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I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, “Running is 90% mental and 10% physical.” I’ve been told that because I am a runner, I am mental. I guess that’s true. I’ve done some crazy training and ran some crazy race schedules. But, because of some of the crazy running things I’ve done, I’ve become more knowledgeable and now know how to build mental toughness, train your brain so to speak, in order to become a better runner.

Whether you train for a marathon or a 5K, building mental toughness is just as important as building physical strength. I think we, as runners, don’t give enough credit to the mental aspect of our running. If you’re like me, you’ve had bad running days because your mind just wasn’t into the run that day. If your mind isn’t into it, chances are you’re not going to have a great run.

We all have bad days, and I certainly have my share. Somehow along the way I learned some of the reasons I had bad days and what I can do to train my brain to have more good days. For one thing, I am somewhat of a perfectionist. Back in the day, I wanted every training run, every track session, and every race to be perfect. I pushed myself harder if a run wasn’t up to my expectations. I’ve learned since then that if you aim to make every workout perfect, you end up spending time and energy recovering from the inevitable disappointment. It was hard for me, but I’ve learned to view a few off days as part of the training process, or a lousy run or race as a learning experience.

There was a time when I didn’t feel good about myself or my running performance. It didn’t matter that I lost 85 pounds, I still saw myself as big and fat. It didn’t matter that I could run a 3:34 marathon, I still thought I was slow and wondered if I should even be running. Since then I’ve learned that running is something I do, not who I am.

I do set goals but seem to push myself beyond my capabilities and then feel like a failure. I’ve read many running articles that say performing at your highest level does take a bit of risk-taking and pushing yourself outside your comfort level. It’s ok to push yourself, but don’t go crazy. This is an area with which I’m still training my brain so I won’t go crazy.

At times, I’ve run a race with an “I don’t care attitude.” I’d set a goal for pacing, or race time, but when the time came to perform, I had so many self-doubts that I ended up not caring about the results. I’ve learned that if I really want to achieve my goal, I have to engage myself mentally. I tried setting small goals during a race, like picking out a runner in front of me and see if I can stay with him. Or, pretending to rope that runner and have him pull me along. Try engaging yourself mentally during your next race. You might find the race goes by faster than expected and your times might be too.

These are just a few of the experiences that gave me mental toughness. There are many more articles on the mental aspect of running. Read some of them so that you too will know how to train your brain.