Any athlete who seeks to perform at their best knows the importance of mental training. Whether it’s a tough workout, a local 5k, or competing on the world stage at the Olympics, having confidence in your abilities will help you get the most out of yourself.

Greg Chertok has over a decade of experience creating mental training programs for a wide range of athletes. He's worked with youth athletes as well as professionals, including Olympians, NCAA and Super Bowl champions, and Stanley Cup players. As a performance and mental skills consultant, Greg is an expert at helping others build sport-specific confidence.

Greg and I discuss many aspects of developing confidence that will benefit your running, including:

What does it mean to be confident in an athletic setting?
Is confidence innate or can it be changed?
Common confidence traps and how to avoid them
What can we learn from professionals when it comes to building confidence?
What are the disadvantages of being both under- and over-confident?
How does confidence impact us outside of competition?

Links & Resources from the Show:

Learn more about Greg’s work
Work on your own mental skills with our free mindset email course
Take our mindset course!

Thank You InsideTracker!

This episode is brought to you by InsideTracker, one of the most reputable blood testing companies in the world. They were founded in 2009 by aging, genetics, and biometrics scientists to help you analyze your body’s data and get a firm idea of how well you’re responding to training.

Understanding your body’s biomarkers, from stress hormones to testosterone to Vitamin D, can help you figure out if you’re over-training, under-training, optimally training, or if you have a health issue that might be affecting your running. But the best part is that they give you personalized optimal ranges for each of these biomarkers and a host of ways to improve these markers through diet, lifestyle, or exercise changes.

I’ve gotten several Ultimate tests from them and the process is simple, easy, and very eye-opening if you haven’t done a deep dive on your biomarkers yet. Of all the investments you can make in your running, this one is like getting a detailed checkup or regularly scheduled maintenance for your internal physiology. I scheduled another Ultimate test for myself soon and it’ll be interesting to compare with the test I got in February. Get yours today!

Thank you Elemental Labs!

A big thanks to Elemental Labs for their support of this episode! They make electrolyte drinks for athletes and low-carb folks with no sugar, artificial ingredients, or colors. And you can get a free sampler pack of 4 flavors and 8 individual packets when you pay $5 in shipping.

Elemental Labs' products have some of the highest sodium concentrations that you can find. Anybody who runs a lot knows that sodium, as well as other electrolytes like magnesium and potassium, are essential to our performance and how we feel throughout the day.

The citrus flavor has quickly become my favorite. I’m drinking one a day now to help me get enough fluids in our dry Colorado air. It’s tasty and delicious and I find that I’m not peeing every 45 minutes throughout the day, which might be an indication I wasn’t eating enough sodium.

There’s now mounting evidence that higher sodium intake levels are not unhealthy – and athletes need substantially more than your typical sedentary person. Of course, ask your doctor if you’re worried. But for those athletes running outside in the heat, an electrolyte replacement makes a lot of sense. So check out Elemental Labs to try their new flavor or get a free sampler pack.

277. How to Build and Grow Running-Specific Confidence

The Strength Running Podcast