The Countdown Trick
“The Countdown Trick” is the name that I give to an endurance training and racing trick shared with me several Saturdays ago by my friend Beth, with whom I had not run in almost half a year. She was preparing for an imminent half-marathon, and the distance that my full-marathon group was running that Saturday morning was perfect for her preparation. So the run gave us an opportunity to catch up with what was happening in each other’s lives. And Beth shared The Countdown Trick with others and me during that training run.
The Countdown Trick is super-simple to employ:
Count DOWN the miles (or kilometers) as you complete them
in an endurance race or training run.
That’s it!
Simple, But Powerful
Just because The Countdown Trick is simple to employ does not mean that it is not powerful. Having now used this mental trick for several long training runs, I would say that it is extremely powerful.
I say this for three primary reasons:
- Simplicity: Again, power and simplicity do not seem to go together. After all, our lives today are filled with electronic gadgets such as GPS wrist-units and tablet computers whose power is based on their increasingly complex circuity. But I argue that some of the most powerful gadgets today, such as the Amazon Kindle, are some of the simplest to use. And the same holds true for any mental trick used by an endurance runner or walker, given all the physical and mental challenges that one can face during an endurance race or training run.
- Compatibility: What I mean by “compatibility” is that The Countdown Trick can be used in combination with ANY of the fourteen endurance-race tricks that I teach in my book Mental Tricks for Endurance Runners and Walkers. As I explain in the book, some of the pairs among those fourteen tricks should not be used. The Countdown Trick can be paired effectively with any of those tricks.
- Happiness: The Countdown Trick especially caught my attention because it makes people laugh. Yes, you read that correctly. When you call out to your fellow training or racing buddies the remaining distance at each mile marker, you will very likely make them laugh. Most of us are accustomed to hearing people call out INCREASING distances — especially during races. So the “funny bone” nature of The Countdown Trick seems to be that it is not what people expect to hear but it IS what people are thinking. The induced laughter causes people to breathe more deeply, which is great for oxygenation and relaxation — two things crucial for endurance athletes.
How It Works
The unconscious mind’s primary role is to protect you from harm based on whatever “rules” have been programmed into it. The traditional method of counting up miles in an endurance race or training session effectively asks the unconscious mind to “bear with me while I keep piling on the miles”. But increasing mileage triggers the activation of an unconscious rule — at least, in most of us! — that says that we must stop running or walking so as to protect the body from exhaustion and damage.
As explained in The Science Behind The Law of Attraction, the unconscious mind in stressful situations does not process negation well. For example, “I will not eat candy on my diet.” is a bad affirmation because the unconscious mind removes the “not” when under stress. Similarly, dwelling on the distance covered instead of the distance remaining asks the unconscious mind to negate the first in favor of the second, something that it does not handle well under the stress of an endurance race or training session.
So I believe that The Countdown Trick works because counting down the miles directly gives the unconscious mind decreasing distances to handle, which do not trigger the unconscious mind to activate its too-many-miles rule or defense mechanism.
How’s That Working for You?
As Dr. Phil McGraw likes to say, “How’s that working for you?” If typically you count UP your distance covered as you run or walk, then try counting DOWN your distance instead … and then let me know how it works for you — by posting a comment below.
I would love to hear from you!
