Why Don't Endurance Athletes Practice Mental Training?

Long Distance Runners : How to Improve Mental Toughness

by Kathleen Lisson

In the enlightening article 'Train Your Brain to Run Your Best' in Runner's World, Michelle Hamilton shared her experience as she trained for the Napa Valley Marathon. Hamilton enlisted the services of Dean Hebert, M.Ed. of Mental Workout to strengthen her mental training for the race.

Hebert tells her "No one expects endurance to come naturally, but people think mental toughness does. It's a big myth. You do not need more willpower. You need to train the brain like you train the body." 

For Hamilton, this meant "practicing mental skills throughout training, not randomly tossing in a mantra midrace. Mental skills, like physical strength, develop over time and with consistency."

Hamilton states that "in a recent study, pessimism ranked as runners' top mental roadblock. Negativity, whether it's worry or doubt, often leads to self-defeating behaviors including slowing down, cutting a workout short, or dropping out of a race."

She had a positive experience with mental training, mentioning in the article that her "motivation skyrocketed. I trained better, did drills, more recovery runs, core work."


Read the article here: http://m.runnersworld.com/sports-psychology/train-your-brain-to-run-your-best