Even in my few short years coaching recreational runners to achieve their goals, you can start to pick out a few key themes and messages that are likely to stand the test of time and outlast whatever the latest, hilarious marketing trends of the week are.
One of those key messages is the importance of the mental side running, as opposed to the physical side.
Nine times out of ten as runners and across the fitness industry, we look to measure and improve our physical side, whether it be the distance that we run, the time that we do, the physical preparations we make, the weight loss we achieve, the physical injuries we sustain, the fancy new running gear that we wear. Whilst these are all important in their own way, and very real, these are not the full story. In fact they are probably about 20% of the story.
Those in business or in the personal development space will have heard of the Pareto principle. This suggests that 80% of the benefits come from 20% of the resources or 80% of the problems come from 20% of the issues. Wherever we look, this 80/20 principle seems to stack up time and time again. Think about where 80% of your frustrations come from at work. My guess is it’s a small number of people or issues, possibly even fewer than 20%.
Our running is no exception to this rule.
I remember one of the first interviews that I did when I started coaching, was with Kiwi professional triathlete, Vanessa Murray. Halfway through our interview she suggested that triathlon was “80% mental, 20% physical.” At the time I didn’t think much about it. It seemed a bit overstated but I wasn’t going to argue. A few years later down the track, I can safely say that she was right. This split in the numbers seems to have come back to me time and time again, both as a runner and as a coach.
Think about it for a second. If you can’t mentally persuade yourself to get out of bed, you can’t do the physical training. If you aren’t disciplined enough in your mind, you won’t be consistent in your training. If you allow your emotions to take over, you will drink the extra wine that makes you feel like crap in the morning. If you are stressed at work, you won’t perform as well on your run. The list goes on... More often than not, the mental side comes first, yet we still either ignore it or put it in the ‘too difficult’ box and simply concentrate on the physical instead.
So what can we do to shift the balance?
Perhaps our answer lies within the Pareto principle itself? i.e. What are the 20% of things that we can do to achieve 80% of the results?
When you rephrase the question in this way it forces you to simplify. It forces you to reduce the number of options, say no to things, be efficient, focus on the things that will really make a difference.
Frustratingly, this is also the point where most magazines and online articles will refer to ‘one key running interval set’ or one particular type of dead lift or the single stretch that we all must do in order to become injury free. We've all been guilty of oversimplifying, but at this point, I call BS.
In principle, they are heading in the right direction, but once again are only concentrating on the physical side. If we are accepting that 80% of this running game is mental, then surely our answer and attention needs to be diverted that way.
More often than not, I see the runners who are successful in achieving their goals are the ones who:
Commit mentally to one goal and organise life accordingly.
Focus on what is best in the long term and training consistently over a longer period of time.
Choose to let go of their ego (a bit!)
The great thing is that these are all things we can do whether we are beginners or professionals. They can be done by the father of three, the working mum, the student, the corporate professional or the business owner.
The results I have seen from people who have made these three mental choices are awesome. They subsequently physically train well, follow the training plan, feel less stress and urgency associated with their training, gather momentum and remain consistent enough to physically improve their running over time. That improvement feeds their mental confidence and justifies the initial decisions they made. The circle is complete and the wheel keeps on turning.... Their investment in the 20% has paid them back 80%.