Search Results for: confidence

A Runner’s Starting Line Confidence

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Sometimes a runner’s already won the race before the gun’s even goes off. Questions. Doubts. Insecurities. None of these belong at the starting line; starting line of a race or a workout. A runner needs confidence. NEEDS it… no amount of physical endurance, speed, or fitness can make up for it. How one steps to the line is what separates the GAMERS from the runners who perform at about the level they do in workouts, and then harriers who self-implode. Confidence is a tricky one, it’s a mental factor of running and training. Once shaken, a runner’s confidence can be quite difficult to fully restore. Injuries, off days, strings of bad races, all of these plant seeds of doubt. Doubt is like a monster that, once you feed it, it grows exponentially in size. It’s a voracious monster that will eat a runner whole. Step to the starting line enveloped in that ugly monster and you might as well not even wait for the gun to crack. You’re already a dead runner ‘running’. By the time you step to the starting line, there is NOTHING you can change about the past. Stop any questions of, “Should I have done…?”, “Did I do enough…?”, etc. You can’t do it, so no use worrying about it. Don’t let that scare you off, if you’ve got some doubts, that’s only natural. And if you’re currently fighting from falling into the pit with that ugly doubting monster, THERE IS still hope for you yet. It works two ways. You CAN restore your confidence. You CAN still step to the line a gamer. It just takes some work and shifting your thinking. Usually doubts start from one of two places: 1) An Event: Events would be after injuries, poor performances, etc…it starts with a legitimate Continue Reading →

Underestimate Me: Confidence is malleable, believe in yourself through it all

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Running as an underdog rocks. Being an unknown is easy, and it’s just as fun to shock people. But shock wears off and then expectations can start to build. The thing is, EVERYONE has failures, set-backs, off-days and that’s when the critics start. The underestimating. Dealing with nay-sayers comes in running and it comes in life. The thing is, you can USE those crappy words to your advantage. Let them underestimate you, let them think you’re not capable. Flip all that crap into motivation to prove them wrong. The times you get into trouble are when you start to doubt YOURSELF. Everyone have doubts, those moments of weakness, but the key to keeping those moments fleeting is by looking within yourself and believing. Believe in your abilities and your goals. Much easier said than done, certainly…kind of like saying running is just putting one foot in front of the other and then go really fast. The mind is quite tricky, it can fool you into believing you can’t. But you can also fool IT…it’s all in how you think of it. Confidence comes in waves and it’s malleable; to get to the point of BELIEVING in yourself you sometimes just need to fake it ’til you make it. Everyone has doubts, the people who achieve their goals do two things: 1) They set goals with passion. It has to REALLLLY mean something to you, because you’ll have to work your @$$ off to reach them. 2) They refute their doubts. When you catch your mind slipping, “I don’t think I can do this” you need to refute that, “H*ll yes, I’m doing this!” It’s not a question. Of course goals can change, and there is a difference between being totally delusional and just confident in yourself. Certainly. Sometimes you have Continue Reading →

Runners, Get Your Confidence On: Workouts to build the confidence you need to race your best

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I’ve talked a lot about how important confidence is for runners. When you step to the line of a race, and any workout too for that matter, it is confidence that helps quell those nerves. You tell yourself that you’ve battled through excruciating pain before and you’ll do it again to get to the finish line certain you left it all out there. Confidence is often a tricky because in order to build it up you have to have accomplished certain distances, workouts, and runs. Though, in order to conquer those workouts you’ve got to have enough confidence guts to get out there attempt them, and then kick their butts. So it’s a bit of a revolving door, chicken and egg thing. Thankfully running gives us ample opportunities to cycle through those revolving doors (ie: umm, every day! Hehe) so if you do have a weaker workout, get through it and look forward to the next workout which you can demolish. The key here is, in order to escape bad workouts with your confidence intact; you have to LEARN from them but then push them out of your mind. The confidence you get when you step to the line of a race should come from the workouts that you nailed. The mile repeats that you came in under goal-pace, the tempo run where that last mile you definitely hit through to a new level of pain tolerance, the 800’s where you surprised even yourself. Over time a runner comes to have those ‘key workouts’ that stand out in their minds; the ones they’ve done time and time again and over the years it’s become a bit of a benchmarker. It’s often fun (and motivating) to see the progression over the years; at the same time these types of workouts can Continue Reading →

