Battling Your Negative Tendencies: How to Overcome What’s Holding You Back

We all have tendencies that shape our thoughts and actions. Some of us tend to overtrain, while others might beat themselves up over a missed workout or skip rehab exercises. A big part of coaching is identifying these tendencies in athletes and developing strategies to capitalize on the positive ones while minimizing the negative ones. In this article, we’ll explore how to identify your own tendencies and find ways to harness the good and banish the bad.

Understanding Personality Types

Personality type is a broad way to capture a whole host of tendencies you might have, giving you a head start on making the best of what you’ve got. The most well-known personality research comes from the 1950s and categorizes people into Type A and Type B personalities. While this is just one of many personality frameworks, it’s simple and familiar, making it a useful starting point for getting to know an athlete.

Here are some broad definitions of the two types:

• Type A: outgoing, ambitious, extremely organized, status-conscious, sensitive, impatient, anxious, proactive, “workaholics,” hate delays and ambivalence
• Type B: lower stress levels, work steadily, care more about the journey than the outcome, reflective, relaxed

It’s important to note that these are extreme characterizations and don’t apply to all situations; you can be Type A in one part of your life and Type B in another. Neither type is better or worse; they both have their strengths and weaknesses.

Some common negative tendencies for each personality type include:

Type A tendencies:

• Push too hard
• Worry/obsess
• Never satisfied
• Hypercompetitive
• Can be one’s own worst enemy

Type B tendencies:

• Delay/procrastinate
• Skip or reduce
• Too relaxed
• At risk for lack of preparation
• Too easily satisfied

Once you figure out your personality type, you can use training tricks to turn type-based negative tendencies into strengths. For example, when coaching a Type A athlete, I always build recovery blocks into their plan to ensure they take necessary rest without feeling “lazy.” I also help them objectively review workouts and races, as they tend to focus exclusively on the negative.

On the other hand, when training a Type B runner, I focus on motivating them to adhere to the schedule by finding training partners for accountability or frequently reminding them of their goals to generate excitement.

Common Negative Runner Tendencies

While each personality type has its strengths and weaknesses, it’s the negative tendencies that hold us back. Some of the most common ones I’ve seen in my 30+ years of coaching include:

• Starting too fast in workouts
• Skipping prehab routines
• Not taking proper rest between training cycles
• Poor snacking
• Negative self-talk
• Running too fast on easy days
• Giving up in races
• Dwelling on “bad” workouts
• Poor preparation/rushing fitness
• Ignoring aches/pains/tightness
• Overscheduling, particularly on key workout days and/or before big races

Let’s look at a few real-life examples to see if you can relate:

Kelly the Mom

Kelly is a dedicated runner who has dropped her marathon time from 3:52 to 3:21 and qualified for Boston. Her biggest negative tendency is that toward the end of long runs and intense workouts, her mind shifts to getting back to her family. As soon as she gets home, she immediately focuses on everyone else, often skipping post-workout fueling.

To overcome this, Kelly now prepares a recovery shake before her hard/long runs and has it ready within 30 minutes of finishing. This has improved her recovery and the quality of her key workouts. Plus, her kids now help make the shakes and join her for a recovery drink break when she gets home.

Alice the Pro

Alice, a professional runner, tends to start too fast in workouts. To fix this, we use two solutions:

1. For short, rapid reps, she does “pace strides” before the workout to dial in the goal pace.
2. For longer repeats, she runs 1 mile at tempo pace to settle down before the speed work.

These simple yet effective strategies have led to big breakthroughs in Alice’s training and racing.

Seth the Snacker

Seth’s negative tendency is snacking too often and making poor snacking choices. Our solution is to have him put his snack servings in a bowl instead of eating from the bag. This interrupts the “eat the whole bag” tendency and helps control the quantity. Small victories like this can lead to winning the battle.

Brent the Brain-Smasher

Brent is harsh on himself and engages in a lot of negative self-talk. To combat this, we developed a list of affirmations that he must read aloud every day. While it feels forced at first, consistent positive self-talk can rewire the brain over time. Brent is already expressing less negativity and making more positive statements after beneficial workouts.

What You Can Do

Take about a week to identify the negative tendencies that are hurting your running. Once you’ve pinpointed them, make a plan:

1. Fold a piece of paper in half or draw a line down the center.
2. On one side, list your negative tendencies and rank them in order of priority based on ease of overcoming and potential impact.
3. On the other side, write down actions you could take to lessen, interrupt, or eliminate each negative tendency.
4. Rip the page in half and dispose of the side with the negative tendencies.
5. Post the action items somewhere prominent to spur you to work on them.

Remember, it takes time to change habits. Relapses may occur, but focusing on developing new habits and building a new you across a training cycle can lead to significant improvements.

By identifying your personality type, recognizing common negative runner tendencies, and developing strategies to overcome them, you can break through plateaus and achieve your running goals. Whether it’s adjusting your training paces, mastering the art of recovery, or cultivating a positive mindset, small changes in just one of your negative tendencies can make a huge difference in your running journey. So, take the time to reflect, plan, and take action—your future running self will thank you!