Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Mental Game

As I am in somewhat recovery mode from the race this past weekend it was my plan to do an easy 6 mile run today. Needless to say, I just was not feeling up to it. Physically I was fine, mentally it was another story. For whatever reason, I just did not want to run. In my mind skipping a run was really not my best option so, I mentally scolded myself for my lack of enthusiam and started the run (shut up and run!).

It appeared rather quickly that getting started was just half the battle, the entire 6 miles I had to fight the urge to stop and walk, or slow down or just quit (good thing it was an out and back run). It is a problem I don't face often on short distance daily runs, but am famliar with around mile 18 and on during a marathon or long run. For me, it is almost harder to deal with the mental challenges of wanting to stop vs. the physical pain. I have tried many techniques, music, working out problems in my head, calculating over and over again my pace and finish time, it sometimes seems that it just does not work.

Help, I need some ideas and I guess some more discipline so as I can avoid these types of struggles in future races. I would like to start some, "mental training" to go along with my physical training ASAP!

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