Waiting Can Suck, But the Patient Runners Win Out

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Being patient sucks. Waiting for what we want isn’t fun, but the reality is that often times we are forced to wait. Even more often is it that rushing things will ultimately leave us more frustrated in the long term. As runners, wouldn’t it be awesome if we could just lace up and make our next race/workout/run a PR? If only, right?! The natural tendency to want those faster times and better fitness TODAY is the breeding ground for injuries, overtraining, and slowed progress. Beautiful irony there, right? Every runner has been guilty of it, and hey, some things you just have to learn yourself the hard way. (Sometimes a few times to really NAIL that lesson home.) Being patient sucks…but we need to learn to embrace it. Yikes. Where’s the spoonful of sugar to wash that down? Well that comes when you actually ARE patient and watch your goals materialize…eventually. The sweetest victories only come after enough struggle and work, after all. Convincing yourself to wait it out and be patient is tough and often an on-going battle. Incidentally a large part of being able to stay patient comes from confidence. How so? Being patient means BELIEVING in yourself, what you’re doing, and the process. A runner who lacks confidence is the one who tends to rush things, an example of that is going out way too fast in a race. It takes MORE confidence and patience to go out controlled and then pick up the pace, and close fast. A runner who tries to ‘make a buffer’ by going out too fast is subconsciously affirming they are going to slow down. See how that’s not a good way to think? It takes more confidence to be patience, wait, and then respond to your competitors (or go faster) as Continue Reading →

Monday Running Motivation: Starting Line

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Moments before the gun. All other runners slip away, left one. ——— More posts on MOTIVATION Another post on Starting Line Confidence and How to Build Yours Talk about one cute chicker from the weekend!! This super fast runnerchick was the top female and 5th overall in just her first 5k!! Can you say natural born runnerchick?! At least her Ezzere Get Chicking Tee gave them a warning…keep on smoking those runnerboys. 😉 ————- 1) What’s usually one of the last things you do RIGHT before the gun goes off?

Runners Breaking Fences: Accomplish more when you free yourself

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Our minds are experts in construction. They will build up fences quicker than nobody’s business. It’s actually a survival method, the brain ‘thinks’ it’s looking after our best interest, keeping us safe by setting limits. The problem is that this survival method is archaic and antiquated, most of the fence-building is stopping us from pushing ourselves in work or running rather than stopping us from trekking too far from our caves, getting lost, and gobbled up by a dinosaur. 😉 In breaking down your fences you are freeing yourself. Because on the other side, THAT is where you can push yourself to your best. The other problem with fences is that they stop you from even dreaming, or imaging that something epic is ‘out there’ that YOU could possible accomplish THAT! Fences keep you safe, in a comfort zone, they also suck because they rob you of really feeling and experiencing. We can easily relate this to running in a few ways: 1) Goals: if your goals aren’t big enough to scare you a bit, they should be bigger. That said, you should know that working towards something BIG is HARD. That’s the point, that’s what makes an accomplishment fulfilling though. Just don’t be fooled into thinking there won’t be times where you want to stop…that’s where true self-motivation and dedication is tested. 2) Going in over your head: everyone needs to be in the position of going in over their head, a few times, and get comfortable with the fact that, “Yea, I might bonk” because, “Yea, I might not bonk and break through to a new level.” There are times in races where you need to not look at the clock/watch/split and just race, get swept up in the faster group…this can be in workouts too. Confidence is Continue Reading →

A Gold Medal Mind: My interview with Dr. Jim Afremow

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To run and race your best it’s critical you’ve got the right mindset. Dr. Jim Afremow has made it his mission to help runners and athletes of all sports hone their mental training. Just as important and the physical workouts, an athlete’s mind can create a champion or turn into one’s own worst enemy. I wanted interview Dr. Afremow both because I respect his body of work and level of expertise and also because, let’s be honest, the psychology of our sport in straight-up fascinating! Often time elite athletes have trouble putting into words exactly how they get into gamer mode…so read on to hear a mental game’s coach put words to the ability: JIM AFREMOW, Ph.D.     1)    What got you started in athletics, and what were your favorite sports growing up?   I grew up on sports and physical activity primarily through my father who appreciated the importance of having an active lifestyle. He especially enjoyed hiking, mountain climbing, and participating in Masters track and field. As a youth, my favorite sports included track and field, soccer, and golf.   2)    How did you foray into becoming a mental games coach and working on the sports psychology end of the spectrum?   Sports psychology provides the perfect opportunity to bridge two of my passions: sports and psychology. I have always been fascinated by human behavior and how all of us can learn to reach our greatest potential. I earned a doctorate in sports psychology and a Master’s in counseling, both at Michigan State University.   3)    You work with a variety of athletes in different sports, but in working with runners what are some of the most common mental hurdles they struggle with?   Mental toughness is equally import to physical strength when it comes to shining Continue Reading →

