Growth mindset in running

From what I can tell, Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) is not a runner. He is, though, running for President—of the United States. (Full disclosure: I’ve donated to Yang’s campaign, at around the midpoint of his push to get to 65,000 individual donors. The latter is one of the threshold requirements to qualify for the 2020 Democratic presidential primary debates. Yang got past 65K in early March (and is currently at over 104K) and, along with the other candidates, will be on the stage in June. I donated to Yang not because I necessarily will be voting for him. At this early stage—some 18 months before the 2020 election!—the only thing I know for sure is a certain individual whom I will not be voting for. I donated to Yang because he has thoughtful ideas, addressing the many and varied societal problems, that need to be more widely heard.)

A few weeks ago, Yang tweeted that a growth mindset is key. Which is another way of saying a scarcity mindset constrains, both individually and within a community. Also a few weeks ago, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC), Congresswoman for NY-14, tweeted about scarcity mindset in the context of specialized schools in New York City. She was responding to the controversy regarding more proportional representation vs. preserving the “specialness” of these schools. (See also Rutger Bregman’s TED2017 talk in which he began with the question, “Why do the poor make so many poor decisions?” and ended with “Poverty is not a lack of character. Poverty is a lack of cash.” In between the question and the statement, Bregman described the all-consuming debilitation of a scarcity mindset and how a guaranteed basic income could be the basis of the needed change in our worldview.)

OK, back to running. With both of the above tweet references in mind, I naturally, during one of my morning runs shortly afterwards, thought about the meaning of growth and scarcity mindsets in running. Professional runners have talent, of course. They also have training that the rest of use mostly don’t or can’t have. But, what about their mental techniques? Can we learn and adapt from the pros? The question that came to mind that morning was, do professionals more often have a growth mindset, especially during the latter part of a race? Could that be why they’re better able to tap into that large unused potential, that safety factor, of Noakes’ Central Governor Model?

So, what do I mean by growth or scarcity mindset in running? It’s related to the mind, obviously; but it’s also related to the amount of fuel one has (both in the body and on hand) at any given point in a long run or race. That is why fueling is so important in marathons or longer runs. (For the latter, not gels but real food becomes more and more needed.) However, it’s not necessarily the absolute amount of fuel one has. Rather, it’s more the amount of fuel one has—or, perhaps, the amount of fuel one thinks one has—relative to the amount of work remaining for which the fuel is needed. The “work,” of course, is the remaining distance to the finish.

Let’s define the state of mindset as the ratio of the amount of fuel one has to the remaining distance to the finish. It follows, then, that a scarcity mindset should be natural at the start (relatively low ratio) and a growth mindset should be natural at the finish (relatively high ratio). In fact, the typical end spurt to the finish line would be a manifestation of a growth mindset that’s expanding exponentially! Of course, at the starting line, though the full distance of the run is still ahead, the tendency of many is to have an illusional growth mindset and sprint out too fast, only to pay the price later. I learned that hard lesson early on, at the 2013 Wineglass Marathon. The amount of fuel one thinks one has is a lagging indicator.

Assuming an experienced runner who doesn’t start off too fast and who fuels adequately to avoid the dreaded wall, the problem is more how to have a growth mindset earlier in a run or race, before the end spurt, and maintain that mindset—even as the fuel gauge dial approaches empty. One way might be to run by chunks; essentially, treat each chunk as an end spurt. But, of course, that’s much easier said than done!

The last two miles of last weekend’s long run (20M), according to my training plan, are at GMP (goal marathon pace), which I still regard to be 8:58 (for a 3:55 finish). That run was fairly hilly, and I struggled through the middle miles. Still, for the last two miles, I was able to run at a pace 1-2 minutes faster than most of the previous miles, with the last mile just three seconds off GMP. My mindset was of increasing growth, as I counted down the remaining distance. Now, if the last two miles could be of growth, surely the last three could also be? The last four? Ten? What’s the limit? What’s limiting? I don’t yet have the answers; but I do agree with Yang that a growth mindset is key—in running as well as in life.