Skip to main content
Photo: Reece

Finding Your Mental Edge through Visualization

By
February 23rd, 2024
News

Tired, sore, feeling like marathon training is taking over your life? This might be the all too familiar feeling of reaching the peak weeks of marathon training. With big stops on the racing calendar in Boston, London, Vancouver and Ottawa just around the corner, I tried to reflect on what has gotten me through the toughest weeks of training. This is most certainly a time when you need to find your mental edge, to help you get through the tough weeks of training. The one thing I keep coming back to is visualization, specifically race day. Whether I’m grinding through a tough patch in a long run or plodding along on an easy recovery run, I often find my mind wandering back to race day.

Running has become so much more than training your body, with so many in the running community talking about how they gain a mental edge. Heck, the world marathon record holder, Eliud Kipchoge, countlessly refers to his mental game and approach when asked about his success, yet he rarely talks about the actual running.

When your mind sees you accomplish a task, it begins creating the neural pathways to have it come to fruition. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy at its finest. The more you visualise, and the more senses you add to the experience, the more convinced your subconscious will be that you can accomplish a difficult task.

Deena Kastor, Olympic Bronze medalist, former American Marathon record holder

So, how exactly do I practice visualization?

Start by setting aside a few minutes in your day to visualize both race situations, and carry these scenarios into your training sessions. Whether you’re pushing up the hills in Vancouver or battling the heat and humidity of the East Coast, all of these scenarios playing out in training offer the perfect opportunity to flex your mental strength to successfully run through anything on race day.

Be realistic — There is no guarantee as to how you are going to feel on race day. Visualize yourself both pushing through the suffering and having a great day. What do you need to tell yourself to get out of that deep, dark hole? Or better yet, what will help you find that extra gear if you’re having a good day?

Visualize the course — look over course maps, and create routes in training that mimic the terrain you will experience on race day. Overcoming these obstacles in practice will help prevent any panic on race day and allow you to focus on other more important variables.

Relax — When sitting down to practice visualize, give yourself the best shot of making those visualizations realistic by creating the space you need to get in the zone. Whether that’s sitting in a quiet room, or heading out for a recovery run, do what you need to get into a calm space (breath deeply, calm your mind, think positively).

Learning to take control of your thoughts begins with paying attention. Then, ask yourself if your mindset is serving you in the best way possible and begin playing with your words and tone.

Deena Kastor

We’ve sprinkled in some quotes from one of running’s greatest, Deena Kastor. If you’re looking for a read to get you in the zone come race day, her book Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory is a great place to start.

Some other books we love are Grit by Angela Duckworth and The Champion’s Mind by Jim Afremo. While these are resources we love, what works for you is going to be very personal. We highly encourage you to take some time to explore what’s out there for yourself and develop your own practice for finding your mental edge.

  • Dylan Wykes

    Dylan is the co-founder of M2M and an Olympian in the Marathon (London 2012). He is one of the most successful marathon runners in Canadian history. During his 10-year coaching career he has helped hundreds of runners achieve their goals.

    More about Dylan