What coaches and runners need to know.

ndurance athletes spend an extraordinary amount of time and energy preparing Fe competition. While most spectators assume that physical preparation is the only way to train, elite endurance athletes understand that mental training and preparation are equally important for success in the competitive arena. Any lack of mental or physical training will certainly lead an endurance athlete to subpar performances. Some athletes and researchers will attest that the mental aspect of training is crucial to perform at optimal levels. Imagery, positive selftalk, and optimistic thinking are a few of the effective preparation strategies that athletes can utilize to aid in mental preparation. As a coach or an athlete, it is essential to understand the various types of mental strategies. It is also important to realize that individual athletes may respond differently to each of the strategies. This article will review mental-preparation methods of imagery, self-talk, and optimistic thinking that coaches and distance runners may find useful.

Trotting alongside garbage trucks before the morning sunrise, slipping on a worn-out pair of sneakers, and darting out into the freezing sleet or dashing along through the center of a thunderstorm are just a few of the qualities that persuade nonrunners to label endurance runners with one simple word: crazy. Runners are certainly a determined and—to some—an odd group. Not many factors stop determined distance runners from logging their daily miles. For example, as of July 30, 2006, Mark Covert of Lancaster, California, had not missed a single day of running since July 23, 1968 (Hage 2006). Some runners run solely for health benefits, although many run for competitive reasons. Numerous training plans are available for runners of all levels to follow. You can follow the most physically challenging training plan to get your body ready to race well; however, the physical aspects are only half the battle in achieving success.

Many runners have either personally experienced or know someone who was physically prepared to run well but did not race to par. You can be in the best shape of your life, but if you lack the mental preparation, you may not perform to your full capability. Unfortunately, poor performance occurs all too often in competitive sport. Some runners train every day to become physically ready for a race but fail to properly mentally prepare. As a runner or coach, it is extremely frustrating to know that you or your athlete is as physically ready as possible for competition but performance outcome is adversely affected due to the lack of mental preparation.

Mental preparation is a crucial ingredient for success in competitive distance running. As previously mentioned, some runners have let some type of mental aspect hinder performance at one time or another. “Let” is the key word, because your mind can be trained to enhance performance. What if you let nerves get the best of you from the start or you lose focus midway through the race? Do you chalk it up as a bad day and try to forget about it? If you found that you were not physically prepared for a race, you would try to find the problem in your training and correct it for the next race.

Mental preparation has many similarities to physical preparation. Equal amounts of time and energy need to be devoted to both aspects of training in an endurance athlete. Just as it is important to stretch and run every day while training for a race, it is equally important to spend time visualizing yourself running a successful race. The goals of this article are to provide runners and coaches with a keen awareness of the mental aspect of running and to provide strategies to help mentally prepare endurance athletes for optimal performance.

Importance of mental preparation

Countless research studies have validated the effectiveness of positive mental training and thinking. Instead of not doing anything about negative thoughts, it has been shown that focusing on specific, positive thoughts or cue words to combat negative thinking is more beneficial for performance than doing nothing at all (Dugdale and Eklund 2002). How many times have coaches told athletes to “just relax” or “forget about it”? Mental training and preparation is an important element for distance runners to spend some time on. Mental-preparation skills such as self-talk, imagery, and optimistic thinking are important methods that distance runners and coaches can use to enhance race performance. Knowing that mental skills are effective, it is imperative to understand how to use them.

Why do athletes need to consider using mental training to think positively? Barr and Hall (1992) studied endurance rowers and found that elite rowers used

mental-preparation skills more often than novice rowers did. In addition, elite rowers were found to have used more structure with mental preparation than novice rowers did. Elite rowers used imagery more often than novice rowers did and used it positively compared with the novice rowers. Novice rowers reported using imagery to see themselves rowing poorly. However, the fact that elite rowers use mental-preparation skills does not mean that everyone should, but mentaltraining skills could be the answer to finding the edge in endurance performance.

Importance of self-talk

Barr and Hall’s (1992) research is similar to a study by Harvey, Van Raalte, and Brewer (2002) of tennis players that validates the importance of using mental training. This study researched the effects of mental skills, specifically positive self-talk, on golfers’ performances. Three groups of golfers used either positive self-talk, negative self-talk, or no self-talk when golfing. Comparatively, the study found that the group that used negative self-talk performed worse while golfing than did the groups that used no self-talk or positive self-talk, but when too much positive self-talk was used, performance also diminished. This research is important to athletes and coaches because it proves that thinking negatively can hinder performance, but too much positive self-talk can be detrimental to performance as well. There appears to be a fine line as to how much mental preparation is optimal. Athletes need to experiment using different levels of self-talk to find what suits them best. Just as over- or undertraining physically can be detrimental, so too can mental training.

