Benefits of Thinking Like Elite Runners: Pushing Past Pain and Fear

Want to blow your PR {personal record} out of the water? Me too!!

While I have no intention of working my way in to the elite coral {though I did start within arms length of Shalane at the Runner’s World 10K} I often wonder what they do differently.

Besides the 100 mile weeks, perfect eating, daily massages and naps…ok so they do everything differently.

But what about the things I can control, like my mind!!

Get ready to have some of your assumptions challenged and feel a little kick in the pants with this quick read from Sport Psychologist Dr. Stan Beecham. His work over the years has lead to impressive insights to help us achieve more in training and on race day…probably more than we ever thought we could do! elite runners Elite Minds
Creating the Competitive Advantage
by Dr. Stan Beecham

Thinking Like Elite Runners

First Dr. Beecham touches on a subject that I recently opened many of you up to…most injuries are preceded by an emotional event. Yes it’s totally possible that what you think about is causing or not causing your injuries!

Stop Focusing on the How.

Focus on what you want and just start acting. This goes back to many things I’ve read lately about analysis paralysis.

Instead of acting, we keep putting things off by looking for more information to ensure we are doing things “perfectly”.

how many training plans have you looked at?
how many diets have you considered?
how many articles have you read?

Knowledge is amazing, but action is required for any progress.

Flow. Don’t Force.

Exerting force against something rather than flowing around requires a tremendous amount of physical and mental effort.

Example water flows around, under, over things and finds it’s way slowly carving massive things like the Grand Canyon. It’s amazing to realize the massive impact you can have on your life by simply continuing to move rather than always trying to blast your way through things.

listen to your body and know the symptoms of over training
remember that active recovery is important
being tense and tight during a run leads to wasted energy

Intentionally Make Mistakes.

That’s right let go of the need for perfection and you might find it easier to simply DO the task at hand.

I really love this idea of just making a mistake…think of the first time you dinged your car, suddenly it was like “ok well that happened now it’s not perfect and I don’t need to obsess about where I park any more.”

Utilize practice races to learn what works for you
Practice with different types of long run fueling
Attempt a tempo run (knowing that just showing up is winning!)

Thinking like elite runners

Excuses are Just Rationalized Fear.

“Challenging yourself leads to opportunity. Conversely, avoiding risk leads to repetition and mediocrity.”

As someone who loves to research and of course doesn’t want to screw things up, I know that we can find a lot of ways to downplay our goals or hold ourselves back. We see a number on the watch and think “oh no, I can’t run that”. Instead of thinking “well let’s give this a shot!”

Calm Mind. Big Results.

Great competitors believe they will win.

Not because of ego, but because that allows them to focus in every practice on what they need to do instead of spending wasted energy being anxious or worried about the future. Mindful running is a beautiful tool to help keep you in the moment, whether that means taking your easy runs easy enough or pushing through that last interval.

“Great competitors use the competition to help them perform at their best”…

[bctt tweet=”The person in front of you is simply showing you what is possible. #mindset tips” username=”runtothefinish”]

Lose the Ego.

“Most people want to win so they can feel better about themselves.”

A small minority are able to race with a different attitude:

“They are not interested in beating you because their desire to win has absolutely nothing to do with you. It is simply their own desire to find out what they can be and do. They either learned something about themselves and their ability or they did not.”

YESSSSS. I talk a lot about ego because it’s what causes so many runners to push too hard on easy days, leading to burn out, over training and injuries.

Thinking like elite runners means being focused on your goals, how you’re feeling on any given day and knowing when it’s your time to push and when it’s your time to pull back.

Stop Setting B and C Goals.

OUCH this one hurts at first, I mean it goes against everything we’ve been taught…but I really love his logic. Once you say to yourself “I’ll be happy if I just do B” then your body and mind no longer have the need to push for A come race day.

I bet this is one of the lessons from Olympians that would benefit all of us! They don’t go in thinking, well if I get 4th that’s cool. They have their eyes on gold and can celebrate whatever happens if they do their best.

Additional Motivational Books:

We often think high performers have something special we don’t and while they do often have a beautiful natural physical talent, much of their success comes from mindset. Let’s all keep finding more ways to think like an elite runner to enjoy our best races yet.