Mental Toughness

             Running may seem like a sport that is all dependent on your training and physical state but your mental toughness can also play a very important part in your running ability. It is still important to be in shape and to train for meets but if you aren’t mentally prepared it can affect your running. Most runners need to be strong mentally in order to perform their best. If you don’t believe that you can run ten miles or you don’t believe that you can run a certain time you normally can’t. If you get it in your head that you will never be able to run really fast or to drop a lot of time off your race you probably won’t be able to.

                Having a good mental set when I’m running is something that I really struggle with. This weekend at my track meet I had to run a four hundred and it was really hot out and really windy that I thought it would be impossible to run a personal record on my four hundred that when I was running I still tried hard to run my best but I didn’t push myself as much as I would have if I would have believed that I could run faster.  If I can tell myself that I can break my record and I am capable of running whatever time I want I would probably be a much better runner. While I do try to tell myself that I can run faster there’s a part of me that still kind of doubts my ability and holds me back from possibly meeting my full potential.

                My sister is now a very good cross country runner but her freshman year of cross country she wasn’t nearly as good as she is now. After my sisters freshman year I think she gained a lot of mental strength and helped to improve so much in her times. After her freshman year my sister decided that she wanted to be a really good runner so she pushed herself and trained hard over the summer. She also believed in herself and her capability to be a good runner. When she started running sophomore year she dropped more than four minutes off of her freshman year times

                Running may seem like a sport in which you improve your times by training a lot and getting in shape but a lot of it also comes down to your mental strength and if you are able to push yourself and believe in yourself. If I could build my mental strength it may help me to be a better runner.  (441)