We’ve all been there. You finished your perfected, ritualized pre-run breakfast; you’re dressed and ready to go with a fully charged garmin on your wrist but you cannot seem to manage getting out the door because you’re nervous about a training run. A TRAINING RUN.
You think: “If I’m this nervous about a training run, how will I ever achieve my race day goals? If I can’t complete this workout, I’m done. Game over.”
Or even worse, you start to talk yourself out of your race day goals.
Getting our thoughts onboard to match our physical capabilities is challenging. In fact I truly believe it’s the most challenging part of training for many runners, myself included.
So what do we do about it? We spend time training our brains the same way we spend time training our legs and lungs.
Here are 4 things to do now to stop psyching yourself out before your next run:
- Stop judging every workout. One bad or one good workout will not determine anything.
- Acknowledge that a run is just a run, nothing less and nothing more.
- Say this out loud or to yourself before heading out the door “I will try my best no matter what. I will accept that my best effort today is all I can give and it’s all I will ask of myself. No matter what time is on my watch or how far I run, I accept whatever that number is knowing I gave my all.”
- Remember that running is suppose to be fun, not stressful. Smile while you’re getting ready to run. Smile while you’re running no matter how much it hurts while working hard. Smile (period).
Do you ever get so worked up about a training run that you get race day like butterflies?
I love this! As runners, it’s so easy to get stuck in our own heads. My best runs are always the ones where I can get completely out of my head and just enjoy the run. I did a lot of smiling this morning!
That’s great! Glad you had a smiley run this a.m.!
This could not have come at a better time for me. Thank you!
Great! I hope it’s helpful!
This is great. I always psych myself out before a big run and end up struggling because I’m in the wrong mind frame. I’m going to try this tomorrow.
Great post! I like the mantra you included to say before every run…I need to do that. Sometimes I do get nervous before new workouts and I psych myself out thinking I won’t be able to hold pace. But this traininig round before NYC, I have been more confident and realize that has definitely affected me! When I feel confident I can nail a workout, I feel awesome. I need to keep working on my mental toughness!
This post was exactly what I needed. Thanks Jess 🙂
Great motivational words! I feel like I am so stuck in the rut right now, and I just can’t seem to get moving- it’s like an object at rest staying at rest. Have you ever gotten stuck like that?
Hi Jess! Stumbled upon your awesome blog today and this was perfect as I’m training for my first marathon EVER! Being competitive has been a struggle for my during my runs, but I’m glad to know others have the same concerns as I do! I just keep saying to myself #trustyourtraining !!