How to Keep New Year's Exercise Resolutions - Fire Your Inner Critical Coach

Prepare for 2017 By Firing Our Inner Critical Coach

by Kathleen Lisson

As a half marathon runner, an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and RRCA Certified Running Coach in San Diego, I have seen the effects of positive and negative coaching on athletes. But what about the coaching we don't see - the voice inside each of our heads as we run?

“You’re fat.”

“You’re not good enough.”

“If you don’t work out until it hurts up every day, you will lose your edge and someone will come along and beat you.”

These are some words from an athlete’s inner critical coach. Each of us have a voice inside our head, perhaps an echo from a parent or a high school coach, that sets the tone for our workouts.

“That workout was hard, and I made it through all the tough miles.”

“My workouts were solid and I’m ready to increase my weight/distance next week!”

“I feel sick today, I’ll take care of myself and focus on eating healthy so I can get back to a full workout in a few days.”

These are familiar phrases from an athlete’s inner compassionate coach. Which types of messages are running through your head during and after a workout? If they are more critical than compassionate, 2017 is the year to fire your critical coach and hire a compassionate coach.

Step One: Conduct an Inner Coach Performance Review.

Over the next week or two, put the voice inside your head through a performance review. Just like a manager observes employee behavior and conducts a yearly performance review, notice the messages your inner coach is sending you before, during and after workouts.

Here are some questions for your performance review checklist:

• Would you say those things out loud to a friend who needed your support at the gym?
• Do the messages you hear from your inner critical coach push you closer to loving your sport more or burning out?
• If your coach is critical, can you think of a specific person that voice reminds you of - a critical authority figure in your youth?

Step Two: Give your a coach a raise, Put him/her on probation or Fire your coach!

Raise! If you have an inner compassionate coach and find yourself saying mostly positive things, congratulations! Give your coach a raise by taking time to let the feeling of success sink in after a great workout.

Probation: If your coach is critical, is it a voice from your youth? If so, recognize that the person may have meant well and thought he/she was protecting you. You are an adult now, and your inner coach needs to coach you as an adult, not as a child. Put your inner coach on probation and remind yourself that you are not a child every time a negative, punitive thought crosses your mind.

You're Fired! If your inner coach is critical and you know listening to negative coaching will lead to burnout, fire your critical coach. Evaluate every inner coach comment - if you heard someone say it to a friend, would you agree with them or tell the person to shut up? 'Hire' a more compassionate coach by finding something that went well every time you exercise and taking ten seconds to fully feel a sense of accomplishment and success.

Awareness of the coaching voice in our head is a powerful first step in changing the way we view exercise and overcoming obstacles like busy schedules, physical pain and fatigue and burnout. Let your inner compassionate coach make a positive difference in how many New Year's Resolutions you keep in 2017.

I share my personal story about my inner coach here:

Kathleen Lisson is a certified Meditation Teacher and Labyrinth Facilitator and teaches Meditation and Mindfulness at IPSB college in San Diego. Sign up for a private meditation lesson or labyrinth walk in the comfort of your home here: https://www.massagebook.com/San_Diego~Massage~sandiego?src=external

Mindset Training for Endurance Athletes - Do You Promote or Prevent?

Mental Training for San Diego Runners and Cyclists

Mental Training Tips for Runners

by Kathleen Lisson

Shirley Archer has a great article in the July issue of the IDEA Fitness Journal. In 'What is Mindset Training? A Primer,' Archer covers many different types of mindsets, including promotion vs. prevention, fixed vs. growth and 10 key negative mindsets.

Promotion and Prevention are a powerful set of mindsets in my life. Am I promoting my wellness when I take time to exercise and receive massage and meditate, or am I preventing disease?

Promotion seems to work better in the first few month of a behavior change. Switching to a prevention mindset once the new wellness behavior has been established enables athletes to keep performing the new behavior when new gains and successes aren't as common. For instance, during the first few months of a running program, promoting improved health is easy - we are running farther and faster and our body is becoming stronger.

Once we reach our goal weekly mileage, a prevention mindset can help runners keep up with our training, even when our bodies aren't getting leaner or our times faster. In a promotion mindset, feedback will be success based - a new, faster 5K time or feeling that a ten mile run is 'easier' on our bodies than it used to be. Prevention mindset feedback is failure based - we can see when we didn't run according to our schedule that our running times are slower and it is harder to complete long runs.