Along the same lines, Malouff et al. (2008) researched the effects of tennis players’ serving accuracy with various types of mental preparation. Tennis players were split into two groups using self-talk and positive imagery and a control group. Before each serve, players in the self-talk group were to state some type of self-instruction to themselves. Members of the self-talk group had a list of self-instructions to use as a guide if they chose. Before each serve, players in the imagery group were to visualize the whole serve, imagining how the ball would move, how they would feel, and what the outcome would be. Players in the control group were to serve as they normally would and were not given any instructions on mental preparation. The participants were also given a survey at the end to see how frequently they used the mental skills. The results concluded that both the imagery and self-talk groups achieved equally greater accuracy than the group that didn’t use any mental preparation. Research by Malouff et al. (2008) demonstrates that positive mental preparation prior to competition can lead to stronger performances.

Knowing how to react when self-talk becomes negative is important. Picture yourself on the starting line of an important race that you have spent many months

training for, whether it is the Olympic Trials or a local Thanksgiving Day race. You may have a goal for a certain time or place in your mind, and you may become anxious as race day approaches. While warming up prior to the race, you may notice a competitor you did not expect to be there or the weather may take a drastic change. What kind of self-talk will you have? Is it still positive, or are you beginning to let the negative thoughts take over? / didn’t realize they were running today. I have never beat that runner before; I guess I’ll shoot for second place, or, There is no way I canrun my personal best today in this wind. According to research by Van Raalte et al. (1994) and Wrisberg and Anshel (1997), negative thinking and self-talk can be detrimental to an athlete’s performance. Wrisberg and Anshel’s research looked at the effects of performance reinforcements on the outcome of field-hockey penalty shots by splitting the athletes into groups using positively worded reinforcements, negatively worded reinforcements, and a control group. One example of negative reinforcement for distance runners could be, “Don’t false start.” An example of a positive reinforcement could be, “Watch for the smoke of the gun.” Negative reinforcement is telling yourself or your athlete not to do something, while positive reinforcement is instructional but in a positive light.

Van Raalte et al. (1994) studied tennis players during competition and found that tennis players who were winning both used positive self-talk and believed in positive self-talk. Similarly, Hardy, Jones, and Gould (as cited in Hamilton, Scott, and MacDougall 2007) looked at why positive self-talk was beneficial to athletes. They found that the performance of athletes who used positive self-talk improved because it brought on a higher level of confidence and helped control anxiety levels.

Importance of optimistic thinking

Why is it that some runners can perform successfully in practice situations but not during the intense competition period? Bird and Horn (1990) studied the relationship between anxiety and mental errors in high school softball players during competition. It was found that most mental errors occurred when the athletes had a higher level of anxiety, which was generally found during competition. As Bird and Horn’s research has shown, your mind can play a role in how you perform. By mentally preparing and training, athletes can further improve their performances by decreasing anxiety levels before competition.

Some athletes who mentally struggle during intense situations are labeled as panicking or choking. Some athletes are flawless during training, but when the stakes are high, they mentally fall apart. There is a difference between choking and panicking. Choking is when athletes think too much, not letting their bodies do what they are programmed to do. Panicking is when the mind is overwhelmed

and athletes don’t think about what they are doing (Gladwell 2000). Runners may panic early in the race when anxiety and emotions are high. They may simply not focus on what they are doing because they feel that too much is going on. Panicking can result in starting out a race too quickly. These runners are not focusing on pace or the later part of the race, but instead they rely on instinct and go out too fast with the rest of the crowd. Panicking can be a tricky issue with some distance runners because starting off too quickly in a race can hinder performance in the later part of the race (such as by causing lactic-acid buildup).

According to Gladwell, choking occurs when athletes think too much about performance. Runners who constantly worry about racing successfully may fall into this category. Instead of letting your body perform to its level of capability, your mind gets in the way by thinking too much.

Mental preparation is important for many athletes as found with tennis players (Malouff et al. 2008; Van Raalte et al. 1994), golfers (Harvey, Van Raalte, and Brewer 2002), field hockey players (Wrisberg and Anshel 1997), and rowers (Barr and Hall 1992). Positive thinking is an important way to keep anxiety, panicking, and choking to a minimum. Knowing the importance of mental preparation, it is imperative for distance runners and coaches to experiment and build upon mentaltraining strategies like imagery, self-talk, and optimistic thinking.

