Personality and Performance wrote:
I don't mean to count out overtraining as I have had athletes who I feel pushed too hard or I made the mistake of not being observant enough to notice to make changes to their plan, but these athletes I'm referring to and this personality "type" seem to have some change of psychology that is happening during races that causes them to underperform.
What one of the previous posters said about adapting mid-race seems like a possibility. I'm still completely unsure of what is the root cause and more importantly how to identify it and fix it to help my athletes become better runners.
I know exactly what you are talking about and it is very likely largely psychological. It's not just adapting to mid-race issues, it's just being a complete headcase and psyching yourself out before the race so you choke.
Type 'A' personality guys work hard and are super dedicated, but they're also over analytical and can talk themselves right out of races. Sometimes the best performers are just those who can "run stupid" and not think about anything, just go out and hammer.
A perfect example was in high school I had a teammate who was already late for a warmup for his 800 race and was just sitting there sprawled out in the sun, spikes on, singlet and shorts (no warmups), eating some chips. He got up, did whatever 10 minute warmup he needed, and set a PR. Meanwhile I obsessed over every detail of my warmup, what time my race was, were they ahead or behind schedule, the wind, the splits, etc and went and bombed my 3200 race.
I wish I could tell you how to fix it. Part of it comes with maturity and experience and recognizing that they have a problem which needs addressing. I don't struggle with the issue much these days, but also very rarely do I find myself on the line for a race that I care about like I did with my high school and college races, so there isn't as much to stress over. I think it's a balance between using that "nervous energy" to your advantage, but relaxing and not obsessing over the race for days/hours beforehand.
Try advising them to not think about the race at all until it's almost time to warmup. They probably won't be able to do this, but I bet if they did it'd help.