Fab Fun Feb

[twittenkitten]

What does it mean? Well, I guess it means I need to work on my mental game as well as putting in the miles. Mental toughness seems to be a little more than just focussing on your goals. Or is it? I'm going to have to put some thought into this.

[serious thought mode engaged]

... I'll have get back to you about that.

I'm really interested to hear about cognitive fatigue playing a part in performance in when running. I'm generally interested in shining a light on how all the different factors of how we operate play into being human, but specifically the mental & physical in running.

My personal experience tells me that I find it very hard to keep up a running routine when I am mentally overtaxed, despite knowing I'd benefit from the physical exertion. 

I guess mental toughness (as you put it above) may be partly about discipline. Not just discipline about goals, but getting yourself out the door, and other things that get you ready to run. I also find I need to focus on eating regularly and well if I want to train regularly and keeping myself hydrated. These simple things can fall by the wayside if I'm not mindful of them. I guess therefore that mental discipline around running form, pacing etc may also suffer when mentally fatigued? Therefore affecting performance on a specific outing?

I wonder also about considering signs or symptoms of mental tiredness as a diagnostic for my body and wellbeing. My time honoured approach is to tell myself 'to get over it, forget it and push on anyway'. That can be really useful to achieve short term goals like just getting myself out the door(!), but it often stops me from considering the deeper reasons for whatever ails me and making choices to make my life healthier. So if I notice being mentally tired and that affecting my running performance, then perhaps I should consider what else in my life is sapping my energy and reducing my performance. There may be nothing I can do about it, but then again there may be. In recent months I've chosen to take on less work so I can focus on spending time at the allotment and getting more exercise.

Anyways, just my thoughts on it rambled here pretty much as I think them so not especially deep or considered. Thanks for sharing - definitely got me thinking!

PS loved the travel diary entries from Sri Lanka!