I finished the mountaineering marathon race, my target for this summer. I enjoyed the race because I wasn’t focused on the result, but I am now eager to return to my former running performance. I have blamed the decline in my running speed on my age and my injury, but seeing the runners I ran with working hard has sparked my ambition to improve again. Then I came across a youtube video about what a famous advanced runner did to get sub-3 hours again in his 50s. On the premise that runners have the muscles to complete the race, he says that strengthening the stride is of the utmost importance. All this surprised me, as I had assumed that my slowdown in running was due to a decline in cardiorespiratory fitness. Apparently, until now, I had unconsciously skipped over any mention of stride length in videos or articles about running.

In more scientific terms, brains naturally narrow their vision through self-serving assumptions. This is also referred to as “Selective Attention” in psychology. I thought I was trying very hard to find the answer, but I had already decided what the answer was. I would like to do more research on this and find new exercises to help me improve. I wish I could lift the confirmation bias.