What is Mental Skills Training For Runners?

and why is it so important?

I’ve been writing about the psychology of running since before RunVerity (my running club) started nearly ten years ago, often sharing hacks from The Chimp Paradox, which is what inspired me to make our mascot a chimp.

So that is nearly ten years of trying to persuade my clients to run “naked” (without their watch!) and encouraging them to stop comparing themselves to others. I’ve shared research and stories on how you absolutely CAN teach an old dog new tricks, and tried to convince anyone and everyone that age is not a limiter, and that our brain is a muscle that can be strengthened just like any other muscle.

But sometimes it all seems a bit hard, more things to think about and change, and hey, there is no getting around it that changing behaviour is hard; we all know that.

So here is my question for you today- how much time and effort do you put into the physical side of your running? Because of course you are determined to improve, to get faster, stronger, fitter.

If you’re anything like my RunVerity members, I know you’ll be increasing your mileage, running 3 or 4 times a week, gritting your teeth through discomfort as you head out of the door in the freezing temperatures/pouring rain (even in July!) to run lap after lap around a concrete car park.

I look at my member’s Strava data and notice their splits, I see their running photos and know how difficult it is to set the alarm for 6am at the weekend, especially when the rest of the family are sound asleep and all you want to do is have a morning pottering around in your dressing gown. The struggle to get dressed is real, putting cold, not so flexible lycra on (in winter, I always put mine on the radiator to warm it up) all the while knowing there’s a high probability that you’ll be wet again very soon.

Nevertheless, I imagine you get out there because you know that your weekend long run is an integral part of your training, another essential session to build your slow twitch muscles, to build a strong aerobic endurance engine to further improve your efficient running economy. And besides all this you sacrificed a delicious take away that the rest of the family ate with gusto, opting, sanctimoniously, for a carb filled Shepherd’s Pie instead; that sacrifice must be worth something.

Without exception, this takes time and effort, and should be applauded.

Yet how much time and effort do you dedicate to strengthen your mind, your thought processes, or your mental game? What even is your mental game?

Mental skills, mental fitness, mental game, wtf does it all mean? I just put my trainers on and run! What we’re talking about is “the application of psychological theory and methods to the understanding and enhancement of athletic performance”

Think about it, have you ever experienced things like race anxiety before the start of a race, or a sudden but debilitating lack of confidence in your ability mid race, choking (metaphorically, not actually choking) under a perceived pressure that impacts your run and your legs suddenly stop working? Or maybe subconsciously self-sabotaging runs, for example avoiding training sessions/hard sessions, wearing the wrong kit, drinking the night before, eating McDonalds for breakfast, not eating breakfast at all Anything that prevents you from doing your best, because what if you did your best but it wasn’t good enough? If you’ve thought or experienced any of these things, then maybe it might be time to start thinking more about your thinking.

All our thoughts lead to emotions which lead to feelings which lead to behaviour. If any thoughts/actions have prevented you from getting out of the front door or entering an event that you’d really like to do, then you really have experienced first-hand how powerful our minds can be.

If you don’t work on the mental skills side of training then quite quickly this can become a barrier to harnessing all of the physical training that you have so diligently trained for. Often, if your mind is tied up with negative or unproductive thoughts, it becomes difficult for your body to perform in the way you have worked so hard for; so, doesn’t it make sense to spend an equal amount of time preparing the mental skills side of running as well.

Our brain is locked away in a completely silent and dark chamber, we can’t see it, we can’t feel it, yet we know it’s there, it’s responsible for thousands of thoughts, actions, and subsequent behaviours thousands of times a day. The only way the brain can get any information about what’s going on in the outside world or within our body is through our senses, touch, vision, hearing, smell, taste, pain etc.

And somehow, our brain must try and make sense out of all that information, and it’s main, primitive job, is to keep us safe, so if our realities have been shaped by past experiences, we look for that stuff that fits in with these thoughts, for example “I’m not a runner because I had to walk in that last 10km race” “I’m not sporty because the PE teacher said I had thighs that would stop goals!”. You get the idea.

