How one professor applied sports psychology to overcome long COVID, run a marathon, and qualify for Boston.
Long COVID can dismantle an athlete's body, yet mental skills can be the most potent tools for rebuilding it. At 60, sports psychologist Robert Schinke completed the Sudbury Rocks Marathon in 3:30, beating the Boston Qualifier by 20 minutes, just five years after long COVID left him with muscle stiffness, tinnitus, and 15 kilograms of weight loss.
He put his own research into practice: shutting off internal dialogue, focusing on process, and managing flares. For sports psychology students and practitioners, Schinke's return to elite running offers a rare, real-world validation of the mental skills they learn to apply.
For elite and recreational athletes alike, a long COVID diagnosis can feel like losing a part of their identity. The condition is characterized by symptoms that last more than two months after the initial infection, and for runners, the inability to train or compete is both a physical and psychological setback.
Robert Schinke, a sports psychology professor at Laurentian University, lived this harsh reality firsthand. After his second COVID-19 infection in 2021, the symptoms never fully resolved. Instead, they morphed into something more persistent: muscle stiffness, ringing in the ears, and rheumatoid arthritis-like pain that made even light jogging impossible. Over the following months, Schinke lost more than 15 kilograms, watching his body transform from a marathon-ready machine into one that struggled with daily activities.1
The physical toll was severe, but the psychological impact cut deeper. For Schinke, running was not just a hobby; it was intertwined with his professional work and personal sense of self. When the sport was suddenly taken away, he faced a classic identity crisis: the nagging question of who he was without the ability to run. This experience mirrors what sports psychologists call an athlete identity crisis, a state where an athlete's entire self-concept is built around their sport. When injury or illness forces a stop, the loss can trigger depression, anxiety, and a profound sense of emptiness.
For athletes facing long COVID, the path forward requires not only physical rehabilitation but also a mental recalibration of who they are beyond the finish line. Schinke's journey from that dark diagnosis to the starting line of a marathon is a testament to the power of the very mental skills he teaches.
A 2024 analysis in Open Forum Infectious Diseases found that 29% of non-hospitalized adults, a group that includes many recreational athletes, developed long COVID after infection. Strikingly, 76 to 90 percent of these cases originated from mild initial illnesses, showing that even fit individuals face significant risk.
Long COVID places a distinct and measurable burden on the bodies of endurance athletes, often undermining the very systems they rely on most. While recovery is possible, the path back to high-intensity training is rarely linear, and emerging research is beginning to quantify just how deeply the virus can disrupt athletic performance.
Even in highly fit individuals, long COVID can impair multiple organ systems, including the cardiovascular, pulmonary, autonomic, and skeletal muscle networks. Studies from 2024, 2025 report that VO2 max, a critical measure of aerobic capacity, may decline by roughly 10% in endurance athletes dealing with persistent symptoms.1 Common complaints include tachycardia (reported in about 72% of athletes), profound fatigue (72%), and dyspnea (58%).2 Perhaps most tellingly, three in four athletes experience an inability to sustain high-intensity efforts, derailing the foundation of marathon training.2
A defining feature of long COVID is post-exertional malaise (PEM), characterized by a worsening of symptoms 12 to 72 hours after even mild physical activity.4 Research on how to manage PEM in athletic populations remains sparse, a significant gap that frustrates both clinicians and coaches. Without clear guidelines, many athletes are finding that traditional “tough it out” mentalities backfire dramatically.
Current sports medicine consensus recommends a cautious, phased return. After a COVID infection, athletes are typically advised to rest completely for at least 14 days.3 High-intensity training is not reintroduced until roughly six weeks post-infection, and only if symptom-monitoring remains clear.5 Key decision criteria include: - Medical clearance: A full cardiac and pulmonary evaluation is essential, given a 16-fold increased risk of myocarditis post-COVID, with some studies detecting cardiac involvement in up to 15% of infected athletes.3 - Symptom monitoring: Daily check-ins on energy levels, breathing, and heart rate variability help catch early warning signs of PEM or autonomic dysregulation. - Graded return: Training volumes increase by no more than 10, 15% per week, starting with low-intensity movement and only progressing when symptoms do not flare.
