Analysis: Here are some insights from 21 long-distance runners into strategies that could help your marathon performance
By Patricia Jackman, University of Lincoln; Noel Brick, Ulster University; Amy Whitehead, Liverpool John Moores University and Christian Swann, Southern Cross University, Australia
For both recreational and elite athletes, taking part in a marathon is a demanding experience. To perform at our best in a marathon involves weeks and months of arduous physical training - and we also need to prepare mentally for the challenges that 42.2km of running, walking or wheeling can bring.
Most people who arrive at the starting line will have some goal in mind for the event. This might be to get to the finish line, to achieve a new personal best or even to win the race. But while setting a goal is relatively easy, achieving it is much more difficult and many will have fallen short of achieving that goal when (or if!) they reach the finish line.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Radio 1's Ray D'Arcy Show, Mary Hickey, Pat McMahon and Rob Whiteley tell their stories of running the Dublin marathon
One reason for this is that goal achievement in marathon events relies on our ability to respond effectively to challenges we might encounter along the way. These are many and any one of them can potentially derail us. They include both internal thoughts and sensations (high feeling of effort, thoughts about giving up etc) and external events (weather conditions, uphill sections or racing a competitor).
So how can we overcome these challenges during a marathon event? To help answer this question, we recently interviewed 21 long-distance runners within three days of excellent competitive performances. We defined an excellent performance as one in which runners achieved a record performance (e.g., personal, course, national, world) or finished in a leading position and, based on the thought processes that these runners reported using, we developed new insights into psychological strategies that could help your marathon performance.
Be flexible with your goal
We are often encouraged to set goals that are specific, measurable and time-based. For example, this might be to run the marathon distance (measurable) in under 4 hours (specific and time-based). These goals can and do work well in many situations. But here can be some costs with sticking rigidly to a goal like this. For instance, if a runner realises that a goal is no longer attainable in a race, this can reduce their motivation and increase the urge to give up during the event.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Brainstorm, here's how a marathon's 26.2 miles impacts on your heart, joint, sweat glands and blood volume
In our interviews, successful marathon and ultra-marathon runners described more flexible approaches to goal setting. One particular strategy that several runners spoke about was the use of what we termed a 'tiered goal’. That is, instead of one specific "all-or-nothing" goal, they set a goal that consisted of an A-goal version, a B-goal version, and a C-goal version.
Runners who used this approach described the A-goal as the most challenging goal, but one they felt was possible if the race conditions were perfect and their performance was optimal on race-day. The B-goal was a less difficult goal, but one that they’d be satisfied with if they achieved it, while the C-goal could be the bare minimum that they’d accept.
Using this flexible approach to goal setting helped these runners to react quickly if they found their A-goal was no longer attainable during an event and provided them with a plan (or what psychologists call an if-then plan, such as ‘If my goal of running time X is no longer attainable, then I will pursue goal B’). Being flexible (rather than rigid) in setting and striving for goals can help us to prepare our actions for different challenges, maintain our motivation during a race, and respond to challenges in the best possible way.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Archives, Colm Connolly previews the 1981 Dublin City Marathon for RTÉ News
Check in on the run
The line between an attainable and an unattainable goal is often very fine. Looking at a watch during a race can be a helpful way to check if we are on track with our pace, but it’s also vital to notice our thoughts, feelings and physical sensations. At the end of the day, our watch doesn’t take into account the weather conditions on the day or changes in the terrain, all of which might impact on our performance.
To help decision making during races, runners in our study spoke about using a strategy called mental contrasting to check-in on their progress. Mental contrasting involved considering the goal they had set pre-race and weighing this up (i.e., contrasting) against the situation they found themselves in at the given point in time.
For instance, runners would notice their pace and whether it was on target, consider the distance remaining in the race and reflect on how good or bad they felt at that moment. They used each of these bits of information to judge whether they could sustain their goal pace to the finish line. Runners in our study also recounted how they spoke to themselves during these moments in races to help get through a running event.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From the RTÉ Running Podcast, Brian O'Connell and Mikey Stafford talk about what they'd change about running a marathon and the best advice from the podcast series
Here are the thoughts of one Olympian we talked to: You’re always worried in the middle of a race that the wheels could come off, that you could run out of energy, or something happens and you just slow down. You’re always worried about that, but you’re going, "let’s deal with this pace, let’s keep going, let’s keep going, let’s keep going". You just keep taking it a bit at a time. I wouldn’t really break it into miles or anything like that. I just keep going, "yeah I feel okay", and then in another bit, "yeah I feel okay", and in the last two miles, I was going, "I’m going to have to dig deep now and, even to hold the same pace I’ve been doing, I’m going to have to hurt a bit more". I knew what was coming.
Mentally contrasting the desired outcome (i.e., a goal) and progress toward that goal can help runners to form a more realistic expectation of how attainable a goal is, to identify the obstacles that might impede their progress, and establish the actions they’d need to take if they were to successfully achieve their goals. In this way, mental contrasting allowed runners to engage their if-then plans that we mentioned earlier to help them achieve their goals.
Should I stick or twist?
During a race, runners make decisions about whether to persist with their pre-race goals or to disengage from them completely. When someone has already invested substantial effort into achieving a goal, but meets setbacks along the way, we can be faced with a tough decision – should I stick with it, or should I change my goal?
Psychologists call this mental conflict an "action crisis" and most marathoners experience it at some point during a race. It's the point where you might ask yourself "why did I ever sign up for this race?!"
When we experience an intense action-crisis, we feel high levels of physiological distress (it hurts!), our pace slows down, we might feel that our goal is slipping from our grasp, and, most importantly, we have strong thoughts about giving up. While this might sometimes be a wise decision (e.g., if you are injured), for most participants, preventing and managing action crises is important to help us achieve our goals.
The good news is that we can plan for moments like these in a marathon event and prepare to respond to them in the best possible way. Based on our research with runners, and previous research on mental contrasting and if-then planning, there are four steps that you can follow to prepare for running a marathon. These four steps follow the "WOOP" framework (Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan):
(1) What is your wish for the marathon? This might be to finish your first marathon, or run a new personal best time. Write this down.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Brainstorm, what happens to your body when you run a marathon?
(2) Envision the outcome What’s the biggest benefit of achieving your wish? You might be running for a charity, for example, or have another reason for achieving your wish. Write this benefit down.
(3) Identify obstacles. What might stop you from making your wish a reality? Identify as many potential obstacles as you can imagine but prioritise these in order of importance. An obstacle might be the weather, for example, or running too fast at the start of the race and "hitting the wall" as a result later in the event.
(4) Create "If-then" plans. What might you do to overcome or avoid the obstacles you have identified? Create a specific plan for each one. You might plan what you say to yourself during a headwind section or when running uphill, for example. Or you might plan to run conservatively at the start of the race to avoid slowing down too much later on. Or you might have a B-goal or a C-goal to keep you motivated when the race doesn’t go fully to plan.
It’s inevitable that marathon runners will face difficult moments during the race. Having a plan to deal with these moments will help keep you on track and help you to respond more effectively during the race.
Dr Patricia Jackman is Associate Professor in Sport and Exercise Psychology in the School of Sport and Exercise Science at University of Lincoln. Dr Noel Brick is a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the School of Psychology at Ulster University. Dr Amy Whitehead is a Reader in Sport Psychology and Coaching, and Lead of the Coaching and Pedagogy Research Group in the Faculty of Science at Liverpool John Moores University. Dr Christian Swann is Associate Professor in Human Science at the Faculty of Health at Southern Cross University, Australia
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
