What psychological strategies do you use, alongside all the running, cross-training, conditioning work and other training that you do?
If, like most runners, you don’t do any specific mental training exercise, then maybe it’s time to change.
We’ve all heard the phrase that ultra-running is 90% mental.
And there is even some evidence to suggest that’s true.
Ultra-running expert Professor Tim Noakes argues that we only have limits on our performance because of our brain.
This is known as his ‘Central Governor Theory’
“The brain is there to look after you and to make sure whatever you do, you do it safely”
So the brain is there to protect us, which is obviously a good thing.
But in ultra-running, sometimes our brain tries to stop us from achieving our goals.
For example, have you ever said these things to yourself during a hard race of hard training run?
‘You can’t do this’ or…
‘You shouldn’t do this’ or even…
‘Why are you bothering to do this? It’s pointless!’
But because we are trying to push ourselves to our limits, we want to overcome these issues.
Luckily there are a wide range of mental strategies and tactics that you can use.
In this article I explain three of the mental strategies that I use. Which have helped me to achieve race wins and race podiums.
But, even more excitingly, Luke Tyburski, performance mindset coach and extreme adventurer, also gives us three of his top tips.
So, with thousands of training and racing miles between Luke and I, we have teamed up to give you our top six mental strength training exercises & tips to help you train your brain to increase your physical performance.
Luke Tyburski is a permonce mindset coach and ultra-endurance athlete. He has completed many insane events, including the ‘Ultimate Triathlon’ - A 2,000 kilometre, 12 day triathlon from Morocco to Monaco. And he teaches others how to implement the same mental strategies that he’s used
Plus, Luke has recently launched a brand new course guiding you on how to improve your mindset.
And he’s generously given all readers a significant discount off the course.
Read the full article to find out more!
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Who is Luke Tyburski?
Luke Tyburski is a performance mindset coach, ultra-endurance athlete, and author.
He has completed and created some of the world’s toughest events. These have included ultra-marathons across deserts and up mountains and extreme double-Ironman triathlons.
He’s most well-known for his 2,000 kilometre, 12 day ‘Ultimate Triathlon’ from Morocco to Monaco.
Luke believes most athletes struggle to reach their true potential because they do not spend time training their mind like they do their bodies.
Luke Tyburski’s Top Three Psychological Training Strategies
1) The Reframe
How often have you ever said to yourself “I could never do that” or “I can’t do this?”
I would say most of you have had that internal conversation with yourself numerous times.
But saying “I can’t…” is limiting your potential, your options, and drowning your mind in negativity.
‘The Reframe’ is simple - Instead of thinking (or saying) that you can’t do something, start asking yourself a simple question…
What if I can?”
“What if I can...?”
Merely asking this question can inject a small amount of curiosity.
And with curiosity comes a notion of what is needed to accomplish the task in front of you.
‘The Reframe’ helps you to figure out how to achieve your goal (whether it’s an entire race, or just a mile at tempo pace which never ends).
But it also covers your thoughts in an optimistic layer, helping you turn a negative “I can’t” into a positive re-frame of “what if I can?!”
Luke top three psychological strategies to improve your mindset are to ‘reframe’, to think like you’ve won the lottery and to implement ‘the weather attitude’
2) £100 Million Spend
At times you will struggle to create positive thoughts when pushing your body (and mind).
Simply trying to ‘will’ your pain away won't cut it.
So distract yourself from it, instead.
At some stage of our lives we have all imagined what winning the lottery would look like.
When your legs are hurting and your mind is diving into a negative dark hole, imagine you just won £100 million. What would you spend it on?
The key to this exercise is to be specific. Don’t just say you’ll buy a house.
Visualise exactly what it looks like. What each room has in it. The colours, the detail, the personalised features you would have throughout your perfect home when money is unlimited.
The ‘£100 Million Spend’ distraction exercise can keep your mind occupied for a few vital minutes, or even hours. And it can be that bridge between the negative head space you are in to the positive one you need.
3) The ‘Weather’ Attitude
Your attitude is a secret weapon that most athletes do not use all that well.
The attitude you take to any situation, scenario, or outcome is not only your own choice, but it can also swing your mood (then your energy levels) into a positive upswing, or negative downswing...
A prime example of this is when the weather is “uninspiring” before or during a run. A lot of people will complain, feel unmotivated, and dread facing it.
You cannot control the weather, but you can control your perception of the reality in front of you!
It’s your choice whether you let something out of your control (like the weather) dictate your thoughts, and ultimately your actions.
Choosing a positive attitude is a choice, and one you are in full control over!!
James’ Top Three Psychological Training Strategies
1) Focusing on Processes, Not Outcomes
There are generally three types of goals that you can set yourself - Outcome, performance and process goals.
Runbritain.com does a good job of explaining these three types of goals in this article.
OUTCOME - This is the result or the end (singular) goal that you are working towards.
PERFORMANCE GOALS - These are the performance levels that you need to be able to achieve if you are to reach the outcome. These should encompass physical, technical and tactical, psychological, functional movement and lifestyle markers.
PROCESS GOALS - These are the things that you need to do if you are to achieve the performance goals.
Most people focus almost exclusively on the outcome goals they have. For example, “I want to finish a 100-mile race in 24 hours”.
Whilst this is a good first step, it is not the only goal you should have.
An outcome goal is useful because it helps you create the performance goals you need to achieve to reach the outcome. E.g “In order to run 100 miles in 24 hours, I need to average 4.17 miles per hour.”
But both the outcome goals and the performance goals can be impacted by a lot of things outside your control. For example, if the weather is horrendous on the day of the race. Or if you have a problem in the race with nutrition, kit, getting lost or something else.
And this is where process goals come in.
