Building Your Race Self: Mental Preparation for the Cape Wrath Ultra
By Fit-Think Sports Psychology
With the Cape Wrath Ultra® just weeks away, are you now worried you should have a more complete mental plan for the race? If so, don't panic. There is a lot of information available online and it can be overwhelming to work out what is useful for you so Fit-Think are here to help with some focused tips to get you moving in the right direction.
You will have done lots of physical training for the race so even if you haven't given a lot of thought to your thinking yet, you actually already have resources to draw on. It's important, though, to spend some time identifying these resources and how best to apply them on race days.
Are you ready for the Cape Wrath trail? ©No Limits Photography
A great framework, to use for this is to work out ‘who’ you want to be during the race. This might seem an obvious answer, “Me!” We all have different identities that we can use to keep us focused on what is important in specific contexts. By creating your race self, you can be clear about what is important, how you will act, and aid decision-making. Your performance identity ought to be authentic, practiced, specific, and realistic when considered in relation to your event goals. It is important that it doesn’t overwhelm or contradict who you are and what your values are. Having this clear in advance means you need less cognitive (thinking) capacity in the race and so can use it more efficiently. So how does this work?
Decide what you are trying to achieve in the race and why. Is it about a time, just finishing, doing better than previously, savouring the experience, being part of the community…? Why did you enter in the first place/ why do you run? Is it important how others see you during the race? Whatever drives you needs to be at the core of your race self.
Decide what part of your character is best suited to that aim. Think about what physical and mental characteristics are important to you; are you competitive, strong, flexible, adaptable, mindful, considerate, careful, observant, organised… You might not need all of yourself in the race. Just take the bits that are helpful. You can pick the rest up in camp or at the finish line.
Identify specific race day behaviours that will give you the best chance of embodying that character. For example, do you need to set pace goals for each section or do you need to take moments to enjoy the view. You have worked hard to get this far in your training so look at your achievements as a package and think about your ‘Race C.V.’ as a means of promoting yourself and getting the job done!
Consider what you will do or say to yourself during the race to keep you in your best ‘zone’. It can be helpful to identify aspects of your own performance in terms of a thermometer. In the cool zones you will be under-activated, not interested and likely to underperform. For example, you might find it difficult to get motivated when the weather is bad, or if you know the terrain is flat. Being over-activated can also lead to a poor performance, this might be a hot or red zone for you. This might be linked to knowing that your nearest competitors are in the event, or that you want everything to be perfect and become fixated on aspects of your preparation so much so that you begin to doubt yourself. Ideally somewhere in the middle is best, and learning to recognise what works for you is useful. You can then work on noticing when you need to implement relaxation methods during stressful (hot) moments or generate engagement with the task at hand when you feel bored or disconnected (cool). Create a three-column list of cool, temperate and hot situations for yourself to help raise your awareness of your own performance activation levels. Finally, have some key self-talk phrases to hand when or if problems arise. Keep the self-talk in line with your race identity.
If you have time, practice being in your ‘race self’ during training runs. How might it affect how you view your performance or how you respond to the environment? Do you need to adjust any preparation to keep it in line?
Tip! It can be helpful to write or draw a description of your race self to get it clear in your head.
Whilst everyone is on the same route, you are all in different races. Recognising what YOUR race is will help to get you to YOUR finishing line, whatever that looks like for YOU. No one else can judge your efforts.
Day 8 on the Cape Wrath Ultra ©No Limits Photography
We look forward to welcoming you to Fort William in May!