Prevalence data suggest that 3, 17% of endurance athletes develop long COVID, compared to an estimated 10, 33% in the general population.1 More than half of all people still have symptoms at six months,4 yet athletes might face unique hurdles: a 33% failure rate in returning to pre-illness sport levels highlights the steep climb.2 Every recovery is individual, and timelines extend far beyond the initial infection. The emerging picture is clear: respecting the body’s limits, embracing a slow build, and staying attuned to subtle setbacks are essential for any runner hoping to toe the line again.
Robert Schinke, a sports psychologist and professor at Laurentian University, has spent decades studying how mental skills optimize performance in high-stakes environments. His work centers on contextual optimization: tailoring psychological strategies to the unique demands of each sport and culture.1 When a second bout of COVID-19 left him with disabling long COVID symptoms, he found himself facing a challenge no research paper could solve alone. He decided to become his own case study, applying the same mental techniques he had taught to Olympic athletes and coaches.
Schinke knew he needed more than self-talk, he needed a structured plan and an accountability partner. He hired Helen Francis, an accomplished ultra-marathoner, as his running coach. Francis understood the mental side of endurance sports, making her an ideal collaborator. Together, they built a marathon preparation roadmap that blended physical rebuilding with psychological skillwork. Schinke brought his analytical style to the partnership, setting clear milestones and methodically tracking progress, much like the performance routines he had once transferred from equestrian sport to other athletic domains.2
Schinke built his recovery plan around three evidence-based techniques he had long championed in his own research and consulting practice.
By turning his academic expertise inward, Schinke transformed his recovery into a real-world demonstration of the benefits of sports psychology for athletes, and a template other athletes recovering from long COVID can borrow.
I sort of just shut off my mind and any internal monologue and just focused on the process.
Shutting off your internal monologue is a powerful mental skill that reduces mental fatigue and silences the doubt that can sabotage athletic performance. For sports psychologist Robert Schinke, this technique became essential during his recovery from long COVID and his marathon training. He described it simply: “I sort of just shut off my mind and any internal monologue and just focused on the process.”1
Internal monologue often consists of self-critical or self-evaluative thoughts that drain mental energy. By learning to quiet this chatter, athletes can preserve cognitive resources for the physical demands of their sport. Schinke, a seasoned sports psychology professor, applied this concept during his training runs when his body still struggled with post-viral symptoms. Instead of getting caught up in thoughts like “I’m too tired” or “I’ll never regain my fitness”, he actively disengaged from that inner dialogue.
During his long runs, Schinke shifted his attention away from his internal monologue and toward his bodily sensations and his running pace. He focused on the rhythm of his breathing, the feeling of his feet hitting the ground, and the cadence of his steps. This shift anchors the mind in the present moment and away from judgmental thoughts. It mirrors a technique from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) called cognitive defusion, where individuals learn to see thoughts as just mental events rather than truths. By adopting this process-oriented mindset, Schinke reduced the mental load and allowed his body to do the work without the interference of a racing mind.
Research in sport psychology has long shown that self-talk can both enhance and impair performance. Negative self-talk is linked to increased anxiety and reduced endurance, while instructional or motivational self-talk can help. However, for some athletes, the most effective strategy is to minimize verbal self-talk altogether and shift to a state of mindfulness or task-focused attention (mental techniques elite athletes employ). Studies on mindfulness in endurance sports suggest that present-moment awareness reduces perceived exertion and improves performance. Schinke’s approach of shutting off his internal monologue aligns with these findings, demonstrating that sometimes, less mental noise leads to more physical output.
In sports psychology, the shift from outcome-based to process-oriented thinking has become a cornerstone of performance coaching, especially when athletes face setbacks that make traditional goals feel unreachable. For Schinke, the goal of a Boston Marathon qualifying time, something he had achieved before, became an open question after long COVID. Rather than fixating on the finish line clock, he turned his attention to what he could control in each moment.1
Process-oriented thinking focuses on the actions, routines, and immediate tasks that lead to a result, while outcome-oriented thinking fixates on the final result itself. For an endurance athlete, an outcome goal might be "run 3:30," while a process goal could be "maintain a relaxed breathing pattern for the next mile." Schinke’s training shifted from chasing a time to executing each workout as prescribed, which reduced the anxiety of measuring every run against a past version of himself.
