RIGHT, so your fitness is on track and training is going well. You are noticing changes in your physical appearance and you are feeling awesome.
What is next? Let’s talk about something even more essential than your fitness … your mental strength.
It is worth an article considering it accounts for at least 75 percent of your race on Comrades Day. As you train your body, so will you need to train and prepare your mind.
The greatest gift that running has given me is my mental strength. It really does not matter how fit you are or how much mileage you have done, if you don’t believe in yourself, you are destined to fail.
It is essential that you send positive signals to the rest of your body and your body will react positively.
For most of us, Comrades Marathon is at least a nine month focus. Every decision we take in our day-to-day life will take our training and preparation into consideration.
Before you know it, days become weeks and soon you are ticking off the months to Comrades Day. With each month’s training behind you, you will notice your mental strength improving.
This ‘mental training’ as I call it will start to aid you in your personal life too. What a gift.
Again, I encourage you to buy in to a programme and join your local club. Most clubs have a training group who are specifically training for Comrades.
You will benefit hugely from the knowledge of experienced Comrades runners. My advice – listen to all the advice, sift it and use what works for you.
Use your long runs to learn about yourself. Assess how you are feeling mentally and physically. Get to know how your body reacts to certain conditions. Likewise, how your mind reacts.
Get to know what works for you in terms of energy replacements, how you deal with salt loss and so on. Don’t be put off by those terrible runs – we all have them!
These are often brought on by physical or environmental conditions. All of these experiences are essential on your journey to understanding your body. Seasoned runners hit many ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ on a run, so you are not alone.
This is where your mental strength plays an essential part in your race. So when you feel like throwing in the towel, change your strategy. Set manageable goals like running lamp post to lamp post … just keep moving.
My last point for this week is a term you will often hear me use …. ‘dig deep’. What does it mean? Best described as the time on a long run when your fellow runners become deathly quiet.
Everyone around you is shattered and focusing on ‘hanging in’. That is digging deep. You will discover the true meaning of this term when you think you have reached your physical limit, but you manage to give that little bit extra.
Next week I will detail November’s training schedule. Happy running.
