Fighting negative energy before a race!

Well this was an experience, my first race in quite a while and one which I had to force myself to do, if I am going to raise awareness of mental health in the sports field, or the business world for that matter I needed to do start doing what I suggest to others. The truth is for the last year, since my dog become ill early last year (she has sadly now passed away) I have struggled for motivation to race, to the point where I have become a bit scared of it. A couple of viruses at the beginning of the year also knocked my confidence so this was a changing point for me.

This was the Morpeth 10K, my own clubs race and I put a huge amount of pressure on myself. I had trained well over the last 3 months and know what I am capable of. The problem is my heart knows that but my head keeps telling me I aren’t good enough. When I arrive at the race venue I look around and see who ‘looks’ quicker than me, who else ‘look’ like runners. Why do I think I can run as fast as them? How quickly will the pain in my legs kick in? Why does that little hill look like Mount Everest?

Chatting to other runners the first question they ask is what time am I going for? Now the pressure starts and I answer it with a very bland ‘I don’t really care about time, I am just going to go out and enjoy it’ but I don’t really believe this. I know what time I want, I know what my goals are but I don’t want people to think I have failed if I have a bad race. Some people call this imposter syndrome, I just call it part of the process.

So how do I manage this? This applies in running, business and life, I have a very clear process.

1: I ask myself why do I run? I run because I enjoy it, it is a part of me and helps me manage my stress. Why am I letting something I do to manage stress, stress me out? Just relax, focus on the enjoyment of a race, the atmosphere and the fact that I am out here competing. I think about all the areas of my life running has helped, my mental health, my fitness, my overall health and focus on enjoying the experience.

2: I visualise the race, focus on my breathing, the other friendly folk around me who absolutely will not judge me, nor do they care if I reach my desired time or not! I think about the times when running is like being in cruise control, when it is easy and I am just in that zone. I think about what I will do when/if things get tough, what I have done in the past that has helped. I think back to the training I have done, motivating words my coach says to me, the belief he has in me. Now I have a plan and I am getting in the right frame of mind. Any negative thoughts are now positive ones filled with the joy of running.

3: The last thing I do is smile on the start line, wish as many people good luck and to have a great race. I give other people encouragement, I tell people to enjoy it, to look around and see the smiling faces of those watching. I smile at the marshals, the volunteers and staff who help put on these races. I make sure I spread positive energy around, this helps me create positive energy around me.

This can be applied in business too and I try to do this with my Thrive Together, I enjoy what I do so why let it stress me out. I visualise what good I can bring to the workplace, how this will impact other people life. I encourage, I see the best in people and most of all I smile. After every uphill there will also be a downhill, we learn from going uphill and use this experience when going downhill.

To finish I had a good race, it was tough at times but I remembered all those things to help get me through them.