Taking control by programming yourself for success
When I told her I was writing a book on motivation, my wife Barbara asked “for what do you want to be motivated?” At first, most runners tend to answer with specifics: to finish a long run in the upright position, to run faster at a given distance, to finish ahead of a sister, neighbor, age group competitor, to qualify for Boston, or, my favorite, to enjoy every run. The specific goal helps the runner maintain cognitive focus at the beginning of a goal-oriented program.
But as you have discovered in the earlier sections of this book, the major challenge in maintaining motivation is maintaining focus as the workouts become more routine and the stress increases. A successful mental training program will reduce stress to a manageable level so that almost every run can bring joy and personal empowerment. The stage is then set for planning a realistic approach to your goal.
Have a goal for each run. This cognitive mental action can activate the executive brain as the warm-up switches on the good attitude circuit. As you think about each aspect of the workout, you can keep the human brain in charge. Without such focus, mental action will often drift under the control of the monkey brain which turns negative under stress and releases hormones that stimulate negative messages, such as “I’m too busy to run,” “I’ll get too tired,” “It’s not my day,” and “Why am I doing this?”
In the previous chapter, several strategies are offered for diffusing stress. In each case you will be taking conscious action, shifting control away from the subconscious reflex brain. Dr. Lipton explains the power of the conscious components of the frontal lobe:
“Endowed with the ability to be self-reflective, the self-conscious mind is extremely powerful. It can observe any programmed behavior we are engaged in, evaluate the behavior and consciously decide to change the program. We can actively choose how to respond to most environmental signals and whether we even want to respond at all. The conscious mind’s capacity to override the subconscious mind’s preprogrammed behaviors in the foundation of free will .”[7]
So by acknowledging the stress, maintaining mental focus, and using mantras when needed, you’ll produce positive peptides each step of the workout. The next step is to set up an ongoing mental training program that will “run you through” the anticipated challenges each day through a series of doable steps. This will desensitize you to the negative messages, while also giving you a plan with thoughts and words that will help you stay in the frontal lobe during that workout. As you refine and repeat the plan, you reprogram the brain to continue under adversity. This improves your sense of belief in the system, which will stimulate positive attitude circuits and hormones.
The following three mental training methods have helped tens of thousands to overcome motivational issues and be successful. In each case you are training the conscious brain to take control under a variety of challenges. You can do the mental training during a run, while driving, during a quiet time in the morning or evening, or whenever works for you.
Early morning mental training can get you focused for that day. Going through the plan in the evening can consolidate issues from the day and prepare for action the next day. When you combine the physical and mental training, you change the brain to take action quickly and efficiently.
Each of these mental methods will turn on the conscious brain and empower the creative and intuitive right side. For top performance you will need to keep activating this executive brain. The mental training can mold them into a balanced team as you stay on track to the goal for that day.
Even with a plan, workout or race stress will continue to stimulate negative attitude peptide production. So it is natural to flip control several times during a hard workout or race. Your conscious action to insert an extra walk break, repeat a mantra, and desensitize yourself to negative messages will help you maintain control over emotions by reactivating the human brain.
Maintaining control over stress is important throughout each workout and during the training program journey. Most of the workout stress can be controlled by using the tools in the section on diffusing running stress in the previous chapter. Continue to explore ways of dealing with your individual issues.
When the stress is too high, frontal lobe activity can be reduced or shut off temporarily. Adjusting to a slightly more conservative run walk run strategy will help to keep stress in balance better than any single adjustment I have found. For example, if you have been running for 2 minutes and walking for 30 seconds, try a few rotations of 60 seconds run/30 seconds walk (or better, 30/30) to catch up.
Desensitizing — You will get to know the adversities of performance or endurance during the long runs and speed workouts. Write down the doubts and negative messages that you have received. Rehearse these and write down a response to each one. This maintains cognitive control. For example:
When you get the message, “This is not your day,” talk back by saying, “I can do it!”
When you hear, “You’re losing strength,” say, “I feel strong!”
Aches and pains — See the TMS section in the glossary and the first chapter.
It is important to know when you have really damaged something or are just under the influence of TMS. Don’t hesitate to consult a doctor who wants you to continue running. He or she can help to draw the line.
Continuous increase in fatigue is a reality on long workouts. You can run with significant fatigue as long as you are within the guidelines of pacing and run walk run ratios. Don’t push on when there is pain—walk for one to three minutes. On long runs you will get the same endurance even if you walk the last half.
Low blood sugar level (BSL) will increase stress, negative peptides, resulting in reduced mental focus. Candace Pert, PhD, notes that blood glucose supports the ability of the neurons to store and secrete all of the messenger chemicals—neurotransmitters and neuropeptides. So a lower BSL means lower transmissions.[8] Eating a blood sugar booster is a simple fix. See the chapter on this topic in this book.
So let’s now move on to the mental training techniques that can desensitize you to the stress build-up and prepare you to keep going at a realistic pace when it’s really tough. Whether you are just trying to get out the door to run three days a week or are pushing through strenuous speed training for a Boston Marathon qualifier, the principles are the same.
But you need a plan if you want to maximize your potential. With a plan you’ll have more control over attitude, energy level, mental focus, and life itself. The sustaining rewards come from finding out a bit more about who you are, choosing goals that are realistic, and finding that you have more strength inside during challenges than you ever thought possible.