I went to a coaching clinic a few weeks ago, and was struck by the talk on Mental Skills delivered by Bobby McGee. I have always considered the mental aspect of running to be one of my strengths. Compared to others with similar natural ability, I feel like I have gotten a lot out of myself and done a lot with what I have.
Over the last couple of years, and the last year in particular, that hasn't really been the case. I have found it hard to get as excited and invested in pushing myself. The loss of mental sharpness can certainly be attributed to a change in priorities in life, and a certain level of realism as to what I can expect to do based on what I put into preparing for races. However, listening to Bobby, it struck me again that these are all choices -- not only how we choose to prepare, but also how we plan to recover between workouts, and how we choose to view our preparations and our expectations in running. It's easy for self-deprecating talk to become a self-sabotaging attitude.
One of the downfalls of having run some fast times is that it becomes very easy to compare yourself to your best day in the past...and forgetting all of the tough stretches and months and years of good training and recovery that led up to that race. What is the point of that? Who cares what you did five years ago? It's death to live in the past. What matters is feeling like you're doing the best that you can on that day, in that race. Preparing to the best of your ability, taking the risk of caring about your success. There may come a time when I decide that racing is no longer for me. Until that time, I might as well do it right.
Over the last couple of years, and the last year in particular, that hasn't really been the case. I have found it hard to get as excited and invested in pushing myself. The loss of mental sharpness can certainly be attributed to a change in priorities in life, and a certain level of realism as to what I can expect to do based on what I put into preparing for races. However, listening to Bobby, it struck me again that these are all choices -- not only how we choose to prepare, but also how we plan to recover between workouts, and how we choose to view our preparations and our expectations in running. It's easy for self-deprecating talk to become a self-sabotaging attitude.
One of the downfalls of having run some fast times is that it becomes very easy to compare yourself to your best day in the past...and forgetting all of the tough stretches and months and years of good training and recovery that led up to that race. What is the point of that? Who cares what you did five years ago? It's death to live in the past. What matters is feeling like you're doing the best that you can on that day, in that race. Preparing to the best of your ability, taking the risk of caring about your success. There may come a time when I decide that racing is no longer for me. Until that time, I might as well do it right.
While I agree with the idea that what matters is the here and now, I am 25 years past my best racing and I'm still racing (and still thinking in terms of back then); your thoughts might be a little different in 20 years or so!
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