The Voice From Within. And Guess What?

I've written a lot about the mind of a runner lately and the mental, emotional, and reflective aspects of running.  I've posted about:
* The Mind of a Runner...What you think about when you run 
*  Creating Running Journals to inspire, motivate and reflect 
*  What you tell yourself to get yourself through the toughest of workouts and how we feel when we've pushed ourselves
* Why We Train and things that get us motivated, inspired and pumped up!

I believe that the mind is more powerful than we can even begin to comprehend.  As an athlete, I'm constantly working to stay mentally focused on my goals and dreams.  I'm doing what I can to believe in myself as a runner, visualize myself doing great things and having the right mental focus to push myself to new heights in my workouts and races.

Recently, as most of you know, I've started a running journal.  It is a place for me to record my goals, workouts, reflections, highs, lows, pictures that inspire and motivate me, photographs, racing stories, things I eat and how they affect my performance, etc.  It  has already become a powerful piece to my training and it serves a wonderful purpose for my personality and thinking style. I LOVE IT!

 During my workout today, the coolest thing happened and I wasn't aware of how awesome it was until I was finished with my run.  In the middle of my 5 miles I was trying to hold on to around a 7 or low 7 min mile pace for a couple of miles.  This pace, in addition to pushing myself for 2 min fartleks at around 6:18-6:30 pace, was definitely making me work.  On my last mile, I stuck with a 7:15-7:30 pace even though I was tired and just wanted to stop.  With about a quarter mile to go, I realized that my voice from within was repeating a power phrase over and over.  In fact, I might have been almost whispering it.  I was so focused on keeping my pace that I must have been repeating the phrase for awhile.  This was mantra for today:

"It's gotta get harder before it gets easier!"

I guess the coolest thing about this is that my inner runner voice was giving me just what I needed to hear!  When I finally heard myself, I felt strong and capable.  I believed in myself and knew that I was right.  In order for 7 min mile pace to feel like my base pace again, I need to spend more time running 7's and sub 7's for longer periods of time.  My workouts will get harder before this pace can seem easier!   I Believe!  Love the Power of a good Mantra!  This will be a great one to get me through my training!

I really think that these motivational collages I made from my Athleta catalog are serving a wonderful purpose too.

Last night at the gym, I was visualizing strength, focus, and determination to go along with strong arms to get me to muster up enough courage to do some pull ups.  I used to do pull ups all the time.  I had no reservations about getting up there with the men at the gym and doing 7 or 8 proper pull ups but since having kids, I've been kind of shy about the whole thing.  Besides the occasional attempt on the monkey bars at the park, I usually don't do them.  But I had my journal with me at the gym and I was jotting down my stats from my run and I saw these pictures.  I got myself up there and did 4 strong pull ups!  Hoping to get back to 7 or 8 and then 10 by the end of the summer!  

Oh, and Guess What?

Yes, that's right!  My BFF Jenny (in the picture with me above from Hood To Coast 2002) called me up and asked if my husband and I would want to be on a Hood To Coast Team with her and her husband and some of their family!  Uh, YES!  This is the first year since kids that I've wanted to do this race again.  My last time was in 2004 when I was just pregnant with my firstborn.  Since then, sleep has been WAY TOO PRECIOUS.  Even Hood To Coast didn't sound good if it meant giving up sleep.  I'm so excited for this year!

Happy Valentine's Weekend!  My husband and I get a date tomorrow night to go over to a friend's house and then we have a babysitter planned for Monday night!  

What are you doing this weekend or for Valentine's?  

Please share creative date ideas if you have any.  I'm wanting to plan something simple, inexpensive but special for my husband on Monday!  I would love some inspiration!


P.S:  As many of you know, I am very supportive of chiropractic care and how it can greatly help you as a runner.  I'm also a fan of supporting my friends and my friend Dr. Nicole Murphy is the owner of Whole Life Chiropractic.  If you are in the Kansas City area or even if you are not, please consider becoming a facebook fan of Whole Life Chiropractic or going for a visit if you live near.  Check it out:  Whole Life Chiropractic. Thank you!

Amanda

The Mind of a Runner

We are all at different places with our running.  Some of us are just beginners, while some of us have been running for a long time but never seriously trained for something. There are those of us who are back to training and working towards a goal that they have had in mind for some time and then there are those that just run because they like to run but are not training for anything in particular.   No matter where we are at, we have to find what works for us....the shoes and clothes we wear, fuel we use, what inspires us, and even what our mental focus is when we run.

