PSYCHING TEAM DIRECTOR
Dr. Kate Hays, PhD.

Back by popular demand! Quick tips on how to be mentally prepared to run your best race. Consider these typical scenarios:

• The runner who expects to complete the race in 3:25--or feel utterly defeated;
• The first-time marathoner, wondering what he'll do when he hits "the wall";
• The runner who knows that she is too keyed up but can't calm down;
• The runner who can't stop thinking about a current crisis in his family life;
• The runner coming back from injury and insecure about how much she can handle.

Each of these runners can benefit from a few minutes' conversation with a member of the Psyching Team. Based on the successful New York City Marathon Psych Team, Dr. Kate Hays and 30 volunteer psychologists and sport psychologists will offer mental strategies (and a friendly face) to runners from 7 a.m. until race start, at Mel Lastman Square. Commonly-used peak performance strategies include goal setting, relaxation training, imagery, positive self-talk, and affirmations. Psyching Team members trained in these methods will tailor the technique to the particular person. It's fun and it's helpful. What more could you ask?

Inaugurated in 1999 and supported by the Ontario Psychological Association, each year members of the Psyching Team work with over 1,000 individuals, small groups of runners, and participants in workshops and the Carbo Dinner. Runners are especially interested in learning methods of tension reduction and appropriate goal setting, as well as experiencing positive imagery for the race. Most find it helpful to wear the piece of finishing line ribbon that we will give you. This fluorescent orange ribbon helps runners to remember and use the "psyching" tips they have learned.

Each year, we add or modify services, based on your interest and involvement. Many of you find out about the Psyching Team right here on the web, and increasingly, you seek us out. Keep it up!

• In addition to those Quick Psyching Up Tips just before the race, the Psyching Team is available for longer consultation and mental strategizing during Race Registration @ the Expo. You'll find us at the Psyching Team table throughout Saturday, October 13.
• "Psychs on Bikes" is going strong. We provide encouragement, support and advice to runners during the course of their race.
• How did the race go? We'll be available at the Medical Tent after the race, to help you put your best "spin" on the race just after you've finished or, if necessary, help you cope with a crisis.

Kate Hays, Ph.D., C.Psych., practises sport psychology and clinical psychology in Toronto, through her own consulting programme, The Performing Edge, and as Sport Psychologist with Athlete's Care. A member of and trainer for the New York City Marathon Psych Team since 1986, Dr. Hays also has been a member of the Boston Marathon Sweep Team. She is Past-President of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Division of Exercise & Sport Psychology. She is actively involved with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (and is a Fellow and Certified Consultant, AASP), Canadian Psychological Association, Ontario Psychological Association, as well as APA. A frequent lecturer throughout North America, Dr. Hays combined her expertise in sport psychology and psychotherapy in writing Working It Out: Using Exercise in Psychotherapy (1999) and (for your friends who haven't yet been hit by the running bug!) Move Your Body, Tone Your Mood (2002). As an avid runner for more than 25 years, Dr. Hays is excited to share the wealth of constructive information on mental skills training and sport psychology with runners at the GoodLife Fitness Toronto Marathon.

People seeking further information about The Psyching Team or sport psychology, or interested in volunteering to be members of The Psyching Team, may contact Dr. Hays at The Performing Edge, (416) 961-0487 or online @ www.theperformingedge.com

Click Here for mental skills tips for marathoners and half-marathoners.