State of Mind

I've recently begun wondering just how big of a role mental attitude has in performance. After running the 2002 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, I realized that anyone who "wanted" to run a marathon could do it. I also had this surprising realization after crossing the finish line at the 2005 Ford Ironman Wisconsin. At the time, I was sure that covering the distance was possible if you put you mind to it. Struggling through that brutal day, I found a voice in my head that said "Constant forward progress." When the hills on the bike killed my quads I would walk up the hills and when I could no longer run during the marathon I would walk. I'm sure if I would have reached a point where I could no longer walk I would have crawled as long as I was making progress toward the final goal - 140.6 miles from where I started that morning. But does this same mental attitude also affect speed?

Maybe it does! When I used to talk about running I would classify myself as "slow." Sure I wasn't blazing fast, but I wasn't extremely slow either. A couple of friends mentioned that I was posting some pretty decent runs. Of course, I attributed those to having a good day, having a better running cadence as a result of my cycling, any excuse I could come up with. One day I actually looked at my running and quietly said to myself, "You are fast(ish)!" Next thing I know, I ran a 1:40 for a half marathon. This only re-enforced the idea I was fast, and I started to train like I was fast. The result, I demolished my 5K PR. I have even started to use the word fast when talking about my running. The real question now is "Am I fast because I have always been fast? or Am I fast because I started to believe I'm fast?"