Overtraining feedback can also be failure-based - feeling exhausted, a higher resting heart rate and changes in mood and sleep patterns are signals that overtraining may be happening.

Read more about Mindset Training here: http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/what-is-mindset-training-a-primer

MAP Training - Do you meditate before you run?

What is MAP Training for Runners?

by Kathleen Lisson

MAP Training for Runners - Meditate with Your Running Shoes on! 

As a RRCA certified running coach in San Diego, I was interested to find out more about the concept of MAP or Mental and Physical Training. Scientists at Rutgers University have found that in a study of 52 participants over an 8 week period, practicing MAP twice a week for an hour each workout resulted in a reduction in depressive thoughts in persons with a diagnosis of nonpsychotic Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and "individuals without a clinical diagnosis of MDD also reported significant reductions in depressive symptoms." 

MAP training consists of a three part workout. First, the athlete will practice 20 minutes of meditation that focuses on the breath. Then, there is a transition to 10 minutes of walking meditation with a focus on the feet. Finally, after a five minute warm up, the athletes participate in 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise. Keeping the intensity to 50 - 70% of VO2 peak can be monitored by paying attention to one's heart rate. The workout ends with a 5 minute cool-down. 

If you or someone you know could benefit from less anxiety and rumination and more motivation to exercise, consider adding MAP training to your workout schedule. 

Read the study in the February 2016 issue of Translational Psychiatry here: http://www.nature.com/tp/journal/v6/n2/full/tp2015225a.html

Reduce Stress and Improve Well Being with Awe and Amazement

Should You Add Awe and Amazement to Your Mindfulness Practice?

by Kathleen Lisson

I hd the opportunity to go skydiving for the first time last weekend. I felt very scared two days prior to the jump. What was I thinking! I am running a half marathon with Team in Training San Diego, I am starting work as an onology massage therapist, why would I risk all that and potentially sprain my ankle landing wrong in a skydiving accident? It seemed like a good idea at the time when I bought the package as a Christmas present for a friend. 

It was a beautiful, clear day and we drove out to the facility, went through the check in process and were fitted for our harnesses. When I met my instructor I still didn't know what to expect. I was feeling a little nervous energy, which I let out by chattering and making funny jokes. When I felt the relaxed, confident energy of my instructor, I realized that I was going to be safe and taken care of. I could enjoy the experience instead of become overhwelmed by the adrenaline in my body. 

Maybe its because of the meditation and maybe its because of all my long distance running, but as I prepared to exit the plane, I didn't feel any fear, just curiousity. I remember crouching on the edge of the open door and looking at the Earth below and just knowing how beautiful and striking it was. As I fell, I was caught in a stream of a thousand dreams. I had felt awe on a grand scale. 

The other time I felt awe this week was while viewing the sunset at Solana Beach. I am so lucky to live in the Rancho Penasquitos neighborhood of San Diego, with the beaches at Del Mar and Solana Beach so near by. Watching the sun set over the ocean reminds me even the way we keep time can be beautiful and awe inspiring. 

In the Association for Psychological Science article 'All about Awe,' author Anna Milulak states that awe "may have surprisingly meaningful consequences for everyday behavior and even overall well-being." Her article provides a good overview of current research on awe.

Read the story here: http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2015/april-15/all-about-awe.html

Psychologist Rick Hanson has a insightful post on how amazement can replace stress in our lives. The post, titled 'Just One Thing: Be Amazed' includes the advice that amazement "lifted me above the tangled pressures and worries I was stuck to like a bug on flypaper. Amazement is instant stress relief ... Perhaps most deeply, being amazed brings you into the truth of things, into relationship with the inherent mysteries and overwhelming gifts of existence." 

Read Rick Hanson's post here: http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/just_one_thing_be_amazed

Watch a presentation by GGSC Education Director Vicki Zakrzewski on awe and its applications in the classroom, given July 1, 2014, at the Greater Good Science Center Summer Institute for Educators. Zakrzewski focuses on our bodies physical responses to awe and the mental changes our mind makes as a result of an experience of awe. At the 18 minute mark, Zakrzewski shares the types of things that can inspire awe and at the 13 minute mark, she shares a simple exercise you can do with a friend to share stories of awe with one another. Watch the video midway in an article posted here: http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/do_we_need_god_to_feel_awe

Do you run an an awe-inspiring natural environment or learn about inspiring runners as a part of your running practice? 

