Your self-talk running journal

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Turn negative thoughts into winning words.

A self-talk running journal is a tool designed to help you become more aware of your thoughts and inner dialogue during training and racing.

The way you talk to yourself, whether positively or negatively, can have a big impact on your running performance, confidence, and mental resilience.

By keeping a self-talk running journal, you can

  • start to notice patterns in your thoughts
  • understand how they affect your emotions and actions
  • work on developing more constructive, empowering self-talk.

Here’s how it works.

Recording your thoughts

After a training run or race, jot down the things you said to yourself during key moments. This could be at times of fatigue, when you were pushing hard, or when things weren’t going as planned.

Here are 5 constructive questions to help your reflections.

  • What was I saying to myself in moments of stress or fatigue?
  • How did my self-talk affect my performance today?
  • What could I have said to myself that would have been more helpful?
  • When was my self-talk the most positive or empowering?
  • How can I apply better self-talk in future situations?

Identifying patterns

Over time, you’ll start to see common themes in your self-talk.

  • Are you encouraging yourself, or are you overly critical?
  • Do certain thoughts come up when you’re under stress or when you’re performing well?

Reframing negative self-talk

Once you’ve identified negative or unhelpful thoughts, your journal helps you actively practice replacing them with more positive or constructive ones.

For example, instead of saying

“I can’t keep going.”

you might reframe this as

“I’ve trained for this, and I can push through.”.

Tracking progress

Your self-talk running journal gives you a clear way to track how your mindset evolves.

As you practice more positive or effective self-talk, you’ll likely notice changes in your running performance, focus, and overall mental toughness.

Quick tips and summary

Here are 5 tips for effectively using a self-talk running journal and building a stronger, more positive mental framework that supports your running goals. 

  1. Be consistent with entries.
  2. Capture both positive and negative thoughts. 
  3. Use specific running examples.
  4. Include reframing strategies.
  5. Track how self-talk affects performance.

Thank you for reading. 

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