During the marathon, Schinke broke the distance into smaller, manageable chunks.1 He focused on each kilometer, each water station, and each hill crest as separate, achievable targets. This micro-goal strategy reduced the overwhelm of 42 kilometers by creating a series of checkpoints that were within reach. Instead of asking, "Can I finish?" he repeatedly asked, "Can I get to the next marker at this pace?" Each completed micro-goal built confidence and momentum, replacing outcome pressure with present-moment engagement. Research by Locke and Latham (1990) confirms that specific, challenging, yet attainable proximal goals enhance performance by providing clear feedback and sustaining motivation. In practice, Schinke’s micro-goals looked like this:
This approach aligns with Nideffer’s model of attentional focus, which suggests that optimal performance occurs when an athlete adopts a narrow-external focus: attending to a specific external cue, like a landmark or a breathing rhythm. By narrowing his attention to the immediate task, Schinke prevented his mind from drifting to catastrophic thoughts about fatigue or the remaining distance. The result was a state of flow where the race unfolded one step at a time, culminating in a 3:30 finish and a spot at Boston.
In sports psychology, resilience means more than pushing through pain, it's about adapting to setbacks and managing your response to unexpected challenges. For Robert Schinke, long COVID flare-ups brought muscle stiffness and joint pain that could derail a training session without warning. Instead of forcing through, he applied the same mental flexibility he teaches Olympians.
Schinke approached symptom flares as data, not failure. On days when his body rebelled, he paused, assessed the severity, and adjusted the workout rather than scrapping it entirely. This kept him moving forward without worsening his condition. He learned to distinguish between the discomfort of training and the warning signals of a flare, a skill that requires honest internal feedback.
A core strategy was acceptance, acknowledging that on some days, the plan had to change. Rather than anchoring to a rigid schedule, Schinke practiced "riding the wave" of his energy levels. If a flare limited him to walking, he walked. If symptoms subsided later in the day, he ran then. This flexible mindset prevented the frustration that often leads athletes to quit after repeated setbacks.
Schinke also leaned on self-compassion, a concept often overlooked in high-performance settings. He reframed flare-ups as part of the recovery journey, not personal shortcomings. By adjusting his expectations daily, he removed the pressure of "should" and focused on what he could actually do. This approach preserved his confidence and kept him engaged in training over months.
This personal experience aligns with resilience research showing that psychological flexibility, positive reframing, and self-compassion enhance recovery from major health setbacks. Studies in sport psychology confirm that resilience, like mental toughness in sports, is not a fixed trait but a set of skills that can be developed. These are exactly the skills Schinke used to turn a marathon dream into reality despite long COVID.
Can mental skills training really speed up athletic recovery from illness or injury? Researchers are working to answer that question, and while direct evidence for long COVID is still emerging5, studies in related areas offer promising clues.
Athletes face unique psychological hurdles when returning from medical setbacks. A review of mental health interventions for athletes5 found that cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness-based approaches are the dominant therapeutic strategies, though most studies have focused on healthy competitors. There is little published research specifically on mental skills for post-viral syndromes, meaning athletes and practitioners often draw on broader principles.
Research on psychological injury rehabilitationpsychological injury rehabilitation reveals the following patterns:
While mental skills don't cure illness, they can support the rehabilitation process.
Schinke’s story isn’t an isolated case. In cancer rehabilitation, some athletes have used detailed imagery and micro-goal setting to maintain motivation during chemotherapy. Anecdotal reports from long COVID support groups echo this pattern: runners who reframed setbacks as “data points” rather than failures were more likely to resume training successfully. These examples underscore a theme that Schinke himself lived: when the body is unpredictable, controlling your mindset becomes a performance advantage.
Schinke’s emphasis on shutting off his internal monologue and focusing solely on the process mirrors mindfulness and self-talk research. By treating each run as a series of small, manageable tasks, he avoided the anxiety that often accompanies unpredictable symptoms. This approach aligns with what sports psychologists often teach: resilience isn’t about ignoring hardship, but about building the mental flexibility to work with it.
