Tuesday, February 10, 2026 – Mind powers

Hey Gang!

Happy end-of-the-cold-snap! I mean, it’s not warm, but it doesn’t feel life threatening anymore. I think we’re gonna make it, even though it snowed again and the footing still sucks. Way to go everyone for getting on with the show thus far – if you’re like me it may have taken a little toll on your sunny disposition, but I’m sure we’ll all bounce back to our easy-going, happy-go-lucky selves sooner or later. And until them, I’m working on my new book which I’m sure will become a New York Times Bestseller: “Don’t fucking let anyone!” (just kidding. Although…)

Anyway, this week I’ve been back to pondering the age-old mystery of the mind-body connection. I mean, some people even say that that is a false concept because the word “connection” implies they are two separate things, when in reality the mind and body are one thing. That all gets a little too deep for me, but it is interesting how much and how immediately they influence each other. And when we really start appreciating this, I think we can start to take control and guide ourselves a bit better.

Here are two examples in running from the past few weeks. My daughter was running her first ever indoor 1500m (I can tell this story because she has since had a redemption race). It is 7 ½ laps of the 200m track, so she just tucked into the pack to feel out how to pace herself. She felt great, was looking good and she came around to the lap counter and saw 2 laps to go. So she started moving up and getting ready to finish strong. Then she came around again expecting to see 1 lap and saw 2 laps to go again! They had miscounted. Her eyes went wide, her brain panicked, unused to the indoor track, her brain told her she had two laps of an outdoor track to go, and her body refused to keep up the effort. She suddenly couldn’t pick up her legs and she struggled to even make it through the last two laps. A week later, her brain understood where she was in space and time and she ran 13 seconds faster. Her body could do the exact same thing both times – it was how she was processing the effort which prevented her the first time and allowed her the next time.

Another athlete who I know ran one of the fastest 600m races in the country this year. This athlete is talented and great at workouts, but has struggled in being able to express his fitness in races in the past. This time he ran what everyone who knows him has believed he could run for years. I saw him after the race and he told me what he had figured out. He said it was pretty simple. He just calmed his mind before the race with his own ritual of music and tuning out everything else, and then during the race he forced in certain mantras like “you feel good”, and “this is going well”. He said it was amazing but it actually worked, helped him to relax and race his fastest, and set a school record.

I know we’ve all read stories like this, and know these things, but it’s easy to dismiss our mental narratives as less important when we’re working so hard physically. It doesn’t seem like it should make such a big difference, especially when it seems so simple. But we can get messages through to our bodies by programming them in. And our bodies will respond. Sometimes it’s a negative message that inadvertently gets through, but if we can keep forcing in the positive ones, we’ll be stronger and faster for it.

On to tomorrow’s workout – we’re back to hills!

I’ll aim to be at Pottery Rd around 6:10/6:15.

2 x 400 hill

5 min tempo

400/ 200 hill

5 min tempo

200/200/200 hill

5 min tempo

That is all – see you in the am!

Seanna