 One of the things I've been thinking about recently is the mind of an athlete.  In particular, I've been reflecting on what goes on in my head when I am running, racing, and pushing myself to new levels.  I think I've always realized the importance of being mentally focused and having images and mantras to get me through tough workouts or races.  In high school and college I spent a lot of time visualizing before, during and after my races.  I would really try to see myself running strong, achieving my goals, and finishing the race that I was working towards.  I have memories of sitting in my room at home with my "in the zone" music in my walkman and meditating on my weekend race.  I could see myself winning, breaking the time barrier that I wanted to, having a strong stride, and trying to really feel what it would feel like to succeed. Did all this mental visualizing help?  Yes, I think so.  It helped me get my mind ready to believe that I could meet my goals and run strong.  I was never fully able to push past the mental blocks I had set for myself but I think I got better and better with this as I learned about myself and worked through other things in my life that held me back.

But running isn't always about training for something.  In fact, many of us just run because we love to run.  We don't always have a time goal or an event we are working towards.

I read a blog recently where someone was trying to get through one of their longest runs yet and they asked for advice on what they could be focusing on to help them get through it.  This made me think of all the different things we can focus on mentally while we are running.  Sometimes they are total "in the zone" thoughts and sometimes, as we all know, there are those runs that are just an escape and time for us to let our mind wander without all the intense "go get 'em! burn baby burn" thinking.

Here are just a few of the different ways I focus mentally during my different kinds of runs:


Having a Mantra or a Go To Phrase
There are those times when I'm running where I just need to dig deep and push myself.  Times where I don't think I can go on much longer or times where I've pushed myself so hard and I can feel myself hit a wall.  It is these times where it helps to say something to your self that helps to pull you through.  Some of my go-to phrases are:
*  You can do this!
*  You're better than this Amanda!
*  Fight!
*  You're strong, amazing, and powerful!

Focusing on Form/Stride
In my current training I'm really trying to make every single one of my runs a time for me to be mentally focused on my stride/form.  In my last blog, I mentioned that my training program gives me a new proprioceptive cue (mental images related to my form) to work on every week and eventually I will have worked on them all.  The purpose of focusing on these cues and working on each of them for an extended amount of time is so that I can train my brain to do them naturally.  I can already feel my form improving!  When I find myself getting lazy with my mental thoughts, I can feel my form start to change and I get my mind back in the zone and focus on the cue/cues that I have in my plans.  To read more about this, check out this article on Sensory Cues.  

A Time For Prayer
Let's face it.  Not every run is about having a time, form, or distance goal.  When I'm not training for something, running is just part of what makes life good.  Like a cup of coffee in the morning or a good laugh.  Running is a treat.  A time to escape and feed my soul!  Many of my runs serve as a spiritual time for me.  They end up being a time where I feel God and connect with myself on a spiritual level.  I find that I've had some of the most deep and reflective prayers during my runs and I always come back after these runs feeling fully alive!

Letting Off Some Steam and Reflecting on Life
Today was one of those runs that I just had a lot on my mind.  I was red hot mad.  Angry.  Feeling frustrated and needing a major processing of my feeling and thoughts.  Perfect time for my 11 mile run.  No music, no phone...just me and my mind.  I tried focusing on my stride and form but I just had too much steam to let off so I ended up mulling over everything for the entire run.  Great outlet for me to think!  I usually come to some sort of Ah-Ha moment and return home calm and grounded.

Getting Unstuck or Inspired
I've had so many times where I've been working on a piece of writing, a lesson plan, letter to a friend or some kind of project and I find myself stuck.  No matter how hard I think and try to change things up, I'm just at a creative block.  During times like these, it usually helps to go on a "getting unstuck" run.  Usually my runs during these times help my ideas to start flowing and my block to be unblocked.  In fact, sometimes the ideas and energy starts flowing so fast that I've been known to stop random strangers to ask for paper and pen in the middle of my runs so that I can write my ideas down.

What do you mentally focus on when you are running?  Speed workouts, races, long runs, easy runs? 


Do you always have a goal (time, distance, focus) in mind when you are running?  


Do you have a "Go To" phrase or mantra that gets you through the toughest moments in a workout, race, or training run?  


Amanda