Mental training strategies for runners

Mental and physical preparation is essential in order to reach optimal levels of performance. Just as in physical training, everyone is different. Some runners respond best with training 100 miles per week at a comfortable pace, while others will benefit more from shorter and faster-paced running. The same concept is true with mental training. It is important for both coaches and runners to find what works best.

Self-talk strategies

Too often, runners will think about the wrong things and set themselves up for a mental letdown. As mentioned earlier, sometimes runners worry about elements they cannot control such as weather, competition, terrain of the course, time of the race, who will be watching, a possible recurring injury, or past race results. Worrying and thinking about events that are out of your control will only cause a high level of anxiety and will certainly undermine your performance. Convey (as cited in Vealey 2005) discusses how we have two ways to focus our thoughts: on things we are concerned about and have no control over, or on things we can influence. Instead of focusing on things you cannot control, think about things you can influence, like hitting your mile splits. Worrying about elements that you cannot control will certainly lead to a high level of anxiety and stress as opposed

to thinking positively about things you know you can control. Of course, this is all easier said than done, but some elements that distance runners can control are hitting your goal time, running the first mile of the race feeling relaxed, or making a surge at mile two of the race. It may be helpful for runners to come up with goals before competing.

Similar to Convey, Vealey believes there are two different goals that athletes can use: outcome goals and process goals. An athlete who uses outcome goals will have a goal that is uncontrollable. Winning the race would be an outcome goal because you cannot control how others run. Process goals are thoughts you can control. Just as Convey believes, it is important to focus thoughts and goals on controllable situations. When you find yourself thinking about things outside of your control, such as the competition or weather, try switching your focus onto something more productive.

Along the same lines as thinking productively, Hatzigeorgiadis and Biddle (2008) found that athletes who thought of precompetition anxiety symptoms as beneficial reported less negative self-talk during competition. As mentioned earlier (Harvey, Van Raalte, and Brewer 2002; Van Raalte et al. 1994; Wrisberg and Anshel 1997), negative self-talk can be detrimental to performance. Having anxiety before a race or competition is normal for many runners, and if anxiety is thought of as normal or helpful, the chance of creating more negative self-talk during competition may be lower. Most runners will become nervous and have some feelings of anxiety while warming up or standing on the starting line prior to a race. Instead of thinking of this as a bad thing, turn it into a positive. For example, if you find yourself feeling nervous before a race, instead of worrying about what you cannot control, tell yourself that in order to run well, nerves and adrenaline are essential to a successful performance. After all, most people probably tun faster in a race setting than by going to an empty track with nobody around.

It may sound all too simple, but just being optimistic about distance racing can lead to better performances. Seligman (as citied in Vealey 2005) researched college swimmers and National Basketball Association teams and found that optimistic teams and athletes performed better than pessimistic-thinking teams did. Again, easier said than done, but having a positive outlook can lead to better outcomes than having a negative attitude. If you continue telling yourself that there is no way you can beat a certain competitor in a race, chances are that you’ve lost the battle already. Henry Ford put it best, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right,” (Fisher and Allen 1998). When you think of elite athletes and their outlook on competition, you will find that most carry optimistic attitudes. Usain Bolt, the world record holder of the 100- and 200-meter dashes, appears to be an optimist. Bolt has a confident vibe about him when he is on the track prior to a performance. Being optimistic is a relatively simple way to improve your mental thinking.

Thinking positively is important, but it is also vital to know what kind of positive thoughts are most beneficial. As previously discussed, a majority of people perform better with positive self-talk. Hamilton, Scott, and MacDougall (2007) studied the effects of self-talk with endurance bicyclists. They found that a majority of riders performed best with either assisted or self-regulated positive self-talk. However, they unexpectedly found that a few bicyclists performed better when negative self-talk was used. Everyone is different, and some people function a bit differently than others. If everyone thought in exactly the same way, mental preparation would be a simple task that could be easily mastered. Humans are not factory made and are not all assembled the same way. The same is true with mental preparation: most athletes will benefit from positive self-talk, but a few rare athletes perform better when using negative self-talk. As a runner or coach, it is important to figure out what works best for you or your athletes and provide individual mental training from this foundation. As mentioned earlier (Harvey, Van Raalte, and Brewer 2002), too much self-talk can be detrimental to performance as well. As with many aspects of life, balance is the key to success. It is apparent that self-talk is helpful for many runners, but as a coach or runner, it is imperative to experiment and to find what method of self-talk is most helpful for each individual. A good way for runners and coaches to find what type of self-talk works best would be to experiment during practice. When running a tough workout, runners can try using negative and positive self-talk. Coaches can assist distance runners by giving them encouraging or negative advice.

