6WURQJIURP +HDGWR)HHW Arguably the most accomplished collegiate runner the United Sates has ever seen, Jenny Barringer needed to connect her body and mind in order to reach her full potential. By Jayme Otto oeing the line for her !nal race as a college athlete, literal nightmare. She remembers feeling disconnected to re- Jenny Barringer’s head buzzed. The four-time ality and confused. Fans were equally stunned; Barringer had National Collegiate Athletic Association champ been perhaps the most consistent racer in NCAA history, had high hopes for the 2009 NCAA Cross Country setting collegiate records in indoor and outdoor track as well TChampionships. The stage was set for peak performance: the as cross country with seeming ease. Her performance in the autumn day was sunny, the 6k course wound through grass 2008 Olympics’ inaugural women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, and dirt and Jenny had her hair secured in her trademark where she placed ninth and secured the American record in ponytail. But this time, her pre-race jitters were extreme. In the event, made Jenny appear unstoppable. addition to thinking win, her mind held a jumble of more What stunned Barringer and her fans alike was that there urgent thoughts: set an impossible pace to follow, annihilate the wasn’t an obvious explanation for what happened during the course record, dominate by 30 seconds—minimum. championship. She was healthy, free from injury, her train- At the gun, Barringer charged right to the front. She ing was on track and she’d been properly resting in the weeks ran in her typical con!dent style, but those who knew her leading up to the race. would say that she looked different. Perplexed, maybe. The problem, however, had nothing to do with Barrin- Like she wasn’t having any fun. Favored heavily to win the ger’s body. championship, a storybook ending to a perfect season, Jenny Sports psychologist Sharon Chirban, Ph.D., says that run- should have appeared more relaxed, even happy. ners become very skilled at what she calls “regulating arousal,” But her facial expression wasn’t the only thing amiss. i.e. maintaining composure in high-pressure race situations In the lead just after the halfway point, Barringer suddenly in order to compete effectively. But certain thought patterns slowed. She looked dazed. She stumbled. Spectators could can turn arousal into anxiety, or in Barringer’s case, full-blown almost see her struggling to rearrange her thoughts and to panic. “In her head, Jenny had made that race into something PHOTO BY SARA FORREST, COURTESY OF NEW BALANCE COURTESY BY SARA FORREST, PHOTO focus. The harder she tried to compose herself, the more much more than it was,” says Chirban. “She’d raised the stakes she faltered. She fell, hyperventilating. Barringer got up and so high, even setting her goal far beyond winning, that she collapsed several more times before eventually crossing the could no longer process the accompanying anxiety.” !nish line in 163rd place. Barringer agrees: “It had somehow gone from being a race to symbolizing the end of my college career, the end of so TRANSFORMING TRAGEDY much that’s important in my life. It had become the symbol for “It was the most tragic race of my career,” Barringer recalls the culmination of my entire running career to that point.” from her home in Monument, Colo. “And the fact that it Mental stress is an often-underestimated component of was my collegiate !nale, an NCAA Championship and on professional athletics, according to Chirban. With so much national television, well let’s just say it couldn’t have been a focus on training the body, sometimes the mind falls by the more inopportune time.” wayside. Barringer learned the hard way that negative thought The 24-year-old describes the experience as a shock, a patterns can have disastrous physiological effects. WOMENSRUNNING.COM | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 | WOMENSRUNNING.COM MAKING A “Sometimes without a setback, you COMPLETE can’t really learn the lesson.” COMEBACK “It was so dif!cult to just shut things mindTIPS FROM SPOR >>>TS down when I was PSYCHOLOGIST, SHARON probably in the best CHIRBAN, PH.D. Manage the “vanity variable.” Caring shape of my life,” what people think is a tough obstacle. Set expectations lower than your prior level of performance. It always takes longer to come back than expected. Forget your tough work ethic when recovering. Less can be more in a comeback. Remember that comebacks are based on a careful process. Desired results come to those who are patient. PUTTING PERFORMANCE offer a truly unbiased perspective, one and 11 seconds, she solidi!ed the LEASONS