By now it’s likely that the global pandemic has touched each of us personally in some way, whether we are facing illness, personal loss, or another kind of hardship. It has also tested our mental fortitude -- our ability to persevere in times of adversity.
I have been watching highlights and re-reading stories about some of the greatest athletic performances, perhaps as a reminder about the importance of our own mental strength in times like these. I wanted to share four lessons to help you cultivate the mental fitness to overcome challenges -- in running and in life.
The “Brace Yourself” Effect
Jenny Barringer was the heavy favorite heading into the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championship. She had won several pre-nationals races including the Big 12 Championships, setting course records along the way. It wasn’t a matter of if she was going to win, but by how much. When it came time to race, Barringer felt strong and relaxed, as she had all season. She expected to win easily and was focused on breaking Sally Kipyego’s course record. But midway through the race, a sudden wave of dizziness came over her that lasted long enough for her to lose the lead and eventually the race, despite making a complete recovery several minutes later.
In endurance races, runners pace themselves largely by feel or perceived effort. Feedback in the form of GPS splits, mile markers, and other racers can influence pacing, but it’s our internal sense from moment to moment that tells us to speed up, hold steady, slow down, or stop. Training and experience helps us anticipate how we should feel at various points of a race. When Barringer reflected back on the championship race, there was no physical injury, ache, or pain that caused her to stumble. She experienced an unexpected momentary feeling of extreme discomfort that made her slow down.
The attitude of acceptance towards impending discomfort is often referred to as bracing yourself. Expecting the worst creates a favorable contrast between expectations and reality. The more discomfort you expect as a runner, the more pain you can tolerate, and the faster you can go. Bracing yourself can be an effective way to prepare mentally for a competition. Over the course of the next two years, Jenny Barringer (Simpson) became better at anticipating setbacks, expected to run harder than ever, and faced the fight of her life to become a world champion in 2011 and Olympic medalist in 2016.
The Brace Yourself Effect: Jenny Barringer Simpson's surprise win in the 2011 1500-meter World Championship.
The “Less is More” Effect
Athletes tend to equate hard work with improvement. A little more hard work produces a personal best. If you fall short of a goal, work harder. If you begin to stagnate in training as a result of working too hard, work even harder. However, there is a limit to how much hard work an athlete can benefit from. Hard work, which breeds success, can make us greedy and result in overtraining. When we overtrain, we ignore how we feel and are more likely to experience fatigue, burnout, and injury.
Bernard Lagat is a great example of a runner who has achieved prolonged success through moderation in training and a lot of self-trust. A five-time Olympian, 13-time medalist in the Olympics and World Championships, and 2:12 marathoner at age 45, Lagat chose to emigrate from Kenya and attend Washington State University, where he was coached by James Li, who shares the philosophy of doing the least amount of work necessary to win. Unlike most Kenyan runners he grew up with and American elites, Lagat ran once a day with modest 60-70 weekly mileage and took a five-week break from training every fall.
Research has shown that certain personality traits are more common in athletes who allow themselves to overtrain: compulsiveness and perfectionism. Both of these traits have elements that can have a positive influence on performance, like the determination to succeed. But lacking the ability to adapt, these overzealous athletes feel they are never good enough and are prone to overtrain. Lagat was able to shape his training based on rational internal observation and attributes his success to self-trust as much as balanced training.
The Less is More Effect: At 41 years old, Bernard Lagat wins the 5000-meter final at the Olympic Trials.
The “Workaround” Effect
When your body loses or lacks the ability to achieve a desired level of performance, your brain can respond by seeking out new ways to get to a higher level of performance. This can be known as the “workaround effect.” It’s a phenomenon often seen in athletes with disabilities who develop a higher self-esteem and superior focus to succeed. It’s also common in athletes who have a size disadvantage in their respective sports.
Most elite marathoners have smaller body frames (5’6” for men and 5’3” for women) to exert force and dissipate heat more efficiently. Paula Radcliffe, former marathon world record holder and three-time winner of both the London and New York marathons, is 5’8” and often critiqued for her imperfect running form that consists of head bobbing and arms flailing. Upon closer analysis, she employs these tactics to compensate for height and improve running economy. Radcliffe’s head movement helps with controlled breathing and faster turnover. Her wide arm carriage helps with balance, creating an incredibly efficient stride with feet landing directly underneath under hips.
In contrast to running, swimming is a sport that rewards being tall to generate longer and more powerful strokes. Katie Ledecky is the current world record holder in the women’s swimming 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle events. Ledecky is 6’0” tall, eight inches above the average female American and on par with other Olympians. Janet Evans, who won eight Olympic and world championship gold medals and broke seven world records, wears size 6 shoes and is only 5’5” tall. She developed a unique and efficient freestyle stroke characterized by a very high turnover rate and straight-arm recovery to make up for physical inferiority and prove many wrong.
The Workaround Effect: The final 2 minutes of Paula Radcliffe's world record performance at the 2003 London Marathon.
The “Group” Effect
In the last 20 World Cross Country Championships, the US national team won a medal in the World Cross Country Championships only twice for the men’s team (2001, 2013) and five times for the women’s team (2000, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2011), while Kenya medaled every year. Research has shown that the dominance of Kenyans in distance running is due to cultural, environmental, and psychological factors rather than genetic or physiological makeup. Kenya’s passionate and widespread participation in running, coupled with the motivation to succeed for the purpose of economic and social advancement, can be characterized by the group effect.
Social dynamics are a less obvious but important factor than can impact our performance. Behavioral studies illustrate how athletes competing in synchronization with others outperform those competing solo. When people work together, their brains release greater amounts of mood-lifting or discomfort-suppressing endorphins. As a result, the group effect can help lower an individual’s perceived effort, either at the micro level with teammates or at the macro level with a vibrant national culture comprising many groups of motivated athletes and elite performers.
The silver medal performance of the US men’s 2013 Cross Country championship team is often attributed to the group effect. After the 2000 Olympics, when no American finished higher than sixth place in a distance greater than 400 meters, post-collegiate running clubs formed and produced elite runners from Deena Kastor and Shalane Flanagan to Meb Keflezighi and Galen Rupp. At the 2013 World Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Americans won four medals to Kenya’s three in the men’s and women’s 800 and 1500 meters. And at the Cross Country Championships, Ben True, Chris Derrick, Ryan Vail, and Bobby Mack used cues from their coach on team positioning as they progressed from fifth place and pushed each other in pairs to beat Kenya for second place.
These lessons are just a few of the ways that mental fitness can allow you to overcome physical limitations. In summary:
Brace for the worse to race your best. Hope alone can be a poor coping skill; instead, expect your next race to be your hardest yet.
Run smarter, not harder. Base your decision of whether to work harder or back off on how you feel, rather than on what others are doing or a fear of failure.
Your body is a runner’s body. Don’t listen to anyone who says that you have the “wrong body” for your sport.
Find motivation from teammates and community. Consider joining a (virtual) running group or immersing yourself in the culture to soak up inspiration.