Taper Troubles: Peaking right to run your best race

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For runners, finding that perfect taper and method to peak right sure can be difficult! Which sounds kinda crazy because taking the taper at face value, one could think, “Well, I just need to cut back. I’ve done all the work, so let’s just coast on until race day and wind up with fresh as daisy legs!” WRONG. Any runner can tell you tapering is a bit of a beast. Sometimes your legs do feel an extra bounce, other times they start feeling like dead weights and you start to freak out, “What the heck, why am I trucking bricks?!” Some runners even build a little superstition around it, “The worse my legs feel on the warm-up the better they feel in the race.’ Not going to lie, I’ve experienced that one and can back the logic. So let’s talk taper. We’ll even start from the most basic of basics up. What is a taper? Training is done in phases, working backwards from the date of your big race. The closer you draw to your race, the more the goal of workouts shift from ‘building fitness’ to ‘sharpening’ and ‘honing’. A week before your race you’re not going to be able to increase fitness anymore, that work’s been done, so it’s a matter of maintaining fitness and then reducing the volume so your legs feel fresh come race day. [Tapering can be done anywhere from 1-3 weeks before your race, depending on distance and all that good stuff.] Logistics: Runners who are tapering will cut their overall miles back, the volume of workouts decrease, and you’ll see workouts like 200’s, 400’s, or for marathoners, maybe a few longer repeats (ie: miles) at race pace. Just getting the wheels turning. Common Mistakes: 1) Not decreasing enough: If you’ve been training at Continue Reading →

Boston Marathon 2014 in a Word: Epic

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If you’re a runner and you’re not still reeling after the Boston Marathon maybe check your pulse. Epic. Sorry my International friends, but as an American, seeing Meb Keflezighi take the title and bring Boston back is spine-tingly. Scroll through some of the pictures that have been shared of him crossing the line, the poignant olive wreath placed upon his head, medal around his neck, eyes moist. Raw emotion. An image captures so much more than thousands and thousands of word could ever portray. I’ll only waste an effort with two: #meb #epic Along with all other runners I’ve devoured the race coverage with the insatiable appetite of, well, a runner. There’s no OD’ing on Boston Marathon coverage thankfully. HERE and HERE are two really great articles, though there are myriads. Having not been there, I can only get my fix vicariously but will share some of my thoughts: A Tale of Two Leaders Both Meb and Shalane Flanagan in the women’s race took the lead from the gun. People can argue until they’re blue in the face over whether this is the kiss of death move or not. Meb held on until the end, unfortunately for all her American supporters Shalane did not. However, regardless, both runners prove this: they were HUNGRY. Tenacious. Willing to put it ALL out there. Shalane quoted HERE, “I literally ran as hard as I could…I feel pretty ill right now…I’m proud of how I ran.” Rightfully she’s probably pissed she didn’t win but she’s NOT left with lingering questions over whether or not she put it all out there on the course. She crossed the line, 3-minute PR, physically ill later her body proving as such, no questions in her mind. She’s also sure as hell going to be back. Quoted from Competitor, Continue Reading →

Run Better, Erase Your Doubts

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Shhhh…I’ll tell you a secret. Every runner has doubts. It’s just human nature. EVERYONE has that little voice in their head that’s willing to be insecure. The thing is though, while you can’t control the presence of doubts, you CAN control if you decide to listen to them. Don’t. You’ll run better when you tell your doubts to shut the h*ll up. TRUST in your abilities. Trust in yourself…have confidence. It’s a sick irony that some of the most capable, amazingly talented people (and runners) are held back by one little thing… …doubt. An inner self-critic robs you of your confidence, it steals your achievements, it cripples you, it institutes your limits. Quite often with us type-A runners, we can turn into our own worst enemies. That should make you PISSED, get mad as h*ll!! Turn that rage AGAINST the inner critic. Use that fiery anger to erase your doubts and instead… …trust. ———- Related Reads: Underestimate Me: Confidence is malleable, believe in yourself through it all Runners, Get Your Confidence On: Workouts to build the confidence you need to race your best #epicfailWIN: Why failures rock and shouldn’t steal your confidence Combat Excuses and Run Mentally Tough Even When Things Suck ————– 1) Finish this sentence: “Today I will be confident. I will erase the doubt that I _______________”