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How much mental training do you do?
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 2006-05-31 2:22 PM |
Veteran 164   silverton oregon |  Subject: How much mental training do you do?I was reading in Dangy Scott's book "Complete book of Women's Running" last night and there was a section on mental training. How you can completely talk yourself out of winning or just trash talk yourself into doing bad. Comparing yourself to others can really hurt your performance before you even begin your race. I also read Jim Dillions articles here on BT and he talked about how he sings songs to himself to keep going. My question is "What do you do to keep going and what do you do during training to push harder or move past certain mental blocks." meredith |
| 2006-05-31 3:01 PM in reply to: #439403 |
Champion 11641   Fairport, NY | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? During high intensity workouts like LT tests, I'll dare myself to slow down and get into a Gollum kind of thing "Slow down, it's ok" "No, harder", "Go ahead, take it easy", "No, harder" ad nauseum. It's kind of odd, but it works. And it has the side benefit of people giving me a lot of room on the trail. For endurance workouts, I don't have to do much. I like 'em. |
| 2006-05-31 3:04 PM in reply to: #439475 |
Extreme Veteran 604 Northwest Ohio | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? marmadaddy - 2006-05-31 3:01 PM During high intensity workouts like LT tests, I'll dare myself to slow down and get into a Gollum kind of thing "Slow down, it's ok" "No, harder", "Go ahead, take it easy", "No, harder" ad nauseum. It's kind of odd, but it works. And it has the side benefit of people giving me a lot of room on the trail. For endurance workouts, I don't have to do much. I like 'em. That's just "Precious"  |
| 2006-05-31 3:07 PM in reply to: #439403 |
The Original 7834 Raleigh/Durham | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? Whenever I think about slowing down, or ending a workout when I'm not "feeling it", I always remind myself of how disapointed in myself I'll be if I don't finish it or slow down. That usually keeps me going. I'm always right because when I finish I'm always glad that I didn't quit or let myself slack. |
| 2006-05-31 3:07 PM in reply to: #439403 |
Master 1845 Athens, Ga. | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? I sing to myself - the "just keep swimming, swimming, swimming" to the kid's song "head and shoulders, knees and toes" during my first tri (don't ask me where that came from). During my first marathon, it was bible verses and praise songs. Usually what mentally keeps me going is the fact that way too many people (more than one  ) are looking at my logs for me to let myself quit. Just focusing on getting the job done helps too. |
| 2006-05-31 3:14 PM in reply to: #439403 |
Runner | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? In training, when I feel like quitting, I contemplate the fact that quitting now could mean the difference between life and death later. In races, I sing. I also do math problems, mostly time / distance related ones. |
| 2006-05-31 3:25 PM in reply to: #439403 |
Elite 2661 DC Metro, slowly working my way to NC | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? When I'm training, I go ahead and just let my mind wander to other things (well, while still making sure I don't get hit by a car, drown, etc) and just stop thinking about the fact that it's hot, or I'm tired, etc. If I'm racing, I usually am writing my race report in my head as I'm going along, which keeps my mind nicely occupied. Comparing yourself to others can really hurt your performance before you even begin your race. That is something that is easy for me to not do - I'm at peace with my slow. |
| 2006-05-31 3:33 PM in reply to: #439488 |
Master 2136 A Prairie Home | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? watergirl - 2006-05-31 4:07 PM I sing to myself - the "just keep swimming, swimming, swimming" . I do that too! |
| 2006-05-31 3:36 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Master 1384 Brooklyn, NY | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? At Home - I put on an IM DVD or something similar and imagine "HOW FREAKING COOL" it would be if I could keep up with these pros for even a few seconds. On my way to the gym - I put on my MP3 and play some jammin tunes until my adrenaline reaches some kind of peak as I envision myself just steam-rolling thru the competition on any of the three disciplines. All this as my family is watching. During any of my work outs - I envision how the pros do any of the disciplines and I try to imitate the mechanical movements of how smooth they do things. I envision doing much better than I actually am, or will ever be. In that vision am able to go hard and fast for hours on end. I imagine BEING one of the pros. They make races look so painless and smooth. This is my positive thinking that has helped me a lot, especially on bad or hard training days. |
 2006-05-31 3:42 PM in reply to: #439403 |
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| 2006-05-31 3:45 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Pro 4189 Pittsburgh, my heart is in Glasgow | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? I dont know, I tend to think that all training is mental training. Every time I run, every time I workout, I learn something (good, bad, and ugly). During my half marathon, I found myself strangely religious. I am pretty devout in my faith, but this was...different. I tend to sing a lot of Five Iron Frenzy. Which for you parents out there, is really positive christian punk rock/ska..just good stuff. But then again, my diabetes visualization always helps because it scares the crap out of me. |
| 2006-05-31 4:39 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Champion 10471 Dallas, TX | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? When I start getting bored or beaten down on a ride, I start to sing 80's songs. If no one is around, I belt them outloud. I also tell myself, "You can do it. You are a strong rider with strong legs. You are doing a great job". I say that outloud too if no one is around. Finally, I remind myself that when I go to compete in an Ironman, there will come a moment where I will need to dig deep to keep going.... and I am practicing for that day... when I need to keep going when all I want to do it stop. I also get the mental image of the guy passing out on the run in an Ironman, and after getting water, he gets back up and keeps running. I tell myself if he could keep going, so can I. |
| 2006-05-31 4:45 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| New user 78 | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? I sing things like "No parking baby, no parking on the aerobars" to myself on long rides to keep myself going. I also make up stupid "just keep pedaling songs" on long-ish hills. Swimming I'm usually too focused on the workout to need that, and running I usually take music, so the music keeps me going. |
| 2006-05-31 4:47 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Expert 664 Ross, Ohio | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? I do one of two things: #1. I ask myself if someone gave me $100 to keep going, could I keep going? The answer is always yes, then I laugh at myself, call myself a female kitty and roll on. or #2. I start to get in the mode of I am tired, or do not feel like it, or whatever, then just tell myself to shut up and get on with it. One of these two works everytime. It is amazing how the mind really does control the body. Edited by buckeye66 2006-05-31 4:48 PM |
| 2006-05-31 6:06 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Master 2629 brummie land | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? swimming i work out in my head how far i've gone - i always lose track so that keeps me entertained for ages running i just focus on my breathing.
