Mantras

A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of "creating transformation" (cf. spiritual transformation). Their use and type varies according to the school and philosophy associated with the mantra. In running, they can keep you going when you are tired. The best mantras are ones that you come up with yourself and have personal meaning. Below are some examples. (adapted from Marathon You can do it! by Jeff Galloway)

Encouraging Mantras- to keep you going
I feel good- I feel strong.
I can do this.
I get to run.
This is fun!

Vision Mantras
I can see the next mile marker.
I'm pushing through the wall.


Distration Mantras
One more block, (or pole, or tree)
Look at that person's shirt, hat, etc.
Look at that store, house, etc.

Creative Mantras- to distract you from boredom
What kind of novel could that person up ahead have written?
What is that person thinking about?

Random Mantras from People Doing it
I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.
• Can't Stop! Won't Stop!
• Ole' Ole' Ole' (By God, By God, By God)
• No regrets!
• If you don't, you rust!
• I'm a running machine, not going down without a fight!
• "Gotta Get Thru This" song by Daniel Bedingfield
• "The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital." (Joe Paterno, Penn State head football coach)
• The pain of discipline or the pain of regret.
• Relentless forward motion
• Make Mom proud!
• Run like you're being chased!
• This too shall pass.
• Perpetual forward motion
• When the going gets tough, the tough get going. So get going!
• With God all things are possible, so you CAN do this!
• Do this today and you can eat your weight in chocolate tonight!
• Not today, I will not be broken.
• I AM the Terminator sent from the future to destroy this trail. I'm a machine. I'm a machine. Machines don't stop til the mission is done.
• Not if. When.
• I will keep on.
• Define yourself!
• If you don't go run you're gonna need prozac!
• Not everybody can do this!
• Of course it's hard, if it was easy everyone would do it.
• Of course it's difficult, it's the difficult that makes it great!
• Gone away is the blue bird! Here to stay is a new bird!
• Where’s the nearest shotgun?

A Cool Reward for My Effort!

The Wall

"Hitting the Wall" is a running experience that typically happens around mile 20 and has been described by Dick Beardslee as "It felt like an elephant had jumped out of a tree onto my shoulders and was making me carry it the rest of the way in."

Hitting the Wall is about running out of energy. Usually when we think of this we think of muscle fatigue, but what about brain fatigue? Recent research on the relationship in central nervous system changes and exercise-related fatigue shows that there are neurochemical changes. These changes are likely to be involved in a runner hitting the Wall during a marathon.

During prolonged exercise, the brain's production of serotonin increases steadily and at least in animal studies peaked when an animal collapsed from exhaustion. Elevated serotonin levels cause feelings of tiredness, sleepiness, and lethary. This increase in serotonin is caused by increased delivery of tryptophan to the brain. Research has also shown that Dopamine which causes feelings of excitement, reward, motivation, and pleasure begins to drop as the levels of serotonin rise.

Nutritional approaches to preventing serotonin levels from rising and dopamine levels to fall are being investigated. At this point there is no sports drink or supplement to target these neurotransmitter levels, but one well known fatigue stopper is caffeine. Caffeine may delay fatigue by increasing dopamine levels in the brain. You might not want to down a triple espresso before your run however. ;)