Sports psychologist Robert Schinke applied mental skills from his own research to return to marathon running after long COVID. His approach broke recovery into six key mental stages, turning a daunting comeback into manageable, process-focused steps.
3 hours, 30 minutes. That was the time on the clock when Robert Schinke crossed the finish line at the Sudbury Rocks Marathon in May 2026, beating the Boston Marathon qualifying standard for his age group by a full 20 minutes.1 For the 60-year-old Laurentian University sports psychology professor, that number represented far more than a strong performance. It was tangible proof that the mental skills he taught Olympians had carried him from the depths of long COVID back to elite endurance running.
Race morning brought familiar pre-race nerves, but Schinke did not dwell on the distance ahead. Instead, he anchored himself in the process-oriented mindset he had practiced for months. He focused on a calm, steady start, resisting the urge to go out too fast. Each mile was a micro-goal, not a benchmark to judge the whole race. This mental framing quieted the pressure of the Boston qualifier and kept his energy reserved for the work that mattered: one stride at a time.
Around the halfway mark, fatigue began whispering. The old long COVID echoes of muscle stiffness and joint pain threatened to hijack his focus. Schinke recognized the negative internal monologue and did exactly what he had trained his athletes to do: he shut it off. Rather than engaging with thoughts of quitting or comparing his pace to others, he narrowed his attention to his breathing, his footfalls, and the rhythm of his arms. He later explained, "I sort of just shut off my mind and any internal monologue and just focused on the process."1 That mental discipline kept a bad mile from becoming a bad race.
With six miles to go, Schinke felt his body asking for permission to slow down. Instead, he leaned into the silence he had cultivated. He used no self-talk, no motivational slogans; just pure absorption in the physical task. Every time a doubt surfaced, he redirected his attention to his form and the next landmark. This approach freed him from the distress of negotiating with pain and allowed him to hold a pace that would have seemed impossible during his worst long COVID days.
Crossing the line at 3:30, he realized that the marathon was not the victory. The real victory was months of showing up, trusting the process, and refusing to let his mind be the thing that stopped him.
Robert Schinke's return to marathon running after long COVID is not just a personal triumph; it's a case study in applied sport psychology that offers clear, actionable lessons for practitioners and coaches who support athletes facing illness or injury. By integrating process-oriented mental skills, mindfulness, and strategic self-talk into rehabilitation, you can help athletes rebuild confidence and physical capacity. Below are the core takeaways.
Motivational climate refers to the psychological environment created by coaches and practitioners that shapes an athlete's motivation. In an autonomy-supportive climate, the emphasis is on personal mastery, effort, and choice rather than on external outcomes like race times or rankings. For athletes recovering from long COVID or similar conditions, this climate is critical: it reduces the pressure to hit arbitrary performance benchmarks and allows them to redefine success in terms of small, controllable gains. Practically, this means involving athletes in goal-setting, offering meaningful rationales for training adjustments, and acknowledging their perspective, especially when they experience setbacks. Research shows that athletes in mastery-oriented climates report greater intrinsic motivation and lower burnout, both essential for sustained recovery.
Recovery from a complex condition like long COVID is nonlinear. Teach athletes to: - Begin with very low-intensity activities, such as walking or gentle mobility work, and track daily symptoms. - Use a simple rating system (e.g., 1-10) for fatigue and discomfort to identify patterns and avoid overexertion. - Employ mental skills as a core part of rehab, not an add-on. For example, combine a five-minute breathing exercise with a physical task to promote mindful pacing. - Scale up only when the athlete consistently tolerates current demands without a significant symptom increase. This slow, process-driven progression mirrors Schinke's year-long buildup from basic exercises to a qualifying marathon.
By embedding these mental strategies into every stage of rehabilitation, sports psychology practitioners and coaches can empower athletes to reclaim their identities and capacities, one mindful step at a time.
Long COVID presents unique challenges for athletes, blending physical recovery with mental resilience. Below, we answer common questions about returning to running, the psychology of marathoners, and how sports psychology techniques can support healing.
