Engaging your mind 2: Fear

Another exercise to get your mind right for the Comrades Marathon

Write down the things that worry you.

List them. Externalise them. Get them out of you. That way they don’t gnaw at, give you sleepless nights, undermine you.

Then take time to understand them.

Fears are not a sign of a moral failing, or some sort of a character flaw. Fear is deeper parts of you telling you what you need to look out for.  Each fear points to a specific thing that you can do something about, before Comrades or on race-day.

You don’t have to sMind lock smallhow your list to anyone. Just accept them,  know that they are part of the process and engage with them.

Avoid dealing with your fears is not the answer.

Once you have written them down look at them. Work out the real problem and then think what you can do about each one. Write down the answer.

You may have to read up about your issues or talk to someone who knows. The answers are there. Find them. Use them.

Eaxmple: If you are scared of not making the end in time, try to understand what is going to stop you. If you have done 800 km of running between January and race day, spread more or less evenly over the 5 months, then you have the minimum mileage to carry you through. Trust that.

It may of course be that you didn’t do the right mileage, that you are ill or injured, that you haven’t  been able to do any running in the weeks leading up to race day. Then just accept that maybe this is not your year to get a medal. If you want to give it a go even so, then know that you might have to bail and you might damage yourself. Don’t worry about it. Accept it. Wrtie down a list of indicators that would say you shouldn’t carry on. Then as you run check all the time to see if you should carry on.

Another example: If you are worried about hydration, think through your nutrition and hydration plan. Think through what you will drink and eat during the run. Think about what you need during marathons and after a standard 42.2 km marathon or a 60 km run. That’s what you need during the run, minus the excess, junk and indulgences. Amazing what an orange and an energy bar can do. Understand what the race organisers supply and how you can use it. All the info is in the race literature.

Mind unlock small

There is plenty of water along the way … usually. In 1993, on a down run, the table just past the bridge over the freeway between Camperdown and Cato Ridge, had no water when I got there. It’s unlikely to happen now, but don’t be thrown if it does. Take your preference of whatever there is and ease on to the next table.

Think also about what you need to take with you – maybe electrolyte pills, maybe oral rehydration powders. If you have your drinking and eating plan right, one set of worries will disappear

 

Understand your fears and and what you need to do to deal them and then do what you must. It’s a good way to ready yourself for the run.

Read here for a third exercise in preparing your mind for Comrades

Read here for the first exercise in preparing your mind for Comrades


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