HOW TO BECOME AN ANXIOUS-FREE MARATHONER
DO YOU FIND ALL YOUR BEST-LAID MARATHON RACE PLANS GO TO POT? HERE’S OUR GUIDE TO STAYING CALM FROM RACE REGISTRATION TO THE FINISH LINE
STRESS-FREE RACING
WORDS: RACHAEL WOOLSTO
SIX MONTHS TO GO
“All the physical strength in the world won’t help you if your mind is not prepared,” says four-time World Ironman Champion Chrissie Wellington, author of To the Finish Line, £18.99 (Little, Brown Book Group). Just like you train your body for a marathon, you need to train your brain. But how?
Sports psychologist Dr Josephine Perry (performanceinmind.co.uk) recommends writing down your dream goals, and then breaking this down into performance goals and then process goals.
“Setting tangible, time-specific goals can help you focus on the positives, rather than worrying about unnecessary things,” she says. “Set a dream goal that will challenge you, for example, to run a marathon in under four hours. You then break this into performance goals, such as, ‘I need to run a half-marathon in 1hr 56mins within eight weeks of my race.’ Process goals are those that then help you achieve these performances.”
This is where a running coach can be useful, writing a training plan to help you achieve your goal sessions, hold you accountable and build your confidence.