With the biggest race of the year for many of us runners in Hastings, just 3 days away, I wanted to loosely cover the topic of self talk. I cannot underestimate the important of this in running, especially when the going gets tough.
Trust me, on Sunday, even early in the race (Queensway) the going will get tough.
This is where I want to enter the concept of “FREE WILL”.
Let’s pause for a moment and consider these two options that I present you with.
Option 1: Slap yourself in the face, hard!
Option 2: Don’t slap yourself in the face!
Easy choice right? Hopefully at least 99% of you choose option 2.
So what relevance does that have to running. Well when it gets tough during a run, the brain has a safety mechanism to protect our body and will tell us to slow down. It might sound something like this
“Oh my god, this is the horrendous,
why am I doing this?
I have to stop.
There’s no way I can keep going,
I’m going to fail, I can’t run another …..miles,
I can’t keep this pace up,
why did I even sign up to this race”.
This is normal by the way and at this precise moment the concept of FREE WILL comes into play. You have 2 options.
Option 1: Be Negative
Continue to tell yourself how you are going to fail. Slow down, perhaps even walk. Berate yourself for your lack of determination and question why you even run in the first place.
Option 2: Be Positive
Appreciate that in this moment, it is difficult. But it’s not going to last forever. You can do this. You’ve trained well, you want to achieve your goal. Stay relaxed. Run tall. Smile.
So if you decided not to slap yourself in the face a few minutes ago, the only choice here has to once again be Option 2. Doesn’t it? Why when given the freedom to choose positive over negative, would you choose the latter?
I appreciate it’s not always that simple. You might be running too fast a pace than you can maintain or you might not be as prepared as you would have liked for the race. But you can still be positive, simply ease off the pace a bit, but keep telling yourself you can do it. Believe.
The effort level rarely get easier. In fact towards the end of the race it’s likely to get harder. But keep that positive mindset and your experience will be far more enjoyable. Plus at the end, whatever the outcome, you are likely to feel far more pride in yourself if you choose to take the positive option.
I’ll finish this article with my favourite quote and I apologise for the foul language. This was mentioned on the brilliant “British Ultra Running Podcast” where they run ridiculous distances and put their mind and body through extreme turmoil. The co-host, Dan Lawson, won the Eastbourne Half Marathon a few weeks ago. He’s 50 years old!
The saying goes “When you think you’re f****d, you are actually only 45% f****d”.
