Doing What You've Already Done

Be more present by projecting yourself into the future.

Hello, friends! In this newsletter, I share four simple, powerful visualization techniques anyone can use to do hard things with less anxiety and more joy. Read on…

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Redrawing the Route to Success

There was a problem with every elevation profile map I could find of the California International Marathon (CIM): they all read left-to-right.

Why is that an issue? Let me explain.

CIM meanders generally east-to-west, from Folsom to downtown Sacramento. On a street map, that’s right-to-left. As I studied the course, my pea brain couldn’t reconcile maps that read in opposite directions.

This does not compute.

There was another problem with the profile. See how smooth it is? Taken at face value, a fella might think he could collapse into a ball and roll to the finish, a la Sonic the Hedgehog. YouTube research told me this exaggeration has caused more than one runner to underestimate the actual ups-and-downs.

These maps would not do. So, I made my own.

Mine marries a more realistic elevation profile with a mile-by-mile street map—both moving right-to-left. I overlayed my nutrition plan, which had me finishing gels just before aid stations, so I could chase them with water. There was extra space on the page, so I added a few mindfulness prompts. I even had this beauty laminated.

Lisa said, when I studied it, I looked like a coach hiding play calls. Fair enough.

No secrets here. Just “the generation effect” at work (read down to learn about it).

Why would I spend time creating and analyzing course maps before a marathon? Because science—and my personal experience—have shown that visualization plays a big role in running performance. By projecting ourselves into the future, we can manage anxiety, boost confidence, and enhance our race day experience.

The Why: Connecting Mind and Body

Employing imagery techniques is a way of rehearsing real-life scenarios, so that when we encounter them later, the psychological and physiological responses are more familiar. In fact, there’s increasing evidence that visualization physically changes the brain and strengthens neural pathways in a process known as neuroplasticity.

In essence, mental rehearsal is like gym time for our minds. Elite athletes worldwide speak of visualization as a non-negotiable.

3x 2024 Olympic Gold Medalist Gabby Thomas in the Netflix series, “Sprint.”

Need another reason to visualize? Our brains are hungry for calories, and on race day that energy could be going to working muscles. By navigating some of the variables ahead of time, we’re offloading mental burden. In other words, when we don’t have to make as many decisions in real-time, our brains aren’t so needy.

In the same way, we can enhance our present-moment awareness by thinking ahead. It sounds contradictory—projecting into the future to tune in to the present—but, when you’ve already encountered many of the unknowns in your mind, you’re free to sink into the moment on race day.

The How: Rehearsal Tactics

Effective future-thinking isn’t haphazard, and doesn’t attempt to account for every scenario. The techniques are intentional. They help us script and watch a mental movie about a day where we reach our goal. Not everything goes perfectly on that day, but enough things happen the way we imagined, that we’re far less anxious.

Technique 1: Race somewhere that matters.

Running and place are deeply intertwined. If you can race on familiar roads or trails, visualization exercises will be more heartfelt. Of course, one of the joys of running is doing it in new and unfamiliar places.

When you choose not to race at home, find someplace significant. If it doesn’t hold intrinsic meaning, try to uncover some. Sacramento didn’t mean much to me (sorry, Sac-Town), so I spent time learning about it, finding stories of the place and the race that felt warm, that I could sincerely connect with. I made it matter.

When I visualized being there for the marathon, I became part of that narrative.

Me in 2024, on the J Street Bridge with runners in the inaugural, 1983 CIM.

Technique 2: Become a virtual explorer.

The more completely you understand a place and are able to imagine yourself there, the more powerful your visualization will be. Scour the race website for resources and use them to build a portfolio of mental imagery. CIM has a fabulous course video that not only takes viewers through every mile, but also offers advice.

No video? Use Street View to move through road courses, and Google Earth to put yourself on the trails. Be mindful of how you hope to run certain sections and how you might feel at various points. Pick out landmarks you’ll remember: “At the giant oak tree, there’s 10k left. I might be tired, but I can dig deep and let loose here.”

Technique 3: Tap the “generation effect.”

CIM was the first race for which I made a personalized course map. It helped so much I’ll now do it for every “A” race. Thing is, I didn’t spend much time actually studying my map. The real power, I believe, was in the act of creating it.

Science has a term for this cognitive phenomenon: the generation effect. It describes how actively producing material leads to better memory recall and understanding (aka connection), when compared to passively consuming it.

Another way to tap the generation effect would be to write a start-to-finish narrative. You could include course and effort notes (big hill, don’t push), technical reminders (take a gel here), and even mantras (eyes up, stay smooth).

Technique 4: Become an explorer IRL.

If you’re racing close to home, you might run the course—all at once or in sections—and visualize yourself there on race day. Bonus: Step to the side and imagine you’re a spectator watching yourself run by. Fun, right? This is called “decentering” and it adds yet another mental connection. More connections = more better.

For races you travel to, consider driving the course. For trails, think about scouting key sections (as long as it doesn’t tax you physically). While imprinting ups, downs, junctions, and corners in your mind, project yourself out of the car and onto the road. Can you see it? Looking good, kid.

Speaking of corners, visualize how you’ll “run the tangents” on race day. Courses are measured with the shortest routes through corners, like a Formula 1 driver would take them. Ignoring tangents could add minutes to a marathon.

Expansion: Visualizing Other Hard Things

When I quit drinking in 2020, asking for help from an alcohol counselor was more important than I could have known at the time. A key part of my early therapy was visualization, supercharged by the generation effect.

In exercises I admittedly loathed at the time, my counselor had me put myself in a future where I’d stopped drinking—and one where I kept going. I wrote pages and pages of detailed narrative around imagined outcomes. I went back to childhood and forward to old age. It all cemented one thing: a future without alcohol was not that scary. I saw myself healthier, happier, and running fast and free.

It’s the New Year… If there’s something daunting you want to challenge yourself with, entertain visualization as a tool to help you get there.

The Finish Line

People talk about “manifesting” new realities. Too often, I think this stops short at wishing. Visualization is a way to conceptualize outcomes, then design a path in our minds to get there. It is imagination made more concrete through action.

Whether chasing a finish line or a personal transformation, imagery and rehearsal make our best more tactile. We then encounter challenges not as strangers, but as old friends. Through visualization, we turn possibility into preparation—and preparation into performance.

Run Lightly,
-mike

Aiming toward more mindful running in 2025?
Contact me about affordable, personalized training plans and 1:1 coaching: mike@runninglightly.com