How to build your confidence for 26.2 miles using net-zero energy framework
Follow along as I build my confidence for my first marathon.
Over the past several weeks I’ve been starting to build my mileage for the Lakefront Marathon and the California International Marathon this fall. This would be a daunting task for most people, but given that I’ve never run a marathon, I’ve been petrified. I ran in college where I did anywhere from 55-85 miles per week. I’ve never run more than 18 miles at a time. However, as a mental performance coach, I’ve been using some of the latest psychological skills training to help boost my confidence to reach it to the start line, and the 26.2 miles afterwards without burning out.
Science of Confidence
When it comes to building confidence for a marathon, especially if you’ve never run one like myself, it can be difficult to maintain and sustain the ability to run all out for three to four hours. However, the belief that you can run for three to four hours at a time is just as daunting, just as any other race may be. However, more recent work has been done on understanding how to develop confidence in high-performance settings by reinforcing much of what Bandura has talked about for the last 50 years. Keep reading for an in-depth guide to developing confidence during your season and learn strategies on how to sustain your confidence despite setbacks in training because they are bound to happen.
Physical Training and Challenging Experiences
What I’ve learned from other runners so far is that you must respect the distance, and the volume that goes into it. Running for three to four hours at a time is supposed to be hard, and the training leading up to it will not always be a jog in the park (although most of it will). With that, constantly reminding yourself and challenging your fitness is one of the fundamentals to building confidence in yourself. If you’re not putting the work in, you’re going to have a fear of failure sitting in the back of your mind. This is simply because you don’t know what the floor of your potential looks like due to the lack of structure training to push you forward. At the same time, this self-limiting belief also holds you back from experiencing the peak of your true potential. If you find yourself in a space where you’re contemplating training, writing out a pros and cons list, as well as your goals, and looking at opportunities to train will be helpful for you to start the physical and mental preparation.
Once you’ve developed a rhythm in your life where you’re constantly training, creating experiences of perceived high-pressure with your coach can simultaneously boost your performance and confidence. For a runner, this may look like decreasing your rest during mile repeats for a track session or throwing in surges of pace on your long run for 20 seconds. You don’t always have to “hit the wall” during your workouts, but you should know how close in relation you are to using all your energy. Understanding your limits and opportunities to challenge yourself is one of the fundamentals to overcoming performance plateaus. Knowing and understanding your limits is key to
Visualization
I’ve talked about using imagery in mental training in previous posts. However, Andrew Huberman recently finished an episode that was better than anything I could ever put on paper with mental training. When we talk about using imagery to build confidence, my mind typically goes into two scripts:
Using imagery to practice feeling confident
Using imagery to practice mastered experiences (getting through a bonk, finishing a workout, etc.)
I’ve used this in the past- especially if my racing legs have been in absentia. Even reminding yourself of the physical sensation of running hard and mentally rehearsing your turnover can be helpful in easing some nerves.
When thinking about the duration of a marathon, most sane coaches would tell you that unless your career depends on it, you should not be over-distance training and running more than 26.2 miles during a workout. With that being said, the internet is a beautiful tool to watch somebody else run 26.2 miles. I’ve used this for races before where I’ve wanted to expose my brain to the duration of the race, and not just see it on a piece of paper. You don’t have to do this every week, but it gives a great third person perspective on the length of a marathon if you do it at least once in your training cycle.
Another way of building confidence is by watching somebody else perform a desired behavior, such as running a marathon. If marathons are sparse in your area, the internet is a beautiful tool to watch somebody else run 26.2 miles. I’ve used this for races before where I’ve wanted to expose my brain to the duration of the race, and not just see it on a piece of paper. You don’t have to do this every week, but it gives a great third person perspective on the length of a marathon if you do it at least once in your training cycle. Volunteering for races also gives perspective and develops social support.
Managing Your Inner Narrative
At some point during your training, you’ll more than likely experience bonking. I can tell you that in both perspectives it’s like hitting a wall both physically and mentally. Understanding the mental transition between feeling ‘good’ and ‘not good’ on a run is important to expose yourself to for three reasons:
You understand what your inner dialogue might say to you during that time.
You understand where your biomechanics break down when you’re overly fatigued.
You can go back and look at your nutrition plan to find where you went wrong during training.
Understanding your inner narrative and which thoughts are mentally holding you down are key to building confidence. When it comes to mental clarity during those moments during distress, there’s two streams of thought for thought management. The first thing you can do is try to change them into what I call a net-zero inner narrative strategy. You can either try to change or restructure your inner dialogue from a negative to positive thought. One way of doing it is that for every mile, or 5k, or 10k you’ve run during a workout, remind yourself of something positive, or something that you’re grateful for.
There are going to be races where despite every positive thing that you have going on in your life, you’re still going to have negative self-talk towards yourself or towards the race. This may be a great time to reach out to a coach, or sport psychology practitioner, to talk about what’s fueling your inner dialogue. From there, you can ask them how to cultivate acceptance that not every race is going to be perfect and create a mental workflow to help you overcome negative barriers during difficult moments. This could be entirely dependent on the training you did going into the race. It could also be something that was completely out of your control. Think of it as an energy audit on your home. You can see what thoughts might be furthering you down your bonk, and which thoughts are keeping you anchored for your goals. You can take measures to reduce energy loss by patching up holes in the house or acknowledge that there’s seasons where you are going to be spending more on energy.
Social Support
Individual sports can become daunting when done entirely isolated. In addition, it can be difficult to have a benchmark and compare your fitness when you don’t have anyone to train with. This is why I recommend having at least a few close friends or teammates to run with to help you maintain a social life during hard training blocks. They can help you stay accountable and bounce ideas off each other. Iron sharpens iron, and having someone else to work with can help develop your confidence in challenging situations.
Physical and Emotional States
Confidence and anxiety have an inverse relationship when it comes to performance. However, our perception of the nerves we experience can make or break a race. Learning how to manage those nerves during our race (using breathwork, cues, etc.) can help us orchestrate the PR that we deserve for all the hard work you’ve put in. The next time you step on the line for a big workout, ask yourself “what am I feeling now? Is it nervous tension, or am I confident and excited for what’s about to happen?” From there, you can use some of the other strategies (acceptance, thought restructuring) to help you manage that energy into an ideal state.
Earlier in the piece I talked about pushing yourself mentally and physically through challenging experiences. Now, this is the perfect time to add in something that most people never talk about- the recovery. If you’re fatigued, do you feel as confident during a competition? Finding a mental and physical recovery protocol that works for you to manage fatigue and get the most out of your body. I’ve written previously on mental recovery strategies to help you not think about sports throughout your day but find what works best for you to develop a balance between sports and other aspects of your life.
These are all tools and conversations that I’ve used with myself or with other athletes to build and sustain their confidence. You must have the mindset of a machine, running everyday while preparing for a marathon. Utilizing your resources well and creating multiple sources of confidence will only further your growth as an athlete. Keep in mind that you don’t need to intentionally add every single trick in this post to help you. Find which one resonates with you the most and start there. If you’re curious, or wanting to brainstorm ideas, now is the perfect opportunity to contact me and we can have a 30-minute conversation around what that work might look like for you. Click the link on the ‘Work with Ryan’ page to find out more.
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