Using mental skills to produce a better running performance

Another race is over and the winners have practically sprinted across the finish line, perhaps to the envy of many behind them. These are the runners who can churn out miles on the road with the efficiency of a well-oiled machine. They can flow across the tarmac apparently oblivious to their fatigue. And yet, they are the ones who endure the discomforts of a hard race for the least amount of time! Two to three hours of hard racing is tough, but isn’t four to five hours even tougher?

Sustained concentration is difficult, especially when your body is pouring fatigue into every sinew. As the mind wanders, as thoughts of despair pollute the possibility of a personal best or even a decent performance, it is not surprising that a runner can miss his or her predicted times by many minutes.

So, is there any way that a runner can use their mental skills to improve performance, to shove aside these demons and let all their hard training bring the rewards that they deserve?

Two techniques from sports psychology offer interesting possibilities:

Association is a mental technique that requires the endurance runner to concentrate on many aspects of their physical condition. The runner repeatedly runs through a mental checklist of body signals ensuring that everything is operating in a range that will allow him or her to complete the race at an optimum rate. For example, runners might ask themselves the following questions: is my breathing relaxed? Is this a pace that I can hold for the rest of the race? Are my muscles coping? Is there any sign of cramping? Can I increase the pace?

The runner concentrates on these physical signals, and responds with a tactical adjustment (slowing down, speeding up, surging, etc). The purpose of this technique is to help keep fatigue at bay as long as is possible. Research suggests that this technique is most effective for elite runners.

Dissociation is a technique that trains the runner to block out thoughts of fatigue. He or she is encouraged to think about anything - playing their favourite tunes in their mind, reciting their favourite poems, recalling fun times - that will distract them. Several studies have shown that novice runners who use dissociation strategies improve their times much more than those runners (who follow the same physical training programme) who primarily use association strategies.

Tests with runners that have been trained to use the dissociation technique have found that their perception of exertion was manipulated; they learned to ignore their fatigue.

This may be advantageous in competitions but it is not without risks. There have been cases where runners have suffered serious dehydration because they failed to recognise their bodies’ signals of distress. Dissociation may also reduce the runner’s ability to make rapid decisions in response to race tactics. Runners who become too absorbed in their thoughts may start to lose their sense of pace judgment and find that they have been slowing down without realising it.

Another study has suggested that dissociation may contribute to a runner 'hitting the wall' on the basis that the he or she ignored the physical signals that indicated they were running too fast.

Summary
A combination of both techniques is probably the most effective.
Try this strategy next time you race, 'tune in' to your physical signals by monitoring your breathing; learn to relax when tense; relieve muscle tension by adjusting your pace; read your energy levels – and be honest in your assessment, can you really keep this up? If all is well then 'tune out'.