biking on a bad one (ie dead windy) i sing/hum you'll never walk alone - the line "through the wind and rain" keeps me going.
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| 2006-05-31 6:12 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Extreme Veteran 684 Highlands Ranch, CO | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? This is corny, but it works for me. I recall the time my cousin took me hiking in search of a glacier. I was 8 and she was . . . older. I, of course, kept stopping until she finally couldn't stand it anymore and broke down and told me the story of the Little Engine That Could. I hated that story right from the get-go, but it got me up the mountain. When I was standing on the glacier, I was SO glad to be there. It was the coolest/most inspiring event of my young life, and I've called upon its power many times when I've doubted that I could achieve some particular goal. The achievements that mean the most to me are the ones I originally doubted I could accomplish, and I have my cousin and that Little Engine to thank! |
| 2006-05-31 6:37 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Extreme Veteran 586 Waterboro, Maine | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? When I feel like cutting a workout short, I imagine what I will write in my BT log! That keeps me going! |
| 2006-05-31 7:00 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Master 2278 State of Confusion | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? I like to play a lot of mental games with myself when I am running. I like to pretend I'm in a race, and that always works for me. That's my favorite thing to do when I am getting close to the end of a run and I am tired. Other times I just problem solve in my head. If I have a situation that needs to be dealt with then I work it out in my head. On the bike I never need to play those games with myself b/c I am just too entertained, and concentrating on my surroundings. When I am on an easy ride I love to just enjoy nature, look at how people landscape their yards to get ideas, and I love riding through older neighborhoods because I just love the old craftsman style homes and bungalows. Swimming...well thinking about form is just too demanding to need to concentrate on anything else, and it is soooo zen-like and medatative. |
| 2006-05-31 7:12 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Coach 10487 Boston, MA | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? A LOT ;) Seriously though, I do tend to visualize almost every time some portion of a race when training. In particular if it is a hard session! Most of the time I picture myself executing my race plan an of course winning. (Even though I haven’t been able to materialize those visions just yet, HA!) On that note, there is a fine line between pushing our limits through a hard workout and learning how to listen to our bodies and to stop in the middle of a workout NOT because is too hard but because is not a good session to push the body (maybe we are coming down sick, injured, stressed, over extended, fatigue, etc) The VERY tricky part is to learn how to differentiate both. After been “though” through a few workouts that ended up with injuries, now I don’t hesitate to quit a workout and take a recovery day when necessary… Edited by amiine 2006-05-31 7:15 PM |
| 2006-05-31 7:12 PM in reply to: #439556 |
| Master 1534 | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? oneword - 2006-05-31 4:42 PM I'm a pretty type A/OCD type personality, so my advice is don't do what I do LOL Especially on the bike, I think about dropping people who have hurt me personally in the past (or continue to do so in the present). I tend to drop a lot of f bombs while passing their imaginary bodies/bikes on the trail. I'm not fast but it seems like I ride/run better (this doesn't work for swimming, there its all about efficiency and if I try to crush through the water, it actually slows me down) when I'm in Attack Mode. If I didn't do this, I know I would never improve... this same type of mindset made me into a very very good guitarist after probably 10s of thousands of hours of practice over 30 years (eep!). For me, I have to think about kicking @$$ or I won't work hard. I agree fully and completly |
| 2006-05-31 9:00 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Regular 53 | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? When I need a little help I think of someone that has ticked me off recently or just someone that I don't respect and I picture myself kicking their arse...I know it sounds crazy, but it really ups my adreneline. I'm not psycho...really...hey, you just made the list pal... |
| 2006-05-31 10:06 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Member 32 | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? i usually have to remind myself that, if i stop now, i waste that much time of my life which ill never get back. I dunno, the prospect of wasting potential training time scares me...BTW I also think of kicking the heck out of the people who made fun of me as a kid. Im really now that much of a head case... am i? |
| 2006-05-31 10:07 PM in reply to: #439403 |
| Master 1732 Delafield, Wisconsin | Subject: RE: How much mental training do you do? When things get tough I repeat the following to myself: "the harder I train the faster I get, the longer I train the better I get get" It seems to work |
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