How to combat Runner's Burnout and silence the inner critical coach: VIDEO

How to Combat Runner's Burnout

by Kathleen Lisson

As a RRCA-certified running coach, I have spoken about runner's burnout with fellow runners and felt the effects of runner's burnout in my own running practice. In this video, I share one technique for combating runners burnout and explain the role of our inner critical coaches and compassionate coaches. 

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/xlU3C1uLz8w

Adding Meditation to Your Long Runs

How Do You Overcome a Difficult Run?

by Kathleen Lisson

Meditation and Running

Brad Stulberg recently wrote about the link between meditation and long distance running in the Competitor.com article 'Is Running Meditation.' Stulberg interviewed San Diego ultrarunner Cameron Rentch and offered tips on how to add meditation to long runs. In the article Rentch states that he uses meditation during practice or a race if he starts to focus on the more painful aspects of the run. He focuses on his breath instead of the negative thoughts.

My favorite tip is to direct attention to your breath during a steady state run, then to different areas of your body and the nature surrounding you as you run.

I agree that 'flow' is different than meditation. When I experience 'flow' there is no choice and meditation is about choosing to focus on a certain thing, like the breath.

The article is here: http://running.competitor.com/2015/07/training/is-running-meditation_132201

mPEAK 3 day intensive mindfulness training for athletes in San Diego

mPEAK Mindfulness Training 3 Day Intensive Meditation Class in San Diego

by Kathleen Lisson

mPEAK Intensive Particicpants - San Diego Meditation Class

I recently attended a 3 day intensive training in mPEAK mindfulness training in San Diego.  Before the training, athletes were asked to read three books about mindfulness, Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges, The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being by Daniel J. Siegel and Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence.

I have taken the 8 week mPEAK class, sponsored by the UCSD Center for Mindfulness, earlier in 2015, so I was interested to see how the teachings had been adjusted to fit into a 3 day format. For more information on the program, visit the Mindful Performance Enhancement, Awareness & Knowledge website here: http://mbpti.org/mpeak/

Mental Training Tips from Chrissie Wellington in Triathlete World

Meditation for Runners and Triathletes

Meditation Cushion and Running Shoes 

by Kathleen Lisson

In the Triathlete's World article "Chrissie Wellington's Racing Tips," Julie-Anne Ryan shares Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington's mental strategies for winning a triathlon. A few of her tips are familiar - I try to chunk a half marathon course into sections in my mind in order to not feel overwhelmed. I liked her idea to listen to meaningful music as she previews the course to create a good memory she can draw upon during the race. Her second to last tip is to stay in the moment. I have found that meditation is great practice for strengthening my 'stay in the moment' mental muscle.   

Do you use any of Chrissie Wellington's racing tips?

Read the Triathlete World article here: http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/triathlete/triathlon-racing/chrissie-wellingtons-racing-tips/6849.html

Tips to Reduce the Negative Aspects of Stress for Endurance Runners

Is Stress a Threat or a Challenge? 

by Kathleen Lisson

• Trying to avoid stress is what causes negative effects of stress in the body
• Running is a way to 'get good at stress'
• When stressed, help others to increase Dopamine in the body

According to an article in Outside Magazine, trying to avoid stress and letting fear and anxiety take over are the aspects of stress that cause negative reactions in our body. 

Author Bradley Stulberg states that "the more you push your physical limits, the more you improve your psychological ones." I have seen this in my running training. I become calmer and less reactionary when I run long distances. 

Stulberg quotes health psychologist Kelly McGonigal as saying that, “The most toxic thing about stress is not stress in and of itself, but rather, stress avoidance and the subsequent angst and rumination of always trying to avoid stress.” This was a big a-ha for me. There is truth to the idea that one can 'worry themselves sick' over something, creating more stress for themselves by trying to avoid a stressful situation. When my husband traveled to Nepal last year, the two weeks before he left were more painful for me than when he was actually gone. 

'Don't Worry' is easier said than done, but what if a sizable amount of the negative effects of stress in our lives is inflicted upon ourselves in the form of the worrying and the plotting and the stories we make up about stressful events in the future? A good piece of running advice I try to follow is to only run one mile at a time. Don't focus on trying to run mile 11 if you're only on mile three. Just run mile three.  

Another way to lessen the negative aspects of stress? Helping others. McGonigal states that helping others elicits a dopamine secretion. 

