How to Build Mental Toughness (according to a PhD and World Champion)

The Strength Running Podcast

Jason Fitzgerald

Health & Fitness, 10k, Beginnerrunning, Marathontraining, Fitness, Injuryprevention, Marathon, Halfmarathon, Running, Sports

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2017

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I invited Simon Marshall, PhD and his wife Lesley Patterson to talk about practical strategies for building confidence, reducing pre-race anxiety, and managing fears.

Their new book The Brave Athlete is a handbook for the athlete's brain, showing you how to:

Resist the urge to quit
Embrace difficulty
Respond positively to setbacks
Build confidence and self-belief
Cope better with stress and anxiety

This husband and wife team is quite the duo. Simon is former professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of San Diego and a professor of sport and exercise psychology at San Diego State University.

Currently, he's the performance psychologist for BMC Racing - a World Tour professional cycling team.

His wife Lesley Patterson is a dominant triathlete, having won three world off-road triathlon champions and an Ironman Triathlon. A professional mountain biker, she's also a former national champion in cross country.

And I think all of us get how important our brain is to our running.

How many times have you been halfway through a long run and dreaded every step?

How many races have you wished in hindsight that you had sucked it up and ran harder instead of settling?

It's happened to me more times than I can count. And it happens to world-class athletes (like Lesley, which we talk about) all the time, too.

This podcast will show you how to turn your brain into an asset, rather than a liability.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ready, set go.
0:05.0	This is episode 30 with performance psychologist Simon Marshall and three times world off-road triathlon
0:11.1	champion Leslie Patterson, co-authors of the strength-running
0:30.8	podcast, I knew the topic of sports psychology was a hot one.
0:34.4	That episode rocketed to the most popular we've ever published and we're building on that
0:39.6	topic today. Joining me is the husband and wife team of Simon Marshall and Leslie Patterson.
0:45.0	Simon is a former professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of California at San Diego,
0:50.0	and a professor of sport and exercise psychology at San Diego State
0:54.7	University. Right now he's the performance psychologist for BMC Racing, a
0:59.7	world tour professional cycling team. His wife Leslie is one of the most dominant
1:04.3	triathletes around. She's a three times world champion in off-road triathlon.
1:09.2	She's also an Iron Man triathlon champion, a professional mountain biker, and a former national champion in cross-country.
1:16.6	They have teamed up to write, The Brave Athlete, calm the fuck down and rise to the occasion.
1:22.0	Now look, we all know how important our
1:24.4	brain is as runners. How many times have you been halfway through a long run or
1:29.0	at mile 18 of a marathon or mile 10 of a half marathon and you've nearly had an anxiety attack over how
1:35.9	much suffering you have left to endure. It happens to me, it happens to world-class
1:41.1	athletes like Leslie and I'm sure it's happened to you too.
1:44.0	In this episode, we're talking about how to become more mentally tough
1:48.0	by developing higher self-confidence, learning how to manage fear,
1:52.0	and reducing anxiety.
1:54.0	The runner's brain can be a liability or an asset.
	...

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