Controlling Your State of Mind

Hi,

I curious if some of you had the same experience as I had. On the days I ran my PRs (quite of few lately) I noticed I had a certain state of mind. Running was easy and pain that was normally enough to make you scream didn't matter.

Of course, I wanted more of these days, so I experimented with some techniques.

The first thing I wanted was supple muscles. Running with stiff or sore muscles is like dragging your legs along; it isn't very comfortable. I found out that using ice to 'cool' your stiff muscles after each training session helps a lot. Of course, I always do stretched right after each running session. And no long runs before an important race, at least not 1 or 2 days before this race. Long runs tend to stiffen your muscles, so I do only moderately fast interval training.

The second thing I wanted was a clear mind. When I thought about it, some oriental master use breathing techniques to focus their thoughts. So, I tried it, and it seemed to work! Just take a couple of slow deep breaths minutes before your race, and you control those adrenaline induced thoughts. The only thing you'll have to do is think about the race (visualize it): how you're going to run it.

I'm curious, do any of you do any special preparation before an important race, or do you just start to run?

Rene van Belzen hurray [at] xs4all [dot] nl

I tend to agree. I run best when I don't try so hard (it's true of almost everything I do). I don't focus on the pain and it seems to go away. If you feel too much pain, maybe it's because you *are* pushing too hard and you ended up paying for it with a slower time than you hope for. Just a thought...

True. However, I find it difficult to collect my thoughts when surrounded by hundreds of runners plus the spectators. Usually I reach this state of mind later in the race, a bit late for that focus to be useful. It's a matter of experience, I suppose.

Rene,

Whenever I'm feeling sore or fatigued during a race, I'll close my eyes (if the mass has thinned out a bit) and run probably 100m. It allows me to collect my thoughts, focus out the pain, and re-visualize my goal. The only downside to it is that most of the other runners are very unappreciative of it.