T rain
YOUR BRAIN
Running is a physical challenge that tests your fitness and endurance, but it is also a mental challenge, and sometimes your body may be willing to go, but your mind is not on the same wavelength. These mental training tips may get you moving again.
Talk to Yourself
If you do your training runs alone, give yourself a pep talk now and again, like telling yourself that you’ re not physically tired, and that you can push through it. And reward yourself for doing so, like promising yourself a walk break, or water stop, if you can keep going for the next five minutes. And if you’ re doing your longest run ever, remind yourself how proud you’ ll feel when you finish.
Break Up Your Run
A great way to make a long run feel more manageable is to break it up into smaller sections. For example, if you often do your running club’ s 5km time trial, or you know a particular parkrun 5km route well, then break your long training run into 5km segments and picture running that 5km segment in your head. Tell yourself that you’ ve got this, because it’ s just five kays, and when you finish that segment, picture starting your favourite 5km segment again with fresh legs.
Change Your Training Route
Running the same training route over and over can lead to boredom and loss of motivation, so change things up regularly with a new route, or run your usual one in reverse. This allows you not only to change the physical challenge of your training, but also mean you can explore new areas, which keeps your mind alert and the training session stimulating.
Find a Running Partner
If you normally do your training runs alone, find a training partner to run with or join a running group or club. That way you have more reason to lace up the shoes and hit the road, as your training partner will be waiting for you, and you can help each other through the bad patches while also celebrating the wins together.
Repeat Your Mantra
Stay focused and motivated by repeating a short phrase in your head, like“ One step at a time,” or“ Just get to that next lamppost.” You need to decide what keep you going when the running gets tough, and the more you say it, the more you will keep going.
Visualise Your Race
As you’ re doing your training run, picture yourself running the actual race course of the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon. When you start your run, think about starting the race. When you have three kays to go in your run, imagine you have three kays left of the race, and start thinking about crossing the finish line, getting your medal handed to you and posing for a post-race pic. Visualise a successful race day, and the training kays will fly past.
Play Counting Games
A bit of brainpower can help you get through a long training run, by distracting you from thinking about the distance you still have to run, or how tired you are getting. For example, count how many fellow runners you see wearing a particular colour, or count the number of a specific type of car you see on the roads. Anything that helps you get it done!
Remember to be Grateful
Remind yourself that you are privileged to be able to run, versus being forced to do so, and
MENTAL TRAINING
COMMON MENTAL TRAINING MISTAKES
Expecting immediate results:
Just like physical fitness, mental fitness develops gradually, so don’ t expect dramatic changes overnight. Be patient and consistent with your psychological training.
Only training your mind when things go wrong: Mental skills need
to be developed during good times, not just when you’ re struggling, so practicing your mental skills regularly, when you’ re feeling strong, builds the foundation for when things get tough.
Trying to eliminate negative thoughts: The goal isn’ t to never have
negative thoughts, it’ s to manage them effectively when they do occur. Trying to suppress negative thinking often makes it stronger.
Lacking specificity: General‘ positive thinking’ isn’ t enough. Develop specific mental skills for specific situations that you’ re likely to encounter in your running.
No one size fits all solution: What works for one runner might not work for another, so experiment with different techniques and personalise your approach based on your unique needs and preferences.
you are blessed to have the ability to run, the endurance to go long, and here in SA, great weather and terrific scenery for your running. Also remind yourself that if long distance running was easy, everybody would do it, so give yourself a pat on the back for taking this challenge on, and that will make reaching the finish of each run all the more rewarding.
Remember that your legs and lungs will be doing most of the heavy lifting during your training and racing, but your mind can help to carry the load to the finish line.
Train your brain to help you get through the long training mileage
Mental fortitude can make you feel like you’ re flying on the run
37