I recently asked a group of marathon runners at a Performance In Mind talk about their mantras. My supervisor, who was watching, pointed out afterwards that ‘mantra’ isn’t a word that lives in everyone’s day to day dictionary. He had a point! Though the idea of them is probably a lot more common since social media and the internet began drowning in well intended memes though! 

In short, a mantra is a short phrase or even a single word that can remind you why you are doing what you are doing. It can be incredibly helpful if you start to struggle when training or racing. It can come from one of three areas: something which reminds you of your motivation for racing (“I’m running for those who can’t), something which reminds you of your goal (“That medal is mine”) or something which is more technical and helps keep your technique on track (“Pick up your feet”). In all three areas it has been found to have positive impact. You can have something you use every race, or something which helps you in specific types of races.

The justification for incorporating a mantra into your race tool kit comes from the researched benefits of self-talk. Self-talk is the way we all unconsciously talk to ourselves in our heads. What we say to ourselves can impact our behaviours. If we consciously make our self-talk positive we can behave it a way which is much more beneficial to our racing ambitions. Using self-talk effectively has been found to boost confidence and increase your perseverance. A great piece of research presented recently came from Alister McCormick at the university of Kent who worked with a group of ultra runners training for a 60 mile race. He taught half the group to use self-talk and half a different skill. The self-talk group finished their ultra race 25 minutes quicker than the other group. They had no additional training. Just used this one technique.

So how to pick your mantra?

  • It needs to be personal to you.
  • It needs to be positive – to either remind you of your motivation, your goal or your technique.
  • It needs to be memorable – so it is front of mind and easy to remember when you need it.
  • It needs to be short – so you can write it down when you may need a reminder; on your gel packets, on your hand, on your drinks bottle.

A wonderful example which is short, memorable, motivational and personal comes from an athlete who attended a workshop I ran a few months ago. He had previously been overweight and unfit. He had worked really hard to lose the weight, build up his fitness and enter a triathlon. As he ran past his dad who was watching him race he overheard his dad proudly boast to another spectator: “that’s my son.” This pride he heard in his dad’s voice made him realise he could never quit the journey he was on and that with each race he was achieving more and more.

What is your mantra?