Brain Training

by Matt Fitzgerald is a certified sports nutritionist and the author of several books on triathlon and running, including Runner's World Performance Nutrition for Runners (Rodale, 2005).
This article is based on an article previously published in Running Times.

Contrary to popular belief, fatigue in running is seldom caused by events in the muscles or blood, such as muscle glycogen depletion or lactic acid build-up. It's actually your brain that makes you slow down to protect you from excessive muscle damage, a heart attack, heat stroke or any other running-induced injury. For this reason, factors that used to be considered "purely mental" can raise your performance limitations as effectively as training does. Training alters the signals of fatigue that reach your brain, but thoughts, beliefs and experiences affect how your brain responds to these signals.

We see this effect at the elite level in sports all the time. For example, no runner was able to run a mile in less than four minutes until Roger Bannister accomplished the feat in 1954. But within just a year and a half, 16 other runners ran sub-four-minute miles! Bannister's breakthrough proved to his rivals that running this fast was possible and probably would not kill them, so their brains' finally allowed their bodies to do what they had been physically capable of doing all along.

Training in groups is another way to get results. When you train with other runners of similar ability, you not only tend to push yourself harder in workouts, but you also afford yourself more opportunities for performance breakthroughs. Every time one of your training partners makes a leap forward, your brain will see evidence that you can do the same without killing yourself.

Many running experts cite the propensity of North African runners to train in large groups as one of the keys to their dominance. If it's true, this brain training mechanism is likely the reason. So find a local track club to join, or at least do your hardest workouts with a training partner of similar ability. The desire to win is the oldest and best performance-enhancing drug there is.