Discussion: Mental

Have you thought about how you mentally act in a race? I found in high school I actually got bored running track compared to orienteering. So I had to play games with myself. That was easier to do when I found a pace slightly slower and were able to pick people off at the end. Best one was last two laps there were two girls just in front of me one race and I decided they were Holly and Tori and if I wanted to go to JWOC I had to beat them. Got a PB that day :) not as fast as your time but I was happy.
So don’t think all about speed and training volume it’s mental to

And I don’t know if that helps at all but I also find AP a good place to dump thoughts when I have time ;)

My grandpa once suggested to me that during a long track race, visually go through an old sprint course in your head. Imagine each 100m is a control and visualize terrain along with obstacles as the people in the race actually going on on the track. Seems crazy but it helped me get though and keep pushing during lap 5 of a 3k.

Hmm, interesting advice, thanks for the input folks :) It seems like a good idea to play mental games or something like it during a race, but I'm wondering if there's a way to stay mentally focused on the race itself rather than something else? But then again that seems very mentally taxing so I don't know...