With advancements in technology we now understand that all these thoughts/beliefs are physiological, so just like you can impact your physiology through physical training, your thoughts and beliefs are also adaptable, and more importantly, they don’t have to hold you back.

However, you need to find some mental skills training that works for you, this again might take time, but it’s worth the investment. Just like going to a hard training session, it’s difficult at first but with practice, doing it gets less painful.

This is a favourite of mine! ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts) are negative thoughts that cause your brain to immediately release chemicals that affect every cell in your body, which in turn can make you feel bad, you know that feeling in the pit of your stomach that you just can’t shake?

But luckily, the opposite is also true- positive, happy, hopeful thoughts release chemicals that make you feel good. Yay! But it’s not that easy, replacing negative thoughts with positive ones is just SO hard.

What we need to think about is that thoughts lie and they lie a lot, and they can steal your happiness; if you do not question or correct your erroneous thoughts, you believe them, and you act as if they are 100% true. “I’m not a runner…..I’m not going to run….”

How to be an ANT EATER

1.  Start by writing down 100 of your automatic negative thoughts (ANTs). The act of writing down the ANTs helps to get the invaders out of your head, most people stop when they reach 30 ANTs!

2.  Identify the ANT species. There are 9 types of ANTs and I’ve written down some examples in relation to running….

• All-or-Nothing ANTs: Thinking that things are either all good or all bad –

For example - That training run or race was awful, that’s going in the f**k it bucket, I didn’t learn ANYTHING from that run.

• Less-Than ANTs: Comparing and seeing yourself as less than others –

For example - I’m not as fast as………I’m not as thin as……I’m not as strong as……. I can’t run as far as…….

• Just-the-Bad ANTs: Seeing only the bad in a situation –

For example - that marshal said something offensive that ruined my race……I was holding everyone up……. I was at the back……

• Guilt-Beating ANTs: Thinking in words like should, must, ought, or have to –

For example - I have to get a pb…. I must beat last years’ time…. I should be faster/thinner by now……. I have to beat……. I ought to be thinner.

• Labelling ANTs: Attaching a negative label to yourself or someone else

For example – I’m not a runner………. I’m not a very good runner………I’m slow……. I’m holding everyone up………they’re not going to achieve………

• Fortune-Telling ANTs: Predicting the worst possible outcome for a situation with little or no evidence for it.

For example – there’s no point me entering this race as I won’t be as fast as last year……..I’m not going to enter this race as I won’t get a pb……….I won’t go to interval training as I’ll be last……….I won’t go to a group session as I’ll hold anyone up…..I won’t go to a group session because I’ll be left behind

• Mind-Reading ANTs: Believing you know what other people are thinking even though they haven’t told you –

For example - They don’t think I’m a runner because I don’t enter races………They think I’m too old for strength training………. That group don’t like me because they stopped talking when they saw me…………They think I’ve put on weight…………. They don’t think I belong at a race….

• If-Only and I’ll-Be-Happy-When ANTs: Arguing with the past and longing for the future

For example – If I was thinner, I would be able to run faster…. I’ll enter that race when I’m faster….…. I’ll enter that race when I’m the same pace as I was last year……...If only I was fitter, I could go to group…. If only I was fitter, I could join the beginner’s course…. If only I could run 5km I could go to return to running….

• Blaming ANTs: Blaming someone else for your problems –

For example - I was told I wasn’t sporty by a PE teacher so I’m not going to try…. I wasn’t encouraged by my teachers to do well……If “they” hadn’t said I looked like a Russian Shot Putter I would be a faster runner by now….

3.  Ask yourself if the thought is true. Are you 100% sure it’s true?

4.  Ask yourself how you feel when you have the thought. Then ask how you would feel without the thought.

5.  Make ANT-killing a daily habit. Killing the ANTs takes practice, just like training for a race; you can’t just do it once and think you’ve mastered your thinking patterns, make it a daily practice, you will feel freer, less anxious about your running and less trapped in the past.