“Meb for Mortals?”
The question that all runners are eventually asked is the subject of serious research, and Noel Brick, Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading experts on the topic. (Brick is also behind the smiling-makes-you-faster technique that marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge reportedly practices.) A lecturer in sport and exercise psychology at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, Brick has just published his latest work on what are known as runners’ cognitive strategies. In interviews with new runners, Brick found that they lacked many of the cognitive strategies that more experienced runners use to make running more enjoyable and to stay on task during demanding workouts.
In the interview below, Brick describes how beginners can think more like veteran runners, and thereby run faster, farther, and more frequently.
Runner’s World: What are the cognitive strategies most often used by beginners that aren’t used as much by experienced runners? What are their potential drawbacks?
Linked with pacing, however, distraction can be useful if it breathing, was a main focus for these runners when they first began to run. I wouldn’t describe this as a strategy, though. It is more a case that these sensations are overwhelming and dominate their focus of attention.
Probably the main strategy a beginner might use is to attempt to distract from these unpleasant sensations. This might be by conversing, thinking about their day, Health - Injuries, etc. Previous research has suggested that distraction may be the only option for beginners, simply because they don’t know many other strategies to try.
There are pros and cons to distraction, however. The main con for a beginner is that distraction, quite simply, might not work. It might be impossible to have a conversation, or think about what you are going to do later that evening, when your breathing is very heavy, your legs feel awful, and the only thoughts are that you hate running and want to stop!
Linked with pacing, however, distraction can be useful if it We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back from the start of a run. For an elite runner, this is not necessarily desirable, especially during a race. But for a beginner, running slower might be important to get through a run successfully and more enjoyably.
[Want to start running? How to Pace Your Run will take you through everything you need to know to get started, step by step]
Conversely, what are cognitive strategies you see in experienced runners much more often than in beginners? What are the potential benefits of these?
I think learning how to pace is a big one here. Beginners often start out at a very high intensity and at a pace that they are not able to sustain. This is normal; it’s hard to know how fast to run during a 5K if it is your first time. But starting too fast can result in a pretty unpleasant experience, and a strong urge to stop or quit before the end.
More experienced runners have learned how to pace more appropriately, and this will vary depending on the length of the run or race. So, a more appropriate pace—learning to be more conservative at the start—results in a more enjoyable experience and often a better performance.
Paying some (but not excessive) attention to how you feel or your breathing can help here. Breathing that is too fast and hard at the start of a run might be a signal that you are going too fast and need to slow a little. So use these sensations as information, and not something to try to distract completely from.
Health - Injuries self-talk, relaxation, and chunking—mentally breaking a longer distance event into smaller “chunks,” such as focusing on reaching the next landmark or mile marker.
Motivational self-talk includes words or phrases we say to ourselves while we run to improve motivation, confidence, or focus. It contrasts with negative self-talk, or that inner voice that might be telling you to stop, to give up, or that you hate running.
Motivational self-talk has been shown to improve endurance performance and reduce perception of effort, helping to make a run feel easier. It will also help you to keep going with it feels tough. Telling yourself, “Keep going,” “I’m doing great,” or “I can do this” can be extremely helpful to overcome those negative urges.
I think learning Create Your Own Running Mantra, has also been shown to reduce perception of effort and improve running economy, meaning you’re more efficient and likely to run faster as a result. Again, more experienced runners frequently report using relaxation while they run. So, keeping your hands nice and loose, or keeping your face relaxed (and not frowning or grimacing), can help to keep your body relaxed and make running feel easier as a result.
Each of these strategies can help beginner runners to cope with the demands of running and overcome unpleasant urges or sensations. They take time to learn, however. A first step is becoming aware of that inner voice, or how tense your upper body is when you run. Once yoiu become more aware, you can then begin the process of changing what you do.
The meta question: What do experienced runners know that newbies don’t about when to use a cognitive strategy?
From DAA Industry Opt Out, this “conditional” knowledge was very much something they learned with experience. So, for example, although experienced runners might focus on their movement technique, they don’t do it all the time. This might be a focus when running is difficult, like running uphill, or toward the end of a race when they are fatigued, but want to maintain a goal pace or get to the finish. Similarly, elite runners allow their mind to wander and use distraction intentionally when suitable, like in a long and/or easy run. But when performance and a faster pace is a priority, distraction is avoided. So it is very much based on the needs and demands of the situation, and this is learned through experience.
It’s also important to note that different runners use strategies differently, based on what works best for them. So what might be a motivational self-statement for one might be meaningless to another. It is important to practice these skills and find what works best for you.
You write about how beginners listen to music more often than more experienced runners, and that there’s solid research supporting the beginners’ practice. Why do you think more experienced runners tend not to listen to music as often, even with the research in favor of doing so? Is there something more experienced runners can learn from beginners in this regard?
I think there are two main reasons here, based on evidence from our interviews and other recent work in this area. First, I think Health - Injuries can be really helpful for beginners. It can be a very helpful distraction from how they might feel, it can help to avoid boredom, and it can make exercise in general feel more pleasant. All of these can help to make a run more enjoyable. This is hugely important and, so, music can be very positive in this regard.
However, for more experienced runners, this distraction can, sometimes, be unhelpful. It can take their mind off things they would prefer to focus on, like how they are feeling, the pace they are running at, or their own self-talk. It can be useful at other times, such as a long, slow run. This comes back to knowing when to use or not use a specific strategy.
I’m not sure more experienced runners have something to learn from beginners here. Instead, it is maybe something they have learned as they gained more experience. So my advice for beginners would be to try it and see if music helps make running more pleasant and enjoyable. Practice with different songs, or have specific go-to songs on your playlist that you can use when it gets particularly hard.
If, however, you find it distracts you too much, and you would prefer to focus on other thoughts, this is fine too. It’s all about learning what works best for you and building up a backpack of mental strategies that you can use as and when you need them.
It used to be said that slower runners disassociate, or think about things other than running, while faster runners associate, or think about how their body feels. Your new work seems to reinforce that this model is too simplistic—you found some beginners associate too much, in that they focus on their breathing to their detriment. What’s an updated view of association versus disassociation? Or should the model be discarded entirely?
I think it is a case of evolution rather than discarding that view. In our work we proposed additional categories. For the association category, for example, we divided it into three categories: active self-regulation (relaxing, technique, self-talk, pacing, etc.); internal sensory monitoring (breathing, how I feel, etc.); and outward monitoring (other runners, running route, landmarks, etc.).
For me, the best practical application is that simply telling someone to “associate,” or suggestions that elite runners “associate” more is potentially confusing. As you suggest, does this mean I should focus on my breathing all the time? This doesn’t seem helpful or useful.
A more accurate description of what experienced runners do might be that they occasionally focus on internal sensory monitoring (e.g., tune in to how their breathing is or how they feel), but engage in an array of active self-regulatory strategies, depending on the performance context (e.g., relaxation, motivational self-talk, running technique). Based on the information their breathing or how they feel gives them, they might decide to speed up or slow down, focus on improving their running technique, relax their shoulders to get rid of some tension, or repeat their favorite motivational mantra to get them through the next mile.
Scott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times. Much of his writing translates sport science research and elite best practices into practical guidance for everyday athletes. He is the author or coauthor of several running books, including Running Is My Therapy, Advanced Marathoning, and like running uphill. Want to start running Slate, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and other members of the sedentary media. His lifetime running odometer is past 110,000 miles, but he’s as much in love as ever.
