CINDER
Mental training for distance runners
The mind is a muscle.
Train it like one.
Ten minutes a day. Real reps, not mantras.
Ten checkpoints, worked in order. The stopwatch at halfway is the time trial.
How it works
Learn it. Drill it.
Then take it out on a run.
Learn it
A six-minute lesson, then a drill on real situations — one question at a time.
Drill it
6 short reps for the days in between. Two minutes of downshift breathing. A four-minute race rehearsal.
Take it out on a run
One assignment, on a run you were already doing. Log what happened when you get back.
Step three is the whole course. A skill you have never used at mile 20 is a skill you do not have.
What you'll work on
The half nobody trains.
- The voice in your head at mile 20.
- Holding focus when it starts to hurt.
- Running the race once before you run it.
- Standing on a start line without unravelling.
The words you'll see
Plain meanings.
- Checkpoint
- One unit of the course, each on a single skill.
- Field work
- The assignment you take onto a real run, then log.
- Grit
- Points for work you actually did: a lesson is 15, field work 20. It buys nothing, the way mileage buys nothing.
- Streak
- Days in a row you did something. It survives a rest day on purpose.
Before you start
What this isn't.
This trains sport performance skills. It is not therapy, not medical care, and not a treatment for anything. Depression, anxiety, disordered eating and anything else that follows you off the run need proper care — your doctor, or a sports psychologist. Going early is the same instinct as treating a niggle before it becomes an injury.
Free while in beta, and honest about being early: the video lessons are still being filmed, so some show a placeholder for now. The drills, the field work and the logbook all work today.