How Do you Stay Mentally Tough in a Race?

Good answer, anyone else have any ideas?

relaxation is the key to staying tough

I agree. Relaxation and mental conditioning. That means doing workouts that simulate racing. Tempo runs are good practice for the concentration and relaxation that you need in a race.

....This what I did in high school, any time I got that "lull" feeling...that space in a race...just start visualizing and feeling what winning and finishing first feels like...how much you like winning...seriously, focus on nothing but winning and how good it feels and how every asshole in front of you wants to keep that feeling from you.

Of course you do this without spacing out and losing contact...keep your strategy in mind etc.

Bottom line is, you gotta want to win, man, you gotta really want it. Yes, focus on strategy as you need to, but keep the idea and the feeling of winning as the most important thing in your life at that moment...in that race...remember other times you won...keep that feeling in your mind the whole time.

It is like you gotta be addicted to winning.

Winning in high school is an addiction. You are either a winner...or you are not a winner.

Very few of us started out winning from the start. Most us had to work our ways up. I remembered every step I took my frosh and most of my soph years in high school. From my first day as a frosh I wanted to be #1 and beat the top Senior, the guy with the school records. I just kept at it, and was running behind guys that were my year and better than me...but I was dogged, I ran during the summer when the others didn't and finally a few weeks into my soph season I broke 5 mins in the mile, and continued to have breakthroughs from there on.

First in my mind at all times was "I want to win."

Most success in life comes from focusing on what you want. I wanted to win.

When you start to consider getting second, you are focusing on getting second.

Now...as you move up to college and open and elite...you may need to focus on 3rd, 2nd, whatever in order to move up, and that can take the pressure off and build confidence.

But where you are at, if you are thinking about second, that means you are more likely to take second or worse. But it also means you really have a chance to win.

Just think about all the ways in which life isn't fair, all the shit you hate, all the shit that pisses you off, and how that guy about to take first in front of you is responsible for life not being fair...

And then run your ass off and make that ahole pay by having HIM take second.

Numerous times in high school I beat guys who were better than me, and I am not bragging here, the reason I beat them was that I knew my will was better...in my case I was front running at the time, and I knew that if I just kept a step ahead of them, eventually they would break.

Think about it, if you are running a race at your high school with a your fellow students watching you race...do you really want to not take first / lose?

--NFW.

What I am saying is that when you think about winning, and only winning...those "lull" times where you wanna "puss out" start going away.

I can not tell you how many times I defeated superior athletes. I started pretty close to the bottom, but with the drive and will to get ahead, literally...I...eventually climbed the ladder. The guys who made the state meet...in a frickin tough major assed state, state meet, could not beat me by my soph year in college in a D1 school...that is one of the most talked about schools on this board.

I did this by sheer will and determination. FOCUS. Focus is key. You gotta be addicted to training smart, and racing to win.

The point -- it is all about you, your drive and focus.

You gotta want to win.

Focus, win, Win, focus.

And ignore the jerks and aholes on this board that have forgotten what it is like to work your way up...or who, worse, never won regularly.

I agree with the relaxation.

Also, confidence in your training. If you show up on race day without any excuses at the ready, you'll have a good chance of running to your potential.

No, "I'm training through this."

No, "I haven't done any speed work yet."

etc...

that always helped me.

Did you win the Olympics?

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Did you win the Olympics?

Did WHO win the Olympics you useless fukwit?

The kid asked a sincere question; and you post a turd answer, I've seen many of your posts before and you appear to be a sour, unhappy, dried up old gristle dicked uk fukwit to the max.

Why don't you consider posting something "coach-ful" in the future and start being ashamed of all your retarded non coach worthy posts.

If not, then just od one night and stop arriving here in the UK morning posting negative, useless, and hateful tripe.

Basically, you are an embarrassment to coaching, and well, humanity.

"fatigue makes cowards of us all."

vince lombardi

You gotta shoot them, before they shoot you. -ian edwards

nuhnuhnuh wrote:

You gotta shoot them, before they shoot you. -dick cheney

FIXED.

The key is relaxation and concentration. If you don't you'll tighten up or get ansy and start "running scared" and move too soon and blow up. Also I will occationally used a "mental mantra", I'll just think over and over, "run strong, run strong, run strong" from reason it helps me focus and relax and ignore some of the pain.

good luck

A couple of good tips:

1) Don't ask yourself or think about how you feel in a race. As humans we have a self preservation instinct that tends to look for an excuse to stop or take it easy when we get tired or are in pain. Don't give it the chance.

2) Mentally stay in the moment. Break the race down in small sections and stay mentally in the moment by just focusing on executing the section of the race you are in. Don't think about the next segment or a past one, just focus on executing that particular segment.

3) Lay out a good race plan with a realistic goal for each segment of the race as well as the race as whole. Your whole mental focus is then to execute that plan. See 2 above.

High Schooler wrote:

My question is, how do you stay mentally tough in a race? Sometimes when I get very tired during a race, I consider just settling for second. Does anybody have any mental tricks or ideas on how I can fight through the pain?

I've never understood this kind of question. Either you have the burning desire to destroy the other runners in the race or you don't. I'm not sure you can trick yourself to feel this way. Either you are an intensely competitive person or you aren't. If you have the training and the physical gifts to be able to compete for the win and the competitive spirit to go along with that, then you just may win more than you lose. The way you fight through the pain is to either train yourself to run at that pace without pain or go out more slowly. Severe pain isn't associated with all good races.

The only thing I ever learned from love was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you. -- L. Cohen

FIXED AGAIN

Downhill Running wrote:

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Did you win the Olympics?

Did WHO win the Olympics you useless fukwit?

Yo, 'fukwit,' there's this line on each post that says who the message is in reply to. Think about what coach said, think about who it was in reply to, re-read that person's message, and you might be able to put it together. Feel free to ask if that's too hard.

dont go out in 60 seconds for the first 400 meters of an xc race.

think about how good it will feel when you finish

try not to focus on the pain, it's only temporary. Once you are finished, you will realize that it wasn't as bad as you thought

stay relaxed and focus on your race