2016 has taught me a valuable lesson about using my head not
only during races but most importantly beforehand, in fact it has been a
valuable life lesson about preparation, planning and mindset.
This season my fortunes and attitude have transformed, and I
attribute more than an insignificant proportion of this to my refreshed mental
approach. Physical preparation is necessary, of course it is, but anyone can
follow a plan for training, when it doesn’t matter, but those who wish to be
separated from the others, to reach the pinnacle of their sport/event, have to
have something extra. I am no expert at the mental side of things, I have
merely scratched the surface, but suddenly I have begun to see a difference
with running; this year I have been competing much closer to the top of my
event and this post will explain how the mental side of my competition has
developed. I am also enjoying putting less pressure on myself and running free.
I put in a great deal of time and effort to my event whilst
essentially training alone; this meant I had nobody to chase in training, and
although self-motivation is rarely a problem, when the going gets tough it can
be difficult to push that little bit extra. This is where my rivals would have
an edge on me; however where I can make it up is firstly by not missing any
training for any reason (staying injury free etc.) and by preparing, planning
better. I made the BUCS Indoors 400m semi-final this year knowing I would essentially
have to win the race to make the final (5 semis fought for 6 places in the
final, 1 fastest loser), however I was up against the previous year’s champion
and championship record holder. My mindset could easily have been negative,
easy defeat – writing on the wall etc. (and would have been in previous years),
but I instead believed in my training and backed myself to win and if not, be
battling out for the coveted fastest loser spot. I ran the race tactically
sound, as planned, and secured a fastest loser spot in a personal best time,
making the final and knocking out formerly superior rivals because of my
mindset. This translated to outdoors as well, I managed to grab silver at BUCS
Outdoors 400 Hurdles but came incredibly close to winning, having backed myself
to attack the race and go for the win rather than settling for a minor medal.
Planning has also enhanced my chances; having a clear race
plan going into the competition and the confidence to execute has allowed me
step up to big races. Having plans to accommodate different scenarios such as
hitting hurdles or strong winds also reduces the amount of thinking one has to
do within a race and hence reduces the chances of things going wrong. Lactic
brain can and does hit late in races, so leave as little thinking as possible
to then… When I ran the race I knew I could I was no longer nervous before a
race, why should I be? That has turned into excitement of the possibilities,
for what could happen if I executed perfectly. Positive mindset is key, be
excited for what could go well rather than nervous for what could go wrong.
My final note is on ‘controlling the controllables’, the
simple life motto which can save lots of space in the mind and lots of anxiety;
simply why worry about things you cannot control. One could spend hours
deliberating the possibilities of world class performances from opponents, but
there is little you can do about this realistically. Instead focus energy on
maximising your own performance, which will always maximise your chance of conquering any particular opponent.
