Mental Skills for Ultrarunning-Part 2 with Neal Palles | KoopCast Episode 168
View all timestamps and show notes on the KoopCast website.
Episode overview:
Neal is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Mental Performance Consultant based in Longmont, Colorado. He provides individual psychotherapy and mental skills training/consultations/coaching to athletes at all levels through out the state.
He has been a clinical social worker since 1998 working in various settings including residential treatment centers, schools, hospitals and private practice, providing psychotherapy for a range of different issues.
After years working as a clinical social worker Neal received a second masters degree in applied sport psychology and continue to receive mentorship from a sport psychologist working towards certification as a mental performance consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.
When Neal is not working with athletes he is dad, husband, endurance and mountain athlete and endurance coach, have qualified and run the Boston Marathon, a number of 100 mile ultra endurance runs as well as plenty of other adventures.
Episode highlights:
(8:06) The mental skills pyramid: images on the website and the YouTube recording, building up motivation, mindfulness, emotional regulation, self-talk and imagery, focus
(36:39) Self-talk and imagery: recap of the pyramid, self-talk before imagery, find what works for you, avoiding negative self-talk, using the “you” voice, mantras, instructional self-talk
(51:19) Where to employ imagery: imagine the crux of the race, examples for Leadville, imagine what you want to look like, how you want to respond to challenges
Additional resources:
Neal’s website
Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible
Information on coaching-
Koop’s Social Media
Twitter/Instagram- @jasonkoop
