Eliminating Self-Doubt

How to get rid of self-doubt

Have you ever had doubted yourself? Have you ever thought that no matter what you do, you’re never going to get better or faster?

Unfortunately, a lot of runners and athletes feel this way. We all question what we are doing and if we are doing it the “right way” – or will we continue to be stuck in that perpetual wheel. Here’s a story that a lot of us can relate to…

Yesterday was a crappy run and most of it was my poor attitude. I feel like I’m exerting myself, but I look at the pace and see how slow I am, then I get discouraged. How do I push myself through a funk during a long run and what gets athletes into that competitive mode of pushing themselves to the limit? I guess I don’t want to just improve my pace – but I would like to see if I can push myself outside my comfort zone. Maybe that is my biggest barrier – the comfort zone.

Wanting to be Better

I see what you’re talking about with every single runner – first day runners and the elites. It’s something that everyone grapples with. I want to be awesome, but I just don’t see how I will get from where I am right now to where I want to go.

To me, the mind is a very powerful tool. If you can convince your mind to do what you want your body to do, you have that much better of a chance of succeeding. Likewise, if your mind says “no”, your body will follow (and fail you).

Routines

For starters, let’s try this… For one week, completely switch up your routine.

If you usually run the same loop, run somewhere completely new.
If you always wear a Garmin or GPS watch, don’t.
If you do a particular cross training video, find a new routine.

This will SPICE things up and get you excited to work out instead of fearful of working out. Sure, you may fail or it may not work out the way you wanted to, but it’s something NEW. And that will kick-start you to get out of your rut.

And food for thought… “slow” and “age” are relative. What would this guy say to you? https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/104-old-breaks-100m-record-oldest-europe-race-114356983.html Would he laugh and say you are a speed demon?? I bet he would. The runner that you are today is much faster than the runner you were a month ago. You have to admit that you’re getting better. And progress is all you can ask for. Right?

To get advice or to communicate with run coach Marc, contact him here or here.