18 Replies to “Running Through the Hazard Zone: Preventing a mental crash in the dead center of your race”
Morning!! This is so helpful Cait! and something that I really needed. 🙂 I can’t believe how much running is a mental game! How fast we can talk ourselves out of things and just give up. I have so pretended that I only had just a few more tenths to go on my run and then kept running!! Lol! I love love love the idea of finding a spot on the back of another person and then not looking away. I wonder if I and when I run my first race I could actually put a dot on the back of someone as we are running!?? I could just see the conversation…”um, do you mind if I put this on the back of your shirt?? I promise it won’t weigh you down…” 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!!
yay!! glad this helps…don’t worry, u can put as many imaginary spots on other races, i won’t tell, and if u won’t tell they’ll never have to know u’ve marked their back’s with bullseyes. 😉
i was just talking about this with my running partner the other day as we were discussing our love for the half. seems like miles 8-12 are the dead zone miles where your mind begins to realize how far away the finish actually is. i think you’re spot on here, it’s the mind that gets you through these miles and not the legs. if only my mind wouldn’t try to turn on me all the time…
Yes, this reminds me of how I treated the mile. The 3rd lap was most important. In fact, I told myself the event was only 3 laps, cause I didn’t have to run the 4rth, it took care of itself.
Awesome tips :-). My worst part is usually at the beginning – that leads to burn out in stage 2. Make sense, or just weird? I can feel that I’m going to burn out long before I do. These days I slow down a bit, but I did used to have a great ‘go out hard, feeling great’ run or two which led to crash and burn after about 4km.
Morning!! This is so helpful Cait! and something that I really needed. 🙂 I can’t believe how much running is a mental game! How fast we can talk ourselves out of things and just give up. I have so pretended that I only had just a few more tenths to go on my run and then kept running!! Lol! I love love love the idea of finding a spot on the back of another person and then not looking away. I wonder if I and when I run my first race I could actually put a dot on the back of someone as we are running!?? I could just see the conversation…”um, do you mind if I put this on the back of your shirt?? I promise it won’t weigh you down…” 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!!
yay!! glad this helps…don’t worry, u can put as many imaginary spots on other races, i won’t tell, and if u won’t tell they’ll never have to know u’ve marked their back’s with bullseyes. 😉
This is a great post Cait – it sums up that middle stretch of a difficult run so well! Mental preparation and strength definitely goes a long way.
🙂
i was just talking about this with my running partner the other day as we were discussing our love for the half. seems like miles 8-12 are the dead zone miles where your mind begins to realize how far away the finish actually is. i think you’re spot on here, it’s the mind that gets you through these miles and not the legs. if only my mind wouldn’t try to turn on me all the time…
haha…i still am pretty sure we’re sharing a brain sometimes 😉
Yes, this reminds me of how I treated the mile. The 3rd lap was most important. In fact, I told myself the event was only 3 laps, cause I didn’t have to run the 4rth, it took care of itself.
u got it, the mile is usually made or broken that 3rd lap!
Awesome tips :-). My worst part is usually at the beginning – that leads to burn out in stage 2. Make sense, or just weird? I can feel that I’m going to burn out long before I do. These days I slow down a bit, but I did used to have a great ‘go out hard, feeling great’ run or two which led to crash and burn after about 4km.
Oh regret – the most powerful motivator.
well, stage 1 sets the stage for number 2 so u’re not weird at all! 😉
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