is something that you can control that will help improve both your confidence and resilience. Developing mindfulness and psychological skills. Below is an overview of these skills as an introduction to the topic. Future blog posts will give a deeper dive into each individual aspect.
When you see yourself being better than you were, it is easier to be confident in knowing that you can be better than you are.
Why develop mindfulness and psychological skills?
Athletes with inherent mindfulness show high levels of:
- Motivation
- Coachability
- Concentration
- Confidence
- Peaking under pressure
- Coping with adversity
Aside from high levels of quality traits, mindfulness has also been shown to lead to better running performance. This is due to having the ability to be aware of each moment, accept what is occurring without judgment, and re-focus after losing concentration.
Mindfulness is not only proven to help runners and athletes perform better, but it brings a better quality of life at large. It has shown to lead to significant decreases in negative thoughts, mental stress, and self-doubt.
Can mindfulness/psychological skills be trained?
Yes! Mindfulness is not something that you are simply born with or without, it is something that is trainable. Further, mindfulness training that focuses on present awareness, acceptance, and commitment has proven to be more effective in sport performance than general psychological skills training (goal-setting, imagery, self-talk, etc.). However, it should not take the place of psychological skills training. Both should be used together to realize the highest potential in personal mental toughness.
In order to build the proper habits and cultivate true mindfulness and psychological skills, they need to be practiced often…just like running!
How to train mindfulness/psychological skills?
There are many ways to train mindfulness that can provide great results. As mentioned in last week’s blog, there are many physical characteristics that a runner needs to train to reach their potential. Mental skills training is no different! All components should be incorporated into your training:
- Cognitive Association
- Cognitive Dissociation
- Thought-Stopping
- Relaxation
- Body Scan (Progressive Muscle Relaxation)
Cognitive association means bringing focus and awareness to the task at hand. For runners, this can be focusing on breathing, form, pace, or how you are feeling at any moment during a race/run.
Cognitive dissociation is the opposite; putting focus on something entirely different than the task at hand such as: singing a song in your head, counting, paying attention to external stimuli, etc.
Thought-stopping helps curb negative thoughts, find an approach to push them away, and replace them with more constructive thoughts. It shows us that we are not our thoughts, we are the ones that choose which thoughts to continue thinking.
Relaxation is the ability to keep our body and mind calm. Great ways to work on relaxation are deep breathing and meditation.
Body scanning involves tensing and relaxing each muscle in your body, one-by-one, working from the head to the toes. It is great for bringing our attention to our bodies, feeling where we are tense, and letting go of that tension.
...we are not our thoughts, we are the ones that choose which thoughts to continue thinking.
Other psychological skills to develop:
- Goal Setting
- Self-Talk
- Visualization
Goal setting helps us decide on a destination, however ‘half of knowing what you want is knowing what it takes to get there.’ The true goals lie in the daily habits we need to develop in order to reach that destination.
Self-talk is about how you talk to yourself. Developing positive mantras, and treating yourself the way that you would treat others, goes a long way!
Visualization is practicing all of the above skills in a race-like scenario…in your head. Play out the race with all of your senses, being aware of each moment, accepting it as it is, and committing to give your best effort. Re-play the race in multiple ways so that you are ready for anything to happen when you get to the real thing.
...treating yourself the way that you would treat others goes a long way!
There is one final trait to mention that will bring everything together; gratitude. Developing a ‘get to’ instead of ‘have to’ mindset, and appreciating the journey as it comes will make everything much more worth it!
Resources
Bulğay, C., Tingaz, E. O., Bayraktar, I., & Çetin, E. (2020). Athletic performance and mindfulness in track and field athletes. Current Psychology, 41(7), 4482–4489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00967-y
Hagin, V., Gonzales, B. R., & Groslambert, A. (2015). Effects of cognitive stimulation with a self-modeling video on time to exhaustion while running at maximal aerobic velocity: A pilot study. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 120(2), 491–501. https://doi.org/10.2466/26.25.pms.120v18x5
Jaenes, J. C., Wilczyńska, D., Alarcón, D., Peñaloza, R., Casado, A., & Trujillo, M. (2021). The effectiveness of the psychological intervention in Amateur Male Marathon runners. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.605130
Jones, M. I., & Parker, J. K. (2015). A conditional process model of the effect of mindfulness on 800-M personal best times through pain catastrophising. Journal of Sports Sciences, 34(12), 1132–1140. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2015.1093648
Wu, C.-H., Nien, J.-T., Lin, C.-Y., Nien, Y.-H., Kuan, G., Wu, T.-Y., Ren, F.-F., & Chang, Y.-K. (2021). Relationship between mindfulness, psychological skills, and mental toughness in college athletes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(13), 6802. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136802
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