Doubt. We all face it and it can derail a run, a race or a whole training season. I was chatting with a friend recently about how the mental side of running can sometimes be so much harder than the physical side. I think we all struggle with doubt and learning to manage it can be a process. I’ve always felt like getting my mind ready to race and run can sometimes be much harder than the actual runs themselves. I’ve come up with a few strategies for dealing with doubt and thought I’d share them in case they helped anyone else.
Before the Race
- Put in the work. You can only be truly confident in yourself if you’ve taken the time to put in the work. Once you know that you’ve put in the work on the backend you can focus on letting your mind reflect that knowledge.
- Commit to your goal. This goes along with putting in the work, but once you’ve set your goal, help yourself be successful at reaching it by really committing to doing what is necessary to reach that goal.
- Be realistic. I recently wrote about this in Women’s Running, but be honest about your training. If you need to make adjustments, do so. Be smart and that will help set you up for success and that can help eliminate doubt.
- Visualize the finish you want. I find when I start to get anxious about a race, I will visualize myself crossing the finish line and see the time on the clock that I want. It sounds silly, but I find it does help me.
- Check in with a trusted running friend. I find that another thing that helps me deal with doubt is reaching out to my running buddies who know what my training has been like and can remind me to believe in myself. The nice thing about these friends is that they won’t just say “oh yeah, you will totally kill it” without really knowing my training. They give measured, helpful advice that I know I can trust and they always encourage me to believe in myself and my abilities.
During the Race
- When you are in the moment, use your mantras and motivations. When I am racing and it gets hard, I think about how hard I have trained. But more than that, I use phrases that help motivate me to keep going.
- Break the race into chunks. If you’ve ever run a long run with me, you know that I do this ALL the time. I’m quick to think to myself (or out loud to friends) – “okay, only 2 miles to the turn around and then it’s just a 10k” or whatever the case may be. Breaking down the race into chunks that are manageable in my head helps me immensely. I suggest figuring out what mental games work for you and then exploiting the heck of out of them in the race.
- Acknowledge that the fact that it hurts doesn’t mean you aren’t strong. One thing I’ve learned is that racing to my full capabilities will hurt at some point during the race. It will not feel “good” or “easy” the whole way through. There will be a point (or points) in the race where it will be hard and it will hurt. This fact doesn’t mean I should doubt my myself – it means that I should embrace the pain and keep pushing (obviously there is a difference between the pain of a PR and injury – be smart!).
This strategy has worked for me previously and I hope that some of these tips on dealing with doubt are helpful for you.
How do you handle self doubt while racing?
What great suggestions, Courtney! That part about putting in the work seems to be one of the most important components, for me. If I’ve done something in a workout, and it went pretty well, chances are I can convince myself that I can do it in a race. Mental games definitely seem to help! I’m excited for your upcoming race; YOU have put in the work, and it’s time to show off.
Thank you – I’m really excited to race next weekend!
I always have doubt before starting a race, even if I have trained well. When I start doubting myself during the race, I look down at my wrist to read my Momentum Jewelry wrap or I start listening to a motivational song on my playlist.
I welcome nerves but do try and banish doubt! I’m always nervous but doubt gets into my head so I try to deal with it accordingly 🙂
Its easy to question our abilities, especially the closer we get to a major race. But if we aren’t honest, and confident, with ourselves then we can’t expect anybody else to be able to cheer us along.
Kathryn @ Dancing to Running recently posted…2017 Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Half Marathon Recap
One thing that has helped me stay positive when things aren’t going as well as I’d hoped is to remember my backup goals. I never used to do this, but in recent years, I’ve set backup goals for my races. Those goals help me keep the whole race in perspective and remind my that my training was not in vain.
Yes- I’ve been setting A,B & C goals for races for awhile and I find it really helps!
When I do my long runs I’ve been mentally “chunking” the miles and they don’t seem that bad. I hope I can do that for the race this weekend!
I hope you had a great race, Meranda! Looks like you had awesome support!
So much truth in all this. I am a mantra queen, will write them on my arms during a race for the visual cue and will sometimes assign one to a goal race to remind myself of during training runs. Sometimes I tell myself that I want to hurt after a race because then I know I’ve left it all out there. Mental challenges are so much harder to overcome than physical ones a lot of the time!
Alaina @ The Simple Peach recently posted…Berry Half Marathon Race Recap
Mental challenges can be SO much more difficult!
Wow! This really rings so true for me. I ran the NYC Marathon in 2016 and it didn’t quite turn out the way I had planned. I finished! But, it was so hard. I blamed the course! I blamed so many things. The reality is that I had to change my training plan due to injury. I didn’t change my goal to fit the training. I set myself up for frustration. I think if I would have been a little more realistic and gone through the steps that you mentioned, I would have had a more enjoyable experience. Thanks again!
This has rung true for me as well. Sometimes having to assess where we actually are in terms of prep can be really hard.
Great post and tips, Courtney! I’ve found that visualization works so well to give me confidence. Of course, I think that your top point is the most important. Confidence in my training gives me confidence in my race.
Debbie @ Deb Runs recently posted…Gingery Chicken And Vegetables Stir-Fry
Yes! Confidence is a game changer for me in terms of feeling good before a race!
These are great suggestions, Courtney! The worst case of doubt I ever had was during Mile 11 of the Richmond Marathon. I just all of a sudden felt like I couldn’t do it anymore! Training for my 8th marathon (and 6th attempt at sub-4) right now is allowing for a lot of doubt but I’m so determined to put the work in and not let that cloud my training!
Oh man, I’ve been there before FOR SURE. What marathon is next for you?
Ottawa! And then Richmond!
Great tips! I find the motivation from running friends to be one of the most helpful to me. I have yet to embrace the pain during the race, but I’m working on it!
I have yet to embrace the pain in a marathon – but I have done so in a half. Hoping I can really embrace it when I run Berlin this fall!