Read 'Endurance Sports Will Make You a Better, Calmer Person' here: http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/bodywork/the-fit-list/Endurance-Athletes-are-Calmer-Than-You-Are.html

How do you control pre-race anxiety and improve focus?

What do Formula One and Soccer have in common with Endurance Sports?

by Kathleen Lisson

This video 'Grand Prix Starts vs. Penalty Kicks' (though its an ad for data collection) helped me to get a taste of pre-race jitters without being 'in the moment.' The video shares the perspectives of Formula 1 drivers and a soccer player preparing to take a penalty kick.

Watch the video and, as you are drawn into the story, feel in your body the emotions of preparing for a sports performance.

I felt my skin flush, my heart beat faster and my concentration focus on the moment of action.  This is the moment where I could perform, or, as the grand prix driver mentioned, lose all my gains made in training by underperforming at the start.

Now, long distance running isn't usually decided during the first few moments of the half marathon distance, but finding the mindfulness that would allow me to focus and reduce pre-race jitters might enable me to make better decisions throughout the race.

I can collect 'big data' on my reactions to different situations in training runs and prep races in my running shoes, as well as how regularly I am meditating and improving my 'brain game' while I'm out of my running shoes.

The video is here: https://youtu.be/fbODKPoLNA4

UCSD Center for Mindfulness mPEAK Program - meditation is like being a hockey goalie

Mindfulness for Athletes - Meditation is Like Being a Hockey Goalie

by Kathleen Lisson

I officially completed the first ever mPEAK program. The 8 week mindfulness course, offered at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness and modeled after a sucessful program for the US BMX Olympic team, offered plenty of 'food for thought.'

I came up with a good way to remind me to not think that I am failing at meditation when I think thoughts while meditating.

I imagine that meditation is like being a goalie in hockey. The thoughts are like hockey pucks.

The job of the goalie is to see the hockey pucks and divert them away from the goal net. Goalies only handle the puck as much as they need to - they don't focus on holding on to the puck.

The puck is a part of the game - no goalie stands at the net and expects the opposing team to never make a shot on goal. Pucks coming toward the net is part of the game just as thoughts occuring during my meditation. My 'job' as a meditator is to recognize the puck when it's coming toward the goal, and divert it so I can reconnect with the breath.

As a Buffalo native, I will always love my Buffalo Sabres! Here are Dominik Hasek's best moments as a goalie. I will think of him the next time I have an especially distracting "Thought on Goal."

So, does thinking of meditation as playing a goalie mean that I won't get frustrated when I let a thought get past my hockey stick? Of course not, goalies are human after all! I think that's why I picked hockey as a sport for my metaphor, it's very human and full of emotion, just like me. Meditation is not about losing my drive to win, after all. 

UCSD Center for Mindfulness mPEAK program

Improving Athletic Performance through Mindfulness - 

UCSD's mPEAK Program

by Kathleen Lisson

Shoes AND a meditation cushion - the new tools of running?

I am very fortunate to live in San Diego - I am able to attend the first public session of the UCSD Center for Mindfulness mPEAK program.

Our facilitators are Pete Kirchmer of Mindfulness Based Health, Lucas LeardMann and Lori Haase. My fellow students include an Ironman triathlete, a sports coach, a BMX cyclist, a physical therapist, a baseball player in a local Senior / Masters league, a surfer and several yoga enthusiasts. Some of us have practiced meditation before, and it is quite new for others.

The program is modeled closely to one that helped the USA Olympic BMX cycling team. According to the UCnet article 'Mindfulness training program may help Olympic athletes reach peak performance,' "the first group of athletes to complete a mindfulness training program developed at UC San Diego won first, second and third place at the 2014 USA Cycling Elite BMX National Championships."

The eight week program meets on Tuesday nights for two and a half hours, and participants are encouraged to meditate for an hour every day. During the meetings we experience meditation and different mental and movement exercises designed to let us explore the effects of mindfulness on physical performance. Instead of a classroom environment complete with lecture and handouts, our meetings focus on each participant experiencing mindfulness in new ways and gathering knowlege from those experiences.

I look forward to posting my reactions to the class on my blog. I want to give myself a few weeks to let the training sink in and reveal its benefits. If you would like a taste of what the daily meditation practice is like, here is a link to the audio files for our body scan meditation as well as other guided meditations: Guided Audio Files to Practice Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.

