The Mental Edge: Training the Mind

Mental conditioning is the most undervalued performance enhancer in running. Elite athletes, including Olympic medallist Keely Hodgkinson, have attributed as much as 90% of their success to their mental state. If the best in the world prioritise the mind, we should too.

I highly recommend The Confident Mind by Dr Nate Zinsser. It provides the scientific blueprint for building "mental toughness". Here are the core pillars I integrate into my coaching:

• Ambitious Goal Setting: Your goals should be "scary". Set a target that demands growth, then dedicate yourself to believing it is possible.

• Positive Reflection: Focus on what went right. At the end of every session, identify the rep where your form was perfect or the moment you hit your target heart rate. Reflecting on past successes builds a "bank" of confidence for future races.

• The Confidence Board: I encourage all my athletes to create a single A4 "Confidence Board"—a visual summary of your goals, past achievements, and key mantras to look at daily. See mine for an example

• The Expectation Effect: Based on the research of Dr Alia Crum, we know the brain-body connection is literal. If you believe your training (or even your daily walking) is significantly improving your fitness, your body responds more effectively. This is why researching and truly believing in your methodology—whether it is low-carb fuelling or slow-speed base building—is a performance enhancer in itself.

Affirmations for the Confident Runner

Affirmations are "I am" statements designed to rewire your internal monologue. Read these, record them, or repeat them during your runs:

• I am fit, I am fast, I am strong.

• I am recovered and I feel capable. I run well in all conditions.

• I am the healthiest and most consistent version of myself.

• I focus on the controllables and let go of what I cannot change.

• I am a sub-[Insert Time] runner. I pace myself perfectly for optimal results.

• I am unstoppable. I choose to imagine greatness.

Visualisation -

See the confident mind for more details but the basic goal is to create a script for you to listen to or read out loud and follow that details you meeting your next goal. You should use as much detail and as many senses as possible, think about the smells, the sights, the clothes you are wearing, your thought patterns, how your muscles are feeling etc. For example here is a loose script based off the winter route at my local parkrun. 

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"I arrive at the event in good time and take note of the conditions and people around me. I feel confident, recovered and have belief that my training and nutrition will power me through the event. I have taken my supplements to propel towards my goals.

I perform my strides and warm up drills, noticing how my legs and arms feel, strong and powerful. My Shoes feel comfortable and springy and my shorts and vest feel light and airy. I feel confident of running my best today and grabbing the opportunity to crush my goals. 

I arrive back at the start line and move to the front of the field. I am a fast and confident runner who deserves to be at the front and know in my bones it is going to work out today. I undertake my CBA routine. I prepare my convictions with a powerful statement “it is my time to shine, I have done the work, today is my day”. I take some deep powerful breaths, feeling my lungs expand and my anxiety melt away, any nerves are reframed as excitement for what is to come. I become focused on the event I am about to take part in, knowing that I am going to give it my all and enjoy myself. 

With the start time approaching I move towards the start line, smile as today is a good day, I am going to fly. 

As the RD says go my watch is ticking and I get up to speed quickly and settle into my rhythm. I am confident in my training and racing abilities and do not let others' performances deter me from my race. My breathing becomes deep and the breeze starts to cool my skin, everything is feeling great, I am near the front of the event and smile because of how great I feel. As we approach the first turn onto the underpass I know I have paced myself well and am up to speed, those around me that have gone off too fast will drop back and I will prosper. I gain speed going down the ramp which I use to propel myself up the other side and over the bridge, giving a thumbs up to the marshal. 

I pass through the 1km point onto the long back straight, I make the most of the conditions and settle into my groove, making progress compared to other runners. I can feel my legs are still feeling strong despite seemingly running at a good pace, my shoes are helping to move me forwards and I am happy with how things are going. I get to the overpass marshal in a flash feeling the strongest I ever have, giving them a thumbs up. I am thrilled with how the event is going and use some of my affirmations to reinforce the feeling. “I am fit, I am fast, I am strong, I am light, I am recovered and I feel awesome”, “I am a fast 5k runner, I run a sub 17 parkrun, I am thriving here and now”. 

Round the corner and over the bridge and my stride and gait are holding nicely, onto the rocky path and I maintain my pace whilst watching my footing, as I cross the bridge I marvel at how quickly I have reached the turn around marshal and how they are standing in the perfect spot. I power out of the blocks after the turning point and feel light and easy as I quickly get back up to speed and can see the runners coming in the other direction. 

Passing back through the landmarks I comment to myself how I feel just as good on the way back as I did on the way out, I get a boost from every “well done Gary” that comes from the other runners as they see how well I am doing. As I go from strength to strength, my legs burning a little and my lungs starting to ache I put my belief in my training to good use and push on towards my goal. The path opens up along the back straight as the bulk of the runners have gone through and I can see the way ahead, focusing on the distance I continue to perform remarkably well and push myself forwards. “I am fit, I am fast, I am strong and I have self belief” 

I drive over the bridge, through the underpass and onto the final straight. My legs feel good and I know I am running well, I push through any discomfort as I strain for the line. I kick going past the final bench and bolt through the finishing funnel and try to catch my breath. 

I have just had the run of my life, I feel elated and exhausted and in disbelief of my time, I have run sub xx and I am a sub xx runner. I smile as I head home to share the news with everyone and anyone who will listen."

The Expectation Effect

For this see the Ted Talk by Alicia Crum. In a nutshell it shows the true link between the brain and the body. In a series of experiments in the talk she showed that believing that a food was filling actually made it more filling and that cleaners who were taught that cleaning is good exercise became fitter. From this we can learn many things, not just that walking is good exercise that can contribute to running performance, but also that researching into and thus believing in something can enhance the impact. 

For example take caffeine, if you believe that caffeine gives you a massive performance boost and you take it just before an event how much more of an impact will it have than if you don’t have any expectations? What about running slow? Believe that running slow can help you run fast and might you see fast improvements? As much as I have strong beliefs in the area of nutrition, how much of the benefits I see are because I am expecting to see them due to the extensive research I have done?