Runners often view competitors in races as combatants.

Races are a “me vs. them” contest where one person will win and the rest will lose.  Some runners spend a lot of time before races stressing out about their competitors and worrying about whether they can “beat them.”

If you really want to run to the best of your ability, this is the wrong way to view competitors.

The Real Meaning of “Competitor”

Far from the words “combatant” or “enemy,” the word competitor comes from the Latin word competere which means “to strive together.”

Competitors in races are not people to fear or despise, but rather people who give you the opportunity to strive to achieve your goals and attain great sense of satisfaction after winning the race or running your best time.

I know that I mentioned Pete Carroll’s book Win Forever in my prior post, but it has a great chapter on Carroll’s thoughts on what competition truly means.

The tougher my opponents, the more they present me with an opportunity to live up to my full potential and play my best…At the end of the day, that opponent is the person who makes you into the best competitor you can be.

Viewing your opponent as your friend instead of enemy goes against the rule of thumb for many athletes and coaches.  The common belief is that athletes must learn to look at competitors with contempt in order to “psych” themselves up for an all out effort.

However, spending energy and time obsessing over whether you can finish ahead of other racers is a complete waste of time and energy that will negatively affect performance.

Focus Inward On What Your Can Control

When I was a high school and college runner I always looked at the heat sheets that listed my competitors in a race with a sense of fear and nervousness. I would read off the names and how I would be able to beat the guys who had better times with me.

What a waste of time.

The energy that I put into obsessing and worrying about other runners was worthless because I had no control over what other runners did in the race.  They might run the race of their lives or run well below their potential, but all my worrying and anxious energy had no influence either way.

The hard work I put into analyzing other runners’ best times did not help me focus inward before the race on staying relaxed and running with confidence.  Staying relaxed and confident are things that actually could have a positive affect on my performance.

Instead having the goal of “beating” other runners, my goals should have been “to stay relaxed and refuse to give into negative thoughts.” By achieving the latter goal, I would have given myself the best chance of actually winning the race. Win Forever addresses this concept

We want to center our focus on what we can control, which is us. We have no control over what our opponents do; we can only control what we do. We want to maximize our potential, and to do that we must focus our energy and efforts on ourselves.

I think this view of competitors is really liberating.  How nice is it to ignore things that you can’t control and only have the obligation to focus on things that you can actually control?

So the next time you feel yourself focusing on your competitors in a race, make a point to view them as merely opportunities to succeed, and turn your attention inward to ensure that you give yourself the best chance to run your best.

Do you ever get nervous about running against certain competitors?

Photo courtesy of sophie http://goo.gl/G3tl9U / CC  BY

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Marne Dunn, a digital literacy strategic program manager at the Folsom campus, took Awake@Intel twice and has co-taught it.

“The main benefits are aroused awareness of myself and how critical I am of myself and not allowing negative self-talk. It was a matter of being frustrated that I wasn’t getting anywhere and I wasn’t being heard. I was finding when you have negative stuff going on, you’re projecting that,” Dunn said.

Marne’s comment about avoiding “negative self talk” is really interesting.  In my opinion, one of the biggest roadblocks for running success is self negativity.

It is very easy to fall into the trap of putting yourself down with comments like “I will never be able to lose weight,” “running is pointless – I never get better,” or “my injury will never heal.”

These kinds of comments create a toxic environment that will prevent meaningful running successes.

As mentioned in the article, meditation may be one way to recognize negative self-talk stop it from consuming you. Take a few minutes every day to close your eyes and focus inward on your thoughts.

If you feel negative thoughts come into view, recognize them and get them out of your mind – focus instead on positive thoughts. This simple exercise may help your mind become a benefit for your running instead of a hindrance.

[Portland Business Journal]

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Oftentimes, an overactive mind can be the biggest enemy to allowing the body to run fast. One solution is to quiet the mind by learning from one of the greatest golf teachers of all time: Harvey Pennick.

One of Mr. Pennick’s most famous pieces of advice for golfers is to quiet the mind before a swing and only have one thought: “taking dead aim” at a target. Before a shot, all negative thoughts must be shut out, and the golfer’s entire mind must be focused on one thing: hitting the ball at the target.

The mental clearing obtained from repeating the simple phrase “take dead aim” helps to relax the muscles and prevent over-thinking from sabotaging the swing.

Runners can learn a lesson from this advice. Instead of focusing on the different runners in a race, obsessing about running correct splits, and worrying about every negative thought, try quieting your overactive mind with one thought: “relaxed and focused.”

By repeating this phrase, or something similar, you will be able to reset your mind and prevent negative thoughts from tightening up your body. In your next workout or race, work on training not only your body but also quieting the mind and allowing your relaxed body to run faster than ever.

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Sports psychologists have come up with a number of ways to help runners overcome anxiety, including visualization (repeatedly imagining yourself running fast and achieving your goals), and positive self-talk (consistently saying positive things about your running). One aspect of positive self-talk is to talk yourself through a difficult workout or race by breaking it down into manageable segments.

Pondering a long workout, such as a 6 X 1 mile, or a long race, such as a half-marathon, can be overwhelming. The anxiety caused when thinking about a lengthy race or workout can cause negative thoughts that could have disastrous consequences for your running. Instead of thinking of a long workout or race as one long endurance test, try to break it down into manageable parts.

For example, tell yourself that a 6 X 1 mile is actually a 2 x 1 mile. Once you complete the two repeats, convince yourself that you just started and only have to run a 4 x 1 mile. After two more repeats, think how easy a 2 x 1 mile workout is, and realize that that is all you have to do.

This technique also works for races. Tell yourself that a half marathon is only a 5 mile race. Once you reach 5 miles, convince yourself that you only have another 5 mile race to run. After 10 miles, you now only have a 5k left and 5k’s are much easier than 5 milers!

If you find long workouts and races to be a little daunting, consider breaking down the distances into management segments. Hopefully this decreases your anxiety and increases your running focus.

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