When you begin training you will find that the longest and most strenuous mental and physical exertions all come at the start…It seems to me that stamina is just as much a mental attribute as a physical one. Make your mind healthy and it will do the rest. If it is not normally healthy, you will never make a decent job of anything.
One of my favourite maxims about training is that the most difficult part of any run is the bit between the sofa and the front door! Mental toughness is, I believe, essential in all forms of running in order to be successful This view is echoed by Noakes and Newton. Noakes devotes an entire section of his book to the mental aspect of the sport. At the elite level, often it is only the mental aspect that separates the medallists from the also-rans. Asafa Powell has held the 100m world record and has run more sub 10 second hundred metre races than any other runner – but on the big occasions he has never performed at that level. Alternatively, Lasse Viren produced very little between Olympics but was twice a double Olympic champion.
For those of us at a less rarified level, the mental aspect of running is often neglected but equally important. From goal-setting to completing events, recreational runners can improve performance through improved mental toughness. Coach Roy Benson, coaching advisor to Running Times, advocates occasional extreme training sessions specifically for the purpose of developing mental toughness. At 18 miles into a marathon, mental toughness is the thing that gets you through. One of the greatest milers ever, Herb Elliott
Was no stranger to training to develop mental toughness. He wrote, “If you emphasize the physical side of training you may become superbly conditioned but mentally not advanced at all. On the other hand, if you concentrate on the mental aspect, it is inevitable that the physical side will follow.”
My favourite thought to remember when struggling in a race is “Pain is temporary, glory is eternal!”
When I first started competing on the track, my main event was 400m hurdles. To get some insight into the event, I read David Hemery’s biography hoping to get some good tips about training. Hemery had spent the winter of 1967 at university in Boston before competing at the 1968 Olympics in the altitude of Mexico City. Hemery set a new world record in winning the gold medal – by the largest winning margin of any Olympic sprint event for 50 years. As well as his running training, Hemery spent time in the weights room. What really struck me though was the amount of time he spent on mental rehearsal. He was prepared for any type of race in any lane come the Olympic final because he had already replayed the scene many times in his head.
