Visualization had not been part of my mental game for running. Not until I read Let Your Mind Run by Deena Caster. After realizing she needed more than talent alone to stay on the podium, she added positive thinking and visualization techniques to her arsenal.
She describes some of her tricks in great detail, and they sound amazing. But when I used hers, they didn’t work as much for me. Still, trying them on for size unlocked something. I started to develop my own, and maybe that’s the best way for this technique to work. Letting visions take shape in your mind, with your own context and beliefs.
One day while running, I began imagining myself as an airplane, picking up speed, looking for that sweet spot. Cruising altitude. Somehow I really felt like I was flying. I’ve come back to this one often and find I can get myself to crank up the pace, then lock it in, and find ease in the effort by imagining I am gliding.
Sometimes the visualization morphed. I turned into a train, gliding on the rails. This one seemed especially apropos since I do so much of my training on the Monon Trail, a converted Rails-to-Trails train track.
Another I’ve turned to often while working on pushing my pace is imagining the turning of a screw. I’m not quite sure where this one came from – it seemed to just appear and take hold.
You know that feeling when you think you’ve tightened a screw as far as it will go, but then crank it one more time and find this sudden give? And it turns more than you felt would be possible? There’s something oddly satisfying in that unexpected, easy momentum.
So I imagine this when I’m pushing as hard as I think possible. I turn the screw and ask myself, Is there a little bit more? Surprisingly, I often find that I do have that extra something, even though I thought I was at my max.
Recently, one of the pages from my Believe training journal (I’m on my third one) jumped out at me:
A page from the Believe Training Journal.
I don’t recall noticing it, but it may be that I just didn’t yet know what to do with it. So, I stored in away until after reading Deena’s book and figuring out how to use these mental games to push myself.
Just a bit more.