Sport

What to do when you hit "The Wall"

Ask a Researcher: Exercise psychology expert Dr. Shaelyn Strachan offers advice on how to work through "the wall" during a marathon.

Dr. Shaelyn Strachan smiling with her son after a race
Estimated Read Time:
1 minute
Estimated Read Time:
1 minute

In the Ask A... series,  experts from across the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management will answer your questions about sports, recreation, kinesiology, community development and more.

Q: How can you work through hitting the wall in a race like the marathon?

A: Well first, the wall is real. I just want to acknowledge that. I've hit it before. If you can bring some mindfulness to the situation when you hit the wall, that can go a long way. 

So what does that look like? 

That means trying not to catastrophize about the fact that you're feeling tired and you feel like you can't finish the race, and instead getting very curious about how you feel. When you can remove yourself from that feeling and just become a little more objective, you might realize that, yeah, you are tired and yes, this is really hard, but it's something that you can work through, that you can get through. 

When you stop catastrophizing about it, it loses its power over you. And often, if you can start to be mindful about how you feel, that in itself can be a distraction. 

And then, if you start to be mindful of the situation around you, you can draw energy from the other people around you, the people cheering and hopefully the nice weather. Those things can help you ride that wave until maybe your body kicks in from a new energy source and you have some more energy to finish that race.

 

Headshot of Dr. Shaelyn Strachan
Dr. Shaelyn Strachan

Dr. Shaelyn Strachan is interested in understanding why people struggle to maintain healthy behaviours. Combining her own experiences with physical activity and her background in psychology, Strachan uses quantitative methods and social psychological theories to find answers to how we can help people stick with their healthy lifestyle choices.

Learn more about Dr. Shaelyn Strachan and her work.

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