Process goals give you the building blocks and the specific action plans for what you need to do to achieve your performance and outcome goals.
For example, “In order to average 4.17 miles per hour in the race, I need to practise running at that specific speed in training.. Because it would seem so slow if I did it for the first time in a race and I might set off too quickly”
The importance of process is shown by the very successful British running club, the AB training group. This club has the likes of Tom Evans - who was won multiple ultra-running events across the globe, and Dan Lawson, the European 24-hour champion.
Their mantra?
“Process, not outcome”
“Process, not outcome”
Below is an example of the ‘goals tree’ that I used for the Autumn 100-mile race where I came in first place.
These type of things don’t take long to put together. And you can do them however you like - Paper, PC, or whatever other method.
But I find that it’s really useful to actually write them down, rather than have them in your head.
This was my ‘goals tree’ for the Autumn-100 mile race. Whilst the outcome goal is at the top of the tree, there are a much higher amount of process goals, which help achieve the outcome.
In this example, my actual outcome result was even better than my outcome goal. Although that doesn’t always happen!
Focusing on the process, rather than the outcome of a single event, can help you focus on the long term improvements you need to make too.
As you can see from my example, the process goals that I set can be used for other events too.
So if the outcome isn’t quite what you want in this event, you can improve the process goals and apply them for your next event.
2) Using If/ Then Strategies
The ‘if/ then’ strategy is a really simple way of making it easy to perform a habit or specific action, when under pressure.
I’ve found this strategy particularly effective when planning for the inevitable ‘bad moments’ that come up in ultra-races.
When you’re in the craziness of a race, or if you are not thinking clearly because you’ve been out running for hours on end, this strategy can help you stick to processes that will help you achieve your goal.
An example of an ‘if/ then’ strategy I’ve used in races is…
If I start to feel less strong, then I will eat and drink something
If I am still feeling bad, then I will slow my pace
If I am still feeling bad, then I will use a motivational piece of music or a playlist to help me through it
If I am still feeling bad, then I will use my trigger word (more on that in point 3 below)
The list can be as long, or as short, as you like.
And you can use it for various problems that may come up in the race. For example
If I get lost on the route, then I will stop immediately, and refer to my watch/ map/ etc
If I get a sign of a blister, then I will stop, take off my shoes and socks and inspect it
You can make lots of these before the race. And the idea is that when the situation comes up, you have an action plan to deal with it. Rather than having to think about it in the moment itself, when it can be difficult.
Some athletes that I coach have even printed out their ‘if/ then’ lists and took them with them on race-day.
3) Using Trigger Words
Whilst process goals and ‘if/ then’ strategies are things that you can implement before the race, a trigger word can be used most effectively in the race itself.
A trigger word is similar to a mantra. But a trigger word is usually just one word that helps you to instantly become more positive.
I try to have a unique trigger word for each race.
And I usually try to make it specific to the goal I have for that race.
For example, in my Autumn 100-mile race win, I used the trigger word “Bullseye”.
“Bullseye”
The reason I used ‘bullseye’ was to remind myself that, no matter how bad I was feeling in this specific race, my training was on track for the bigger goals that I had set myself at the time - A world-record 800+ mile attempt a few months later.
It sounds simple, but it helped hugely.
In my 2nd place at the Wendover Woods 50-mile race, my trigger word was “tomorrow”.
“Tomorrow”
I used '“tomorrow’” because this race was the first part of a big training weekend - I was running the 50-mile race on Saturday, and then planned to run a marathon on the Sunday.
By using this trigger word it helped me to remain positive, but also hold myself back, because I knew I had to do a big effort, on tired legs the next day.
Summary
The mental side of ultra-running is hugely important. But it is often not thought about in the same way that other aspects of training are. Like running, cross-training and nutrition.
And just like those other aspects, you can train yourself to use psychological strategies and tactics to improve your performance.
To do this, you need to specifically think about which strategies you’d like to use. And then use them in your training runs, your long runs, and even when you’re not running.
Although there are many different strategies and tactics, this article outlined six that Luke and I have found effective during our own challenges.
The Reframe
The ‘£100 million spend’
The ‘Weather Attitude’
Focusing on Processes, Not Outcomes
Using If/ Then Strategies
Using Trigger Words
Do You Want to Learn More About Improving Your Mindset?
To learn more about how Luke helps his clients increase their physical performance through training their minds, check out his online Performance Mindset for Athletes Course - https://courses.luketyburski.com/
Luke has kindly given all my readers £100 off the course when using the code JAMES100.
Luke has just launched a brand new course helping others to improve their mindset. He has generously provided a £100 discount off the course, using the code JAMES100. Go to https://courses.luketyburski.com/ to find out more
If you would like to see the ‘performance mindset’ that Luke teaches in action, you can watch him push his mind & body to their limits (and beyond) in the award-winning documentary The Ultimate Triathlon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-Triathlon-Luke-Tyburski/dp/B075VBGXG7/ref=nodl_
You can also follow Luke in a number of ways:
Website - www.luketyburski.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/luke.tyburski.1
Twitter - https://twitter.com/LukeTyburski
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/luketyburski/
One Last Call… Please Vote for JamesRunsFar as ‘Best Professional Running Blog’
I have made the shortlist for the ‘best professional running blog’ by the Running Awards.
If you like what you read on my site, then please vote for me here.
Thank you if you’ve already voted. And the good news is, that you can VOTE AGAIN!
So, please do.
The main reason I started this blog was to inform and entertain you.
I hope that I am doing that.
And if you agree, then please vote for me.
Thank you!
:-)
What Psychological Tips Do You Use to Help Your Performance?
Let me know in the comments at the bottom of this blog, on the Contact Page or on social media below.
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