Training Tips

The Upside of Being Clueless  By Drew Brannon, PhD, the Lowdergroup

Having decided on my college plans to play basketball, I decided to run track during my final semester of high school. Why not? I had friends on the team and had known the coach for a few years. During the first few meets I ran the 400m and 800m and enjoyed it. Several weeks into the season, we traveled to a large meet and I was selected as the first leg for the 4x1600 relay team. At the time, I did not know that mile relays existed.

Race time drew near, and I lined up with a host of guys who looked like they knew exactly what they were doing. I, on the other hand, would have been best labeled as "clueless." Nevertheless, the gun went off and I took off. I went out hard and felt great the whole time. I’d never run a mile in a meet before and proceeded to run this opening leg in 4:31.

I never ran a faster mile the rest of the year, and I’m certain my mindset had a lot to do with it. After posting a fast time in my first attempt, I started placing expectations on my performances. With these expectations came pre-race nerves and pressured thoughts. This tendency is common for athletes.

Success is never good enough. Success at one level seems to demand success at the next level… or else. Instead of building confidence and enjoyment, we build pressure and stress. We initially get involved in something because it’s fun, and soon enough, we’re taking it way too seriously. It’s impossible to stay clueless toward our pursuits forever, so what can we do? Here are two tips to consider when trying to avoid the negative effects of expectations.

How’s it working for me?
It’s important to assess the thoughts we have about our training, performances, etc. An excellent question to use in this assessment is, “How’s it working for me?” For example, if I’m approaching my next event with the thought, “I’ve worked way too hard not to break three hours,” I’ve already set a pressure filled expectation. When race day comes, you can be sure that you’ll be playing this thought back in your head. This negative thinking pattern is likely to cause sleepless nights before the race, and then accentuate the pain during the race. Clearly, the answer to our initial question of how it’s working for me is, "Not too well!"

Training mindset vs. performance mindset
The mental skills critical to improving in training are vastly different from those required to perform well. Applying pressure in training can often be a helpful practice, but self-inflicting pressure in competition usually impedes performance. For example, deciding that you will run an extra mile repeat if you don’t finish the current one in a certain time is an excellent way to push yourself in training.

Conversely, convincing yourself that you HAVE TO run tune up races in certain times in order to hit your goal race time is likely to prompt negative thoughts in your mind if things don’t go exactly according to plan. Such pressured thinking is likely to trigger stress/anxiety, which usually prompts labored breathing and tight muscles. Needless to say, it’s difficult to perform at an optimal level under these conditions.

When it’s time to perform, you can’t be overly technical or perfectionistic. Instead, you need to free yourself up by focusing on the correct things, which will help you relax and have a more positive impact on your performance.