Mental and Emotional

This side of the triangle incorporates our behavior through the activities of the physical and chemical brain. The mental state is also called cognition, and includes our sensations, perceptions, learning, concept formation, and decision-making. These are all important features of great endurance. We must sense our body and its relationship to the environment—such as feeling the ground with our feet as we run instead of blocking that sense with over-supported training shoes. We also sense the water as we swim, and, if we are sensitive enough, how our muscles, joints, and brain respond to training and competition.

The emotional state includes important factors such as pain, moods of anxiety or depression, and motivation to improve our natural endurance. Both our emotional and mental states can produce significant stress, if we allow it, through improper control of our structural and chemical body; this can contribute to poor performance, physical injury, and even overtraining.

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The process of educating ourselves about endurance, and how training, diet, and other key features of fitness and health affect endurance is another important example of the mental-emotional side of the triangle. Education is probably the reason you’re reading this book. In many cases, reeducation is what takes place, as our society has unhealthy misunderstandings about sport. Many young people think that “playing hurt” is cool because of what they see and hear on television and radio. Many athletes believe that pushing themselves beyond the limit—the myth of giving 110 percent—is necessary for great endurance. Ad campaigns with unreal and unhealthy images are thrown at us and our children on a daily basis, which only perpetuates attitudes and perceptions that contribute to fit but unhealthy athletes. Without an overall balance of fitness and health, our endurance will be less than adequate.