Mental toughness through speedwork
After my first experience at going long during the 2018 POW/MIA relay, I wanted to turn around and explore the other spectrum of “endurance” running. Over the last week or so I competed in distances ranging from a 1.5 mile (2.4Km) mock Air Force PT test run to a 5K (~3.1mile) that was part of the Long Beach Marathon festivities. It was a nice opportunity to work on the running portion of my triathlon skill building. The runs were fast paced (all under 6min/mile), and a good chance to test and bolster my mental fortitude.
A great article on scienceofrunning.com by Steve Magness, “The Psychology of Mental Toughness – Willpower, Self Control, and Decision Making”, delves nicely into the aspect of the countless micro-decisions you make to keep pushing at a high pace. At the pace at which your body is screaming at your mind to stop running, every single step is a willpower decision that strengthens your mind. Just like training your muscles, you must train your willpower, otherwise that willpower will fade and atrophy. The more you put yourself through these types of gauntlets, the stronger your willpower becomes. The stronger your willpower is, the stronger your resolve to exceed at anything in life.
The first race was the Jet Blue Long Beach 5K (~3.1 miles), part of the greater Long Beach Marathon weekend festivities on October 6th. A friend of mine from the East Coast visited for the weekend and had signed up for this race as a challenge to get a sub 20 minute 5K. He is not a big runner, so that was a challenging time to meet. He asked me if I wanted to run too, and I agreed that it would be a fun test of my baseline fitness level without having really trained for a 5K run (finishing up recovery from my 42 mile journey just about 2 weeks earlier).
The course wrapped around Long Beach Harbor, over the Queensway bridge (nice little uphill climb), and finished through a few Long Beach aquarium exhibits. I started about 3 rows behind the front row, and tried to make my way to the top 10 runners pretty quickly after the start of the race. Within about 0.5 miles, I was on the shoulder of the 3rd place runner. I felt him fade right around mile 1 and decided to increase my pace and drop him right before the “big” climb up the bridge. I tried to hunt down the #2 runner but he was strong on the uphill and created an additional 100yds between us. I would hold on to third for the remainder mile and change.
The second and third training runs both took place on October 11th during LA Air Force Base’s annual sportsday at Fort McArthur in San Pedro. Its a fun day of friendly competition and rivalries between the directorates at LA AFB in everything ranging from flag football to horseshoes. The day kicks off with a big 4K (3.1mile) race. Already fully recharged from my 3rd place at the 5K in Long Beach 5 days before, I felt pretty good about my chances of the top spot. But this feeling was mainly because the reigning 4K champion who will smoke it in about 11 minutes flat is overseas on deployment. Thank you for your service Brett.
The race started fast and after about mile 1 I separated from the front pack of about 5 runners to take the lead. I build a pretty healthy lead when about halfway through the race my lungs and muscles started burning. My body was screaming at my mind to slow down, to become more comfortable. This is exactly why these types of runs (short and fast) are good for you. They force you to experience that pain and discomfort. The decision you make with every step to keep going builds up your mental resolve. It is an easy way to train that aspect of your mind (just go out and run fast, cant get easier than that). I ended up winning the 4K race and thoroughly enjoyed the experience to test myself against some really solid runners.
The 1.5mile run (part of a Physical Fitness Test competition) took place a few hours removed from the 4K. After trying my hand at the horseshoe for the first time and bowing out in the first round (stacked bracket), I was ready to go again. Just like the 4K, the course was fast and flat, and I wanted to push the pace from the beginning. I didn’t have a specific pace in mind (not that technical of a runner yet), but knew i wanted to push myself to my personal limits. The first lap was competitive, with myself and another runner crossing the halfway point shoulder to shoulder and going fast. I felt him fade at the turnaround of lap 2 however, and knew that was the time to kick in the afterburner and put some separation between us.
That moment stuck out to me as a great learning point. With the body again telling your mind to stop, showing yourself that you are able to kick it into another gear you didn’t know you had is very powerful. I ended up crossing the line in first with an average pace of just above 5:30min/mile. Not too bad for an out of season triathlete who’s fourth favorite discipline in the sport is running (after biking, swimming, and eating). Again, these two victories would have been far less likely if Brett was not deployed, stay safe bud.
