The connection between psychology and running
How the mind shapes the way we run
Imagine you head out for a run. Before you’ve even taken a step, your mind has already shaped the experience, drawing on past runs, how you feel today, and the stories you tell yourself about what this run will be like. Maybe you’re tired, stressed, or doubting whether you’ll enjoy it, and that colours your expectations before you start. As you run, your thoughts and emotions continue to influence things such as how you interpret discomfort, how you respond to challenges like bad weather or a tough patch, and how you make sense of the run afterwards. Over time, the way you react shapes your motivation, confidence, and consistency. This is why psychology matters for runners, because the mind is constantly guiding how we feel, how we act, and what we take from every run.
Running is not only about physical training
Alongside the physical demands of running we also have several psychological demands. These demands may include the need to stay motivated over long periods of training (motivational skills) managing effort or dealing with exercise induced pain, (volitional skills) and staying focused and avoiding distractions during a race (attentional skills), managing setbacks and injuries (resilience), and effective goal setting. These psychological skills can be developed and worked on in training, just like you do with your physical skills. Learning to cope with these psychological demands can lead to improved physical performance and increased enjoyment in the sport.
As runners it is now well recognised that strength work can help prevent injury and make you a stronger runner, fuelling your training can result in better performances, and working on your psychological skills is no different - like all these other aspects of training it can help make you a better and happier runner.
Frequently asked questions
