How mantras & visualisation can help you be your best

Visualising a goal time

Visualise your dream time as you cross the line at your event.

It doesn’t need to be ‘good’ by anyone else’s standards, it just needs to be meaningful for you. Maybe you’d like a post injury comeback time, or a new best for your age category.

If you find yourself thinking it’s too hard and you want to slow down, just picture that time to spur you on.

 

Mantras for training and racing

Mantra is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘instrument for thinking’. Mantras were originally used in meditation to get the mind back on track. So you can see how mantras could be good to keep your focus in tough patches training or racing.

Many people use mantras to help them keep up the effort. The idea is they should be

• Short – easy to remember when you’re working hard
• Positive – how you want to feel. So instead of focusing on feeling tired, you might say ‘I run strong’

But they can be anything that is meaningful and motivational to you.

Some mantras I like are:

• Hills are my friend
• Endure
• Feet Fast, Legs Strong, I Can Do This All Day Long…
• Focus…Form…Flow…
• Run Light Run Tall…
• Pain is temporary. Pride is forever.

 

Mantras from the elite:

“I love you Isla”
‘I knew how long there was to go, I needed a mantra to keep me going. I just kept repeating to myself ‘I love you Isla’ to keep my rhythm.’
– Paula Radcliffe in a comeback win at the New York marathon 2007

 

“This is what you came for.”
– Scott Jurek, running 165.7 miles en route to breaking the American 24-hour record in May 2010

 

“Define yourself.”
– Deena Kastor, while winning the Chicago Marathon in 2005 and becoming the first American to win a major marathon since 1994

What would you use?

Grab your time goal and running mantra postcards to use for events. I’d love to see pictures of how you’ve filled them in to keep you motivated.