Have you ever experienced a moment when during a great pace in a run all of the sudden your mind would starts to fill your head with doubts and tempt your body to just quit?
Being mentally tough plays a big role in Running, it can affect your time, pace and overall experience. Overcoming doubts and mind obstacles are common experiences that runners face during training or race. I have fallen victim to giving up to my doubts numerous of times and it is usually what I fear of when registering for runs, thus proving to myself that I not only need to be prepared physically but also mentally.
Here are some of the moments that my mind has betrayed me while running:
1. “The Regret”
One of the very first wall that hits me every single time! My mind would ask me why would I even be running, and pictures of what I could be doing if I decided to stay in would pop up prompting me to quit.
2. “Go with the rest”
This is when the mind decides to play tricks on me. As in every Run there will definitely be other runners whom would be walking at some point of the leg of the race (there’s nothing bad about it, and it’s their pace..I respect that) and my mind would use them as a temtpation for me to walk too, which ends up ruining my pace for the rest of the race.
3.”The Temptation”
After surviving the first leg of the Run, and thinking that I would be smooth sailing from there on, here comes my mind with another deception! Seeing that signs that indicates that there’s only 5miles to go, my mind would prompt me to pick up the pace(thinking that 5 miles is not that far..not!) of which again would ruin my pace and technically finishing the last tank of gas left in me after a mile or so.
4.”The Low blow”
This is the part when my mind would come up with different kind of things to distract my pace, one of which would the popping question of “Do we need to stop for a number 1?” even though I dont need to go to the bathroom, but since the question was asked my body would then require me to go find a bathroom immediately! (I guess that’s why some pro racers really does a number 1 while on the go!)
There are alot of things that goes through the mind when running and thus can become a kryptonite to anybody. That is why I believe that training the mind to have a focused mentality is a dire need! Don’t just run..Run Smart!
