Mental Toughness for Runners (eBook)

The largest undiscovered part of the world lies between our ears.

—William O’Brian

2HOW MUCH OF YOUR HEAD IS IN YOUR FEET?

Soon after I had successfully finished the Atacama experiment, I received a phone call from two journalists. Only a few days later, two big articles about my story appeared in different daily newspapers. I was flattered that major athletes took a backseat, at least in this one edition. But what was most interesting was the title. Although two different journalists had conducted the interviews, and two completely different publishers had published the articles, the titles were identical: “As far as your feet will carry you.” When I read that, I had to smile, and I immediately thought, “Your feet will carry you as far as your head wants them to.” I then gave a subsequent presentation with the following slightly more provocative title: “How much of your head is in your feet? Running a 250-km race through the driest desert in the world with mental strength.” I like that question very much, but does that make me an ardent proponent of mind over matter? No!

In this chapter you will learn about the intelligent connection between mind and body, the partly puzzling effects the mind can have on the body (and vice versa), the exact meaning of mental training, and the extent to which mental training can be used to achieve goals and increase performance more elegantly. Or in plain English: The head and body are two sides of a coin and they are inextricably linked. To ignore this fact in everyday training would be downright negligent.

2.1ANTIQUATED EVERYDAY TRAINING: IS THE EARTH STILL FLAT?

Sparrows will never understand why eagles fly higher than cherry trees grow.

—Russian proverb

In elite sports performance, density at the top tends to be very high. When two athletes with the same talent, the same training conditions, and the same general level of fitness and health compete against each other, the one who has the edge at the critical moment will be the one with the stronger mind. While materials-based, biomechanical, and athletic training-related approaches have increasingly exhausted their potential, the largest developmental resources lie within the brain. And how is it in recreational and popular sports? It’s actually pretty similar. We can train as hard as we want, run tons of miles, but if we’re mentally not in a good place on the big day, we might not achieve our goal. And so it is no surprise that this realization is also gaining ground in recreational sports.

Whenever you ask an athlete if the mind is important for athletic success, the answer is: “Yes, of course!” And that is true regardless of the type of sport. By now, everyone knows that success and failure are somehow also a matter of the mind. Some say it is a matter of attitude or character, while others say it’s a matter of motivation or willpower. Even in the running world everyone agrees that achieved results and successes are also a matter of the mind. Nevertheless, the question remains of how exactly to manage it, or rather how to optimally tune the brain muscle to be able to reliably access its performance at the critical moment and achieve precisely the successes or changes one desires. Or how to train more appropriately and holistically by using forms of mental training, thereby achieving goals more elegantly, more joyfully, or faster, with less effort.

Here suggestions are mostly perfunctory and largely anecdotal, the standard advice we hear all the time. In practice it isn’t very helpful because it is not followed by concrete information on how to improve motivation or how to develop willpower.

Of course, I don’t know how many hours a week you train. Is it an average of 3, 5, 10, or 20 hours? And at top times, how many more hours does that add? Granted, that depends on your personal circumstances, ambitions, and goals, but, be honest, how much of your average training time do you devote to mental training? Probably less? The good news is that many athletes already unconsciously use a number of approaches without being aware of it. They visualize competitions, plan progressions ahead of time, and know how to motivate themselves during difficult moments. You can learn and train your mental abilities just like you can systematically learn, train, and refine physical abilities. And the investment pays off, as you will see later on.

The sport of running is a worldwide mass phenomenon. There is probably no other sport for which more books, service providers, and internet sites with detailed training plans for all different distances and target times are offered. The plans are eagerly traded, intensely debated, offer training orientation, and are very helpful if one knows how to choose wisely. But why do these training plans still include so little information on mental training, on integrating the mind in the performance development process?

2.2POWER OF THE MIND

While some runners are convinced that everything is somehow mental, others consider psychology and mental training wishy-washy or irrelevant hocus-pocus. Let’s take a look behind the scenes to form a more differentiated and, most of all, a well-founded opinion on our psyche and mental training.

By now, the effects of the mind on the body have been scientifically very well documented. For our purposes I would like to first share a few well-known research results. You can find detailed information and supplementary explanations in the following chapters.

It is regularly confirmed that certain personality traits, attitudes, and deportments have a positive effect on physical processes, the immune system, and overall health, as well as overall success and satisfaction, not just in sports, but also in life overall.

A substantial piece of evidence from the area of sports medicine suggests that the performance-limiting factor in endurance performance appears to be primarily a matter of the brain.

Sport psychology research reveals many positive links between the use of mental or sport-psychology techniques during training and competition and general performance level, the situational athletic performance, and health.

Research on hypnosis and studies on the influence of trance processes in extreme athletes, fakirs, and Shaolin monks has given us impressive insights, providing suggestions on how to cleverly integrate the use of concentration techniques like the power of thought, mental imagery, and autosuggestion to positively influence largely automatic and uncontrollable physical processes such as pain, fatigue, stress reaction, metabolism, post-sports injury regeneration, and healing, among others.

Sports hypnosis results in extensive positive, health-enhancing physiological changes. The impressive results of a recent study even showed that objectively identical physical performance and effort performed during a state of trance can considerably reduce the amount of subjectively felt exertion and actual muscle activity, compared to a normal alert state.

OUR AUTOPILOT

Let’s take it a step further. A large portion of our behavior is automated and unconscious. Experts say 90-95%. While you are reading this book, your breathing until just this moment most likely proceeded fairly unconsciously. Until now, without your being aware of it, your muscles have also largely made sure that everything moves the way it should, no matter where you are right now and regardless of whether you are standing, sitting, lying down, or walking, and without your having to permanently think about which muscle groups to contract how much at what ratio in order to achieve a desired position or movement as you turn the pages. It is precisely this autopilot that allows us to function, unburdening our everyday consciousness. It makes sure that lots of things function as quick as lightning or without having to think about them. That’s good, as long as we get the desired results.

But what happens when we sometimes aren’t satisfied? When we don’t achieve the desired performances, are unmotivated or lethargic, when there are ingrained habits, fears, or other obstacles that seem to stand in our way? If that unconscious autopilot controls a large portion of our thoughts, feelings, and behavior, would it not make sense to involve that autopilot in our training, in our personal development? But how can we bring our subconscious mind onboard and thereby make our athletic training more modern and more successful, accelerate our personal development, or make it possible in the first place?

In view of the fact that the mind influences the body, does it not make sense to work more on mental processes as part of the training structure that has proven to dramatically improve performance capacity, performance efficiency, heath, and well-being? Yes, absolutely. Let’s do it!

And in case you are still not quite convinced, I urge you to carefully read the following segment

2.3THE MIND’S ASTOUNDING EFFECTS ON THE BODY: LEARNING TO CONTROL THE UNCONTROLLABLE?!

DOES RUNNING STRENGTHEN OR WEAKEN THE IMMUNE SYSTEM? IT...