I would like to thank Alex Hutchinson of Sweat Science for writing the Runner's World article 'Mindfulness for Athletes' that piqued my interest in the mPEAK program. Follow Alex on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/sweatscience

I will admit, I signed up for the class wanting to know what those BMX athletes learned to improve their performance. I am now far more interested in the effects of mindfulness training in my own athletic performance!

How to Build 'Mental Muscle' - With Boredom?

Mental Training for Long Distance Runners

by Kathleen Lisson

I am still thinking of the excellent article on mental training I read in Runners World recently. In 'How to Build Mental Muscle,' Alex Hutchinson details how he used "brain training" to strengthen his resolve in the last miles of a marathon. 

Does Being 'Bored' Slow Us Down?

Hutchinson found that exhausting his mind with a boring online task for an hour before a training run helped him to simulate late-race conditions. I understand how this could happen - running after a long day of work often seems far more tiring than it should be. 

• Could being mentally exhausted affect race time just as much as physical exhaustion slows us down?

• How can we as runners strengthen this weakness and perform at our best late in a race or on a long run?

What can you do as an athlete to simulate mental exhaustion before a training run? Let me know your ideas by sending me a tweet at @kathleenlisson

Read the article here: http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/how-to-build-mental-muscle?page=single

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

Can Athletes Improve their Endurance by Using Marine Corps ‘Mental Fitness’ Techniques?

Can Athletes Improve their Endurance by Using Marine Corps ‘Mental Fitness’ Techniques?

A Powerpoint slide from Dr. Millegan's presentation

by Kathleen Lisson

I recently learned about how Marines in San Diego are using ‘mental fitness’ exercises to combat chronic pain.

In a lecture sponsored by the UC San Diego Health System Center for Integrative Medicine, Dr. Jeffrey Millegan, MD MPH presented a video case report of a US Marine with chronic pain who participated in the Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) Mind Body Medicine program.

The Marine was living with a debilitating injury and chronic pain, but found healing through starting a meditative practice. Dr. Millegan spoke about how Marines who had a regular meditative practice were about to stay “in the zone” in their daily lives.

If Marines find value in adding meditation to their daily lives, would it also benefit endurance athletes?

Meditation can help athletes change the way they react to situations and emotions that can decrease performance, like pain, stress and fear of failure.

If you could lower your post-workout stress levels and change the way you perceive the normal pain of endurance training:

• Would the quality of your workouts improve?

• Would you be less likely to skip workouts?

• Would you feel more "in the zone" and confident about your training and performance?

I am excited to find out. 

I have run a few half marathons in the past, but I will put my love of the distance to the test as I try to earn a Triple Crown in 2015. The training will be hard and last for over 9 months. I am going to add meditation to my workout schedule and see if I can use the ‘mental training’ it provides to keep my body healthy through the process.

A card Dr. Millegan gave to the attendees

I came away from the presentation with a number of resources:

Relax Relax is a Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center Health Promotion and Wellness Department website with mental fitness resources including guided meditations:

http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcphc/health-promotion/psychological-emotional-wellbeing/relax-relax/pages/index.html

The NMCSD website:

http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcsd/Patients/Pages/MBM.aspx

Integrated Health Community Portal - http://www.sdihc.org

According to their website, the UCSD Center for Integrative Medicine focuses on whole-person wellness by addressing physical, as well as lifestyle, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs. http://cim.ucsd.edu/

Mental Training Tips for Endurance Athletes - Overcoming Pain & Distance

Mental Training Tips for Endurance Athletes - Overcoming Pain & Distance

by Kathleen Lisson

The Runners World article 'Raise Your Athletic IQ' provides tips on overcoming common obstacles to completing long, hard training runs. 

The article shares advice from Cindra Kamphoff, Ph.D., a sports psychology consultant and professor at Minnesota State University. Kamphoff discusses the different techniques that recreational and elite runners use to cope with pain, and shares the secrets that top runners use to avoid bailing on long, hard runs. 

I agree with the advice to take it 'one mile at a time' on long runs. I also used this advice while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I was certainly suffering by the midway point on summit night. Thinking of the fact that I had four hours until the summit was daunting. Instead, I concentrated on just putting one foot in front of the other until the dawn. Separating that hike into chunks of effort helped me to get all the way to the summit. 

Read the article here: http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/raise-your-athletic-iq?cid=socTP_20140823_30278386