Mental Skills for Ultrarunning-Part 2 with Neal Palles | KoopCast Episode 168
Episode overview:
Neal is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Mental Performance Consultant based in Longmont, Colorado. He provides individual psychotherapy and mental skills training/consultations/coaching to athletes at all levels through out the state.
He has been a clinical social worker since 1998 working in various settings including residential treatment centers, schools, hospitals and private practice, providing psychotherapy for a range of different issues.
After years working as a clinical social worker Neal received a second masters degree in applied sport psychology and continue to receive mentorship from a sport psychologist working towards certification as a mental performance consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.
When Neal is not working with athletes he is dad, husband, endurance and mountain athlete and endurance coach, have qualified and run the Boston Marathon, a number of 100 mile ultra endurance runs as well as plenty of other adventures.
Episode highlights:
(8:06) The mental skills pyramid: images on the website and the YouTube recording, building up motivation, mindfulness, emotional regulation, self-talk and imagery, focus
(36:39) Self-talk and imagery: recap of the pyramid, self-talk before imagery, find what works for you, avoiding negative self-talk, using the “you” voice, mantras, instructional self-talk
(51:19) Where to employ imagery: imagine the crux of the race, examples for Leadville, imagine what you want to look like, how you want to respond to challenges
Our conversation:
(0:00) Introduction: introducing Neal, the mental skills pyramid, slideshow on the YouTube episode
(1:49) Setup: discussing episode 167 with Justin Ross and episode 171 with Carla Meijin, seasonality to sports psychology, start early and get your reps in, parallels to other areas of training
(5:35) Motivation for creating a skills training plan: learning about periodized mental skills, timeframes in research studies, creating a mental training plan
(8:06) The mental skills pyramid: images on the website and the YouTube recording, building up motivation, mindfulness, emotional regulation, self-talk and imagery, focus
(9:14) Motivation: why motivation is the foundation of the pyramid, values-driven goals, action can yield motivation, examples
(11:54) Finding your why: personal values, enjoyment, write a narrative, sense of mastery, challenge, difficulties with extrinsic motives, personal connections, motivation is deliberate
(15:31) Struggling with motivation: using narratives and tapping into emotions to find out why athletes enjoy running, origin story, motivation is dynamic
(18:07) Mindfulness skills: being present, practicing during training and daily life, elite athletes are likely good at mindfulness
(21:21) Examples of mindfulness: folding clothes, eating a raisin, study things curiously, embrace your senses slowly and deliberately
(24:40) Translating mindfulness to the trails: embracing your senses, physiological testing anecdote
(26:28) Why we need emotional regulation: tripping example, Leadville example, UTMB example
(28:39) Emotional regulation practices: slowing down, deep breathing, square breathing, getting to aid stations, getting amped up at the right time, individuality
(31:24) Self-awareness for emotional regulation: finding your optimal level of emotional excitement, write down your experiences, learn how to replicate positive experiences
(33:49) Race-day analysis: when did you run well, when did you run poorly, what helped or harmed you mentally, learning to adapt to the circumstance
(35:15) Composed, consistent, compete: breaking the race down into three mental stages, start practicing now
(36:39) Self-talk and imagery: recap of the pyramid, self-talk before imagery, find what works for you, avoiding negative self-talk, using the “you” voice, mantras, instructional self-talk
(41:06) Motivational notecards: examples, develop your mantra over the long-term, don’t force self-talk when it is not the appropriate strategy
(42:54) Dissociative enthusiasm: unfounded optimism works once at most, toxic positivity, optimism is good but find what works for you
(46:35) Discern what works from training: races often reflect patterns in training, learn from when things go well and when things go poorly
(47:57) Imagery: imagine or literally watch what the course looks like, revisiting mindfulness, work through sections where you think you might struggle, write a script
(51:19) Where to employ imagery: imagine the crux of the race, examples for Leadville, imagine what you want to look like, how you want to respond to challenges
(54:44) Practicing imagery: examples, standing to mimic running, example of rolling a kayak, visualization, MMA example, overcome the worst possible situation in your mind
(58:45) Imagery for ultramarathons: golden hour finisher example, practice how you will react, avoid the panic
(59:53) Focus: defining narrow, broad, internal, and external focus, focusing on relevant controlables, Mr. Miyagi example, knowing when to use associative and dissociative focus
(1:03:32) Interval training and focus: analogy between mental and physical intensity, focus on what you can control
(1:05:16) Using associative and dissociative focus: changing techniques is hard, know when and why to use each technique, return to mindfulness to know what to do
(1:07:46) Using higher level techniques: athletes with strong motivation and natural mindfulness or self-talk abilities need to spend less time on the fundamentals, using the mental skills pyramid as a training assessment
(1:11:19) What mental training looks like: individuality, practicing at home, timing
(1:13:00) Wrap-up: additional considerations, self-compassion, optimism, confidence, resilience, Koop’s takeaways, where to find Neal, getting help with mental training, start now
(1:17:16) Outro: giving thanks, recap of the pyramid and the two-part mental skills series, stay tuned with episode 171 with Carla Meijin, share the podcast
Additional resources:
Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible
Information on coaching-
Koop’s Social Media
Twitter/Instagram- @jasonkoop