Central Governor Theory

Gringo78

I was catching up on some marathontalk podcasts at the weekend and found the interview with Tim Noakes very interesting, particularly when he talked about 'Central Governor Theory'. Basically, our brain will control how hard we push ourselves so we don't actually push ourselves to complete exhaustion. There's a safety margin that your brain applies as to how close it will let you go to causing complete shutdown. You can 'reset' the central governor by hard training - i.e you push hard and then the brain realises you're able for it and lets you push a little harder the next time.

I'd say for the average runner theres another block in place even before central governor kicks in - self belief i.e if you believe that a sub 5min mile is beyond your reach then its highly unlikely you'll ever get there.

"Resetting" the governor would seem to work in that when you break a barrier such a 5min mile or 30min 5 mile or 40min 10k, whatever it may be, it seems much easier to break it again & again - I'm not sure is this central governor or the self belief or in the case of elite athletes even collective belief i.e when one athlete breaks a WR, other athletes can feed off a belief that the barrier previously thought impossible is actually breakable.

The one thing which really caught my attention though is that fact that he believed you will have your peak marathon performance around marathon 3, 4 or 5 but that once you get it, you will be forever chasing it as somehow your central governor never lets you push so hard again. A few caveats to that - I assume the marathon count includes only those where you pushed - not ones that you took lightly or not overly seriously or that you didn't really train properly for. So if you race 2 marathons in a year are you cheaply giving up one of only 2 or 3 lifetime chances to set your PB that will not be bettered?

RayCun

I listened to the same interview and thought the 'central governor' concept was really poorly defined. (speaking only of the interview, I haven't read the book)

Is it willpower? Is it experience? Is it desire? Is it ability to cope with pain? Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, depending on the question you ask.
Is it a character trait? Is it a physical thing? Is it a floor wax or a dessert topping? Its everything and more, the answer to all your questions! Not so much a theory as a theory-ender.

airscotty

I think everybody will touch on this during interval training. For me during interval training you may think your going flat out then you get a shout from the coach and you find another gear.

Its about resetting how hard you can push yourself and often when asked at the end of a session what you learnt I fell its that you can always go faster.

tunney

billy.fish, billy.fish, billy.fish

shels4ever

maybe change the Central governor to "inner Tunney" its a little voice that tells you to HTFU when you start to slow

ultraman1

from having read a little bit about central governer theory,what i got out/ remember of it was\ the amount of nrg ur brain or ur inner tunney will let out or set u up 2 let out,for instance if u planned a 5 miler and near the end of it u met with another and he invited u to carry on for another 5,u would problee wouldnt be have the nrg or be up for it,but if the same morning u planned a 10 miler ur brain or inner tunney would have u set up for 10.....or it could be all gabideegoup

Gringo78

ultraman1 wrote: »

from having read a little bit about central governer theory,what i got out/ remember of it was\ the amount of nrg ur brain or ur inner tunney will let out or set u up 2 let out,for instance if u planned a 5 miler and near the end of it u met with another and he invited u to carry on for another 5,u would problee wouldnt be have the nrg or be up for it,but if the same morning u planned a 10 miler ur brain or inner tunney would have u set up for 10.....or it could be all gabideegoup

Heard that version of the theory also before...I think its more applicable to ultra races where you're body makes your legs collapse rather than actually deplete your energy reserves to zero. Next time you try to take things that far, it lets you go a little bit further because it recognises it might have buckled your legs a bit early the previous time. In a way, a bit like how far you'll continue to drive with the petrol light on before filling it...you'll be conservative the first few times but take things a bit closer to complete empty each subsequent time.

asimonov

nice clip here of when Steve Jones's central governor said yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlinW5ZwzGc

robinph

I rebooted mine a few years ago and that helped with knocking chunks off times. Had just not been racing hard enough previously, but didn't realise that there was more available to give.