LEARNED the mind can result in equal, or even INTO PERSPECTIVE not motivated by your performance or fact that Jenny Barringer was back in Barringer’s last race of her collegiate greater stress on the body—and vice- money,” Barringer says. everyone’s mind—including her own. Following a career-low performance, FROM career and the !rst of her professional versa—according to Chirban. an athlete may wish to step back from In order to ensure she was both career came chock-full of life lessons. Barringer’s mental shift is per- LEFT bodyTIPS FROM JULI >>> BENSON, the sport in order to relax and lick physically and mentally strong, Bar- SETBACKS REQUIRE In the NCAA race, mental anxiety haps the key to her entire comeback. lingering wounds. Instead, Barrin- ringer waited nearly half a year before STEPBACKS : PHOTO BY SARA FORREST. P gave way to physical debilitation; Beyond the break from running she JENNY BARRINGER’S COACH ger blazed back into the spotlight. kicking off her comeback on May 1, But by June her performance began in her !rst pro race, physical strain took in July, past the cross-training and Cross train to maintain !tness. Con- Within days of her ill-fated race, 2010 with a 1,500-meter race at the deteriorating, this time physically. resulted in the mental stress of a tough core-strengthening she focused on for sider water running, elliptical training Barringer announced that she’d Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational. After !nishing a disappointing third in decision. Jenny was quickly learning the remainder of the summer, and even or biking to simulate running. signed with an agent. A month later, It was her !rst race since the 2009 the 5,000 meters at the USA Outdoor that each was the "ip side of the same beyond getting back up to her full mile- Prepare your body to return to run- she agreed to a multi-year contract NCAA Cross Country Champion- Championships, Barringer announced coin–the place where mind and body age this past fall, Jenny’s most profound ning by improving "exibility. Carve 20 with New Balance, and a month after ships, and she had been working hard that she was ending her season due to a intersect. changes have happened inside her head. to 30 minutes into your daily routine that she selected Juli Benson, the Air in spring training, concentrating on stress reaction at the head of her right HOTO Tapping into that mind-body Even for a steeplechase champion, that’s to stretch. This can be a good time to Force Academy’s head cross-country controlling any potentially crippling femur. Even those close to her were connection can be tricky for even the no easy hurdle to overcome. try yoga or Pilates as well. coach, to guide her through her !rst nerves. “You don’t want to step up to surprised. Barringer admitted that she’d BY most seasoned runners. And up until Barringer is con!dent she’ll come PETERZ P professional season. Jenny was eager the start line in your !rst professional been trying to hide a nagging pain, this point, Barringer didn’t have any back stronger on all levels. Her time off Enhance your running with strength to shake off the shadow of her last [competition] feeling like you have but at this point, she needed to let her disappointing experiences to draw has given the athlete space to concen- training. Find a quali!ed trainer who collegiate competition. something to prove,” she says. injury rest. HOTOGRAPHY upon to help negotiate that tenuous trate on herself as a runner, and as a can ensure correct form. To be closer to Benson, Barringer Barringer kept her anxiety in It was a choice Jenny agonized relationship. “Jenny [had] almost been woman as well. In October 2010, Jenny Strengthen your core to help with moved to Colorado Springs, and into check during the race start by relying over. “It was so dif!cult to just shut too lucky, having such a seamless ride married, and she is now starting a life proper form and posture while running. the Olympic Training Center. In her on advice from her father, a profes- things down when I was probably in for so long,” Chirban says. “Sometimes with her husband. “I’m Jenny Simpson . P Ease back in when you begin running new home, Barringer began working sor in Oklahoma, who told her that the best shape of my life,” she says. It HOTO without a setback, you can’t really now,” she laughs, “It’s a whole new me.” again. Your cardiovascular system will with a sports psychologist, and found she shouldn’t let any one day in her was also the !rst important decision learn the lesson.” BY be ahead of your body at !rst. the sessions to be quite powerful. life de!ne her. She steered clear of a Barringer made completely on her own.