Run Faster by Training your Brain: Association

Train your brain to run faster, and while fatigued

Just like your body, your mind is trainable. Several highly effective strategies exist to train the brain. In this post, I will introduce the Association Strategy.

Have you ever had that training season where you demonstrated through the whole season that you could achieve a given race outcome, but on the day, you fell short? And not because of the course conditions, weather, or anything else, but because you didn't trust yourself and let negative thoughts take over?

When you are fatigued or feel discomfort from a hard effort like running at race pace or faster, your emotions and negative thoughts can take over your body like a puppeteer. This mind puppet will manipulate your nervous system and control your muscles, breathing, and heart rate.

You can train your brain puppet using various strategies. But here is the catch: you have to practice during training.

The Association Strategy

One effective strategy is called Association. Drown out the negative voices and other distractions by paying full attention to every aspect of your body while running. Pay attention to your breathing, form, hands, cadence, jaw, foot strike, etc.

Experienced athletes may find this strategy effective in improving performance, whereas inexperienced athletes may not. It may be easier for elite and experienced runners to do so because they are more likely to know how to breathe and run efficiently. If you are new to running, don't worry; you can learn how to run and breathe effectively, and I will address some other strategies in an upcoming post.

Besides shifting your focus from discomfort and negative thoughts, this attention to your form, breath, and body is also helpful because it can alert you if your form is falling apart, and you can make corrections to improve your efficiency and minimize fatigue. Win-win.

To practice Association effectively, you should know how to run correctly and efficiently. Elite and experienced runners should constantly fine-tune form.

How to use the Association Strategy.

Pay attention to your body, breath, and form.

Body Check

Move from one part of the body to the next. Start with your jaw. Is it clenched? Relax it. What about your shoulders? Are they hunched up to your ears? Let them go. What are your hands doing? Are they clinched? Shake them out and relax them. Where are your hands and arms? Are they all over the place? Reign them in but keep them relatively relaxed.

Breath Check

Move onto your breath. Are you breathing 360 degrees? Are you employing diaphragmatic breathing? Learn how to breathe while running. A recent study shows that 50% of elite athletes are not breathing properly. My co-host, Liz, and I will address this topic in an upcoming podcast episode of The Coach Amy and Coach Liz Show. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss it!

Form Check

Check-in with your spine—are you rotating in the midback? Is it in sync with your legs? Speaking of your legs, what is your stride doing? Is it sloppy? Is it crossing over? What about your feet? Pay attention to the foot strike. How is your forward lean? Are you preacting or reacting? What is that? Listen to this episode of The Coach Amy and Coach Liz Show: How to Get More Power Out of Your Run Before Your Foot Hits the Ground.

Practice makes Better

At first, your rate of perceived exertion may be high since you are doing something new.

Practice this technique at the beginning of a run, a warm-up, or an easy run. Then, you can transition to using it when you are tired and running faster and further.

Use the strategy throughout all your longer and more challenging training runs. Even if you are not experiencing negative thoughts now, practice it!

More than one strategy

Regardless of your experience, the Association may not work for you. That's OK. There are many other strategies. Stay tuned for more!