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Friday, November 21st, 2008

Top Fitness

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How do I get at the level of top runners at the high school state meets?

I have been running for about a year now and have been dedicating time and a lot of effort to my training schedule for cross country season. But this year I want to be much faster and was wondering what that extra thing is that the top runners have that make their time so fast, is it their overall fitness or is it more of a mental thing in races that give them a extra push to win a race?

there are different factors for different people. for some they are just more naturally talented than other people and we just have to live with that fact as unchangeable. Other factors you can influence, however. Some people might be doing different things fitness-wise that may give them a slight edge, but what I in my own experience have found to be the key factor is like you said, a mental thing.

It takes a certain mindset to be good at "racing." sure, plenty of people can go out and run in a race, but that is not what I call "racing." that, in my mind, is when you go out with a competitive mindset and give it your all to achieve a result. There is a difference between running in a race and racing in a race. In order to get into that mindset self-confidence is the most important factor. You have to KNOW that you are capable of achieving your goals. From the outside, this confidence may seem to border on arrogance, but I think it takes a certain, healthy amount of that to not psyche yourself out of a race. You cannot be scared of the other people in the race no matter how fast they are, you cannot let them dictate how you run, you have to not be afraid to run your own race. If you manage to get into this mental state you will find yourself performing far better than if you have a frightened or negative attitude.

Here is a personal story that I think illustrates this point. A few weeks ago I was in St. Louis at the NAIA Track and Field National Championships running the 1500m. I qualified for the finals running 3:54 which was 3 seconds faster than I had ever run. My goal for the finals was to make All-American which is the top 6 places. I figured, based on the other athletes, that it would take a sub-3:50 performance to achieve that. So I didn't just say, "Oh well, I guess everyone else is too fast, maybe next year." or anything like that. I just said, "well, I guess I'll have to run under 3:50." In the final I ran 3:50.12 and placed 6th getting the last All-American spot. Moral of the story, amazing things are possible if you keep a positive and competitive attitude. I dropped my time by 7 seconds total at Nationals, which is unheard of, but I had faith in myself.