Bounce back with resilience
In my latest book, ‘From Marathon To Ultra’, I talk about how small gains add up to large gains. If you saw a penny on the ground would you even bother to pick it up? Probably not. It would take a lot of pennies to make it worth your while. Over the course of training for a marathon, picking up those pennies are all the parts that feed into your performance. Hydration, stretching, visualisation, and many more, add up to bring out your peak performance. In the book I put it all together in what I call the Peak Performance Chart. If you follow the Peak Performance Chart, each week your small gains will make a big difference and you will come to rely on your strength of mind as much as your strength of body.
If you’re a regular reader of our weekly newsletter, you’ll be aware that we are in a series of blog posts focussing on these ‘pennies’. So far we have looked at Sleep, Discipline & Consistency and Laughter. This week we’re turning our focus to Mental Resilience.
Last weekend the clocks went back in Ireland signalling the start of winter. It is said to help us make the most of the daylight hours, but for those of us who tend to run in the evening, it eats into that time. It gets dark here a little after 5pm now and as winter draws in and the days get shorter (and windier💨, and wetter💦), the more important mental strength becomes.
Mental strength develops when a person goes through trying times and comes out more resilient. Think of it as being like a muscle, something each of us can improve with training. This type of muscle allows runners to last longer on days when they don’t feel it.
When you are running, a lot of thoughts go through your head. Left unchecked, negative thoughts can run rampant, like; 'I'm uncomfortable*', 'It's raining', ‘what’s the point anyway’, ‘I don’t even like running’, ‘that twinge in my leg could be an actual break’, ‘I didn't sleep well last night’, etc. By overcoming challenges and moving outside your comfort zone, you start to exercise your mental strength muscles and begin to know that when it comes to it you can overcome your thoughts of stopping. Knowing you have that strength to keep going, goes a long way to building confidence and mental toughness.
*But know the difference between injury and feeling uncomfortable.
After swimming in the Arctic Ocean, near Tromsø, Norway
Doing things differently, changing your routine and challenging your norms is a great work-out for your mental strength muscles.
Here are ten ways to build mental resilience:
Vary your training times. If you're an evening runner, try running in the morning.
Vary your route. Don't get stuck in a rut of running the same 3km loop each time you run.
If you love running on the flat, add in some hills.
Make a plan and stick to it. If you say at the start of the week that you're going to run on Thursday evening and Saturday morning. Do it. Rain, hail or shine. No excuses.
If you tend to sit in front of the telly to switch off at night, turn it off and do something different.
Switch to a cold shower in the morning for a set time before stepping out.
Swim in the cold sea.
If you like running with music, run without it every now and again.
Do the hard things in your day first.
Get up an hour early. Give yourself some extra time in the morning to do something you love, even if that's drinking a coffee and watching the sunrise.
Building our mental strength has a huge impact on our positivity. It also assists in our ability to take risks, try new things, and cope with any difficult situations that life may throw at us. Have people in your corner who encourage you out of your comfort zone, rather than those who are quick to always give you a reason to not do something.
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