#217: Author Matt Fitzgerald Talks Mental Fitness
Another Mother Runner
Feisty Media
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2016
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sarah and co-host Molly Williams are joined by writer/coach Matt Fitzgerald for a conversation about mental fitness, based on his latest book, How Bad Do You Want It: Mastering the Psychology of Mind over Muscle. Along the way, Matt admits for him, “the whole dang enchilada is mental,” and he talks about why he prefers the term “mental fitness” over “mental toughness.” The trio doesn’t shy way from tough topics, diving right in with how the fear of suffering and failure holds back some athletes. Find out why Matt believes every runner should develop “a coach within.” He points out that you bring the mental skills you possess in real life to running—and how they can help or hinder you; he also shares steps for dealing with negative thoughts. Matt reveals the single most common mistake in endurance sports, as well as the most important quality to have as a runner. Great news for newbies: This marathon man wraps things up focusing on the importance of using experience, not just having it.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is brought to you by Pepsi Max. Christmas is great, but there's loads of ways to make it better. |
| 0:08.0 | Like sneaking some chili into the gravy for some extra oint, or building a playlist that will even get your |
| 0:14.8 | none up on the table or just cracking open an ice cold Pepsi Max. |
| 0:20.1 | Christmas. |
| 0:23.0 | Better with Pepsi Max. Welcome to another mother runner. This is Sarah Bowen Shay. I'm joined in studio by my best running friend Molly Williams. Hello. Hello hello |
| 0:47.0 | So we did not run together this morning Molly. No we did not you were doing your speed work and you like to do |
| 0:54.8 | that by yourself so that I don't drag you down I don't grab your shirt tails and say no! |
| 1:00.1 | No no no no no no no no no no, no, well it is true that I feel a need to do those workouts alone, it's not because I don't want you there, it's because, you know, I mean, you know why you're joking, right? |
| 1:12.0 | Well, I think you don't |
| 1:13.4 | I'm you know it is not and you need to practice your mental toughness and your |
| 1:19.0 | game and get in your head yeah all those reasons that that's the. That's the ticket because when I so to back up a time bit so I'm |
| 1:26.2 | training for this 10 K which is on the evening of July 9th and it is the twilight run up in Vancouver, Washington just across the mighty |
| 1:34.8 | Columbia from Portland and it is that now I have these workouts that |
| 1:41.1 | typically Saturday is a particularly challenging |
| 1:44.3 | workout and Wednesdays typically are very tough repeats or challenging |
| 1:52.2 | repeats really make you stand up and take notice of them. |
| 1:55.0 | And what I want to do is make sure that I'm doing those workouts at my pace. |
| 2:02.0 | And also more importantly than that for me is getting the drive from inside me |
| 2:07.0 | not just being like oh I want to keep up with Molly or or oh I'll just run the same pace Molly is, you know, like I want to know, because you know, like, |
| 2:16.0 | yeah, because also, because let's say you're doing, you know, five of something or four of something, |
| 2:20.0 | there can be ones that, you know, they're not all at the same pace. |
| 2:23.6 | And so if you're tired on number two, but I'm feeling really good, you know, |
... |
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