Runners experience many types of self-talk on nearly every run. Self-talk is what forms the inner voice inside your head. If you are becoming physically tired during your run, your inner voice may be screaming at you to stop. If you are feeling good on your run, your inner voice may be giving you some

positive vibes, which will encourage you to continue. Different kinds of self-talk can be used, whether they are instructional or motivational. Self-talk can be a single word or phrase that you say to yourself over and over during competition to assist positive mental thinking (such as run strong or surge). Instructional self-talk can be beneficial because it keeps athletes’ minds on task by repeating what they want to do. For example, a runner may use instructional self-talk by focusing on splits. Motivational self-talk could be used by telling yourself how good you feel. Hatzigeorgiadis, Zourbanos, and Theodorakis (2007) found that instructional self-talk improves performance on both fine and gross motor tasks. When you are midway through a long-distance race or find yourself running solo in a race, instead of “zoning out,” try to focus on the race by using positive selftalk to pull you through the race.

Imagery strategies

Imagery is another mental training tool that can improve performance. Imagery is something that any athlete can implement before competition. As the great coach John Wooden once said, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail” (Wooden and Jamison 1997). Runners spend countless hours physically preparing their bodies for competition, and imagery is a simple way to prepare your mind. Imagery is a controlled thought preparing your body and mind for something in the future like a race (Vealey 2005). Imagery is a way to get you thinking positively about your race and to prepare your mind for what is to come. The goal is for imagery to be structured and controlled, remembering to push negative thoughts away from your mind (Vealey 2005). Being as vivid as possible is important. For example, runners may imagine how they feel, how they will run, what the environment looks like, what the environment smells like, and what the environment sounds like. Some athletes prefer to picture themselves looking through their own eyes, while others imagine themselves from an external perspective as by watching movies of themselves (Vealey 2005). What works best will be apparent with experience for each individual.

Just as in physical training, mental training will improve with practice. You will have greater benefit by imagining your race a few days before the competition than by trying to cram it in minutes before the race. Imagery is similar to a dress rehearsal, walking you through everything that will happen during competition. The great thing about imagining is that it is completely mental, and you do not have to physically tax your body during this type of training. During your imagery session, it would also be a good idea to rehearse what type of self-talk you will be using. Imagery can be done in any quiet place where you are comfortable and relaxed. A good imagery session will walk you through your competitive race day and will be as specific and vivid as possible. Think about how you want to feel, what the starting line will look like, what clothes and shoes you will be wearing,

the people around you, the noise, the temperature, and the crowd. It is recommended that you go through the entire race, including what splits you will run. Through imagery, you can get your mind prepared for race day.

Choking and panicking strategies

As Gladwell (2000) discussed, panicking and choking are two very different things. As a runner or coach, it is important to know yourself or your athletes so you can effectively control thinking. When runners panic and rely on instinct, it is important to try to calm your anxiety to a lower level and to slow your thinking with positive self-talk. As Bird and Horn (1990) found, anxiety can lead to more errors and greatly hurt performance. As a coach, a good strategy is to train athletes by overloading them with distractions (Vealey 2005). Overloading athletes with distractions during practice may reduce anxiety on race day because it will make race day feel easy and relaxed in comparison. For example, run intervals on a muddy course, run a workout in any undesirable weather conditions, or do a workout after a few minutes of waiting around. Getting used to distractions may make for less anxiety on the day of competition when something unplanned occurs. While doing intervals or a workout, picture yourself in a race-type situation and use mental skills like self-talk as a practice. Athletes who find themselves panicking or choking should take a deep breath and think about why they are competing. A majority of runners compete simply because they enjoy it. Therefore, if you find yourself panicking, remember why you are out there. It does not need to be a stressful time.

Conclusion

As discussed, mental training and preparation play a crucial role in a distance runner’s performance. Mental-preparation skills such as imagery, optimism, and self-talk are just a few of the many nonphysical skills that athletes benefit from. As with anything in life, the more you practice something, the better you will become. It is important for athletes and coaches to practice and experiment with various methods of mental-thinking skills to find what is most beneficial. With a combination of great physical and mental training, distance runners can be prepared to race up to optimal performance.

References

Barr, K.A., and C. R. Hall. 1992. The use of imagery by rowers. International Journal of Sport Psychology 23(3):243-261.

Bird, A. M., and M. A. Horn. 1990. Cognitive anxiety and mental errors in sport. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology 12(3):217-222.