Tag Archives: One America Mini-Marathon

FIRST Training Program, Goofy Training, Marathon Training, Uncategorized, Weight Loss

Dealing with “the voices” of Doubt

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So there are only a few days left until the big event. You’ve trained relentlessly (at times) for your [insert your race distance here] and you are ready to go!!  ….but now come the voices of doubt.  You know them all too well and they can strike at any time including both before and during a race. You’ve even heard them before while training. The voices are fueled by self doubt, lack of confidence, good old fashioned worry, and a host of other things that may or may not be real except when those voices start whispering. They are silent at times but are always sitting there on your shoulder right or left (right for me).  They can get down right nasty at times too!  I think mine drinks.

The voices say all sorts of things about a plethora of subjects…they include your previous training, how you’re feeling right now, “Is your knee feeling ok?” “Did you taper too soon?…not soon enough?” “Is that sneeze from the pepper on the potatoes or are you getting sick? You don’t have time to get sick!”  “Did you hydrate enough?  You should drink another glass of water just in case…dang you have to pee again?…fourth time this hour.” “Did you do enough speed work?” “What if there are hills??  Indiana is flat!…you didn’t train for hills!!” “What if you come in last?” “Was that 20 miler long enough for the longest long run?” ” What if the “lagin wagon” catches you??” “How can THAT GUY have passed you?? …you’re half his size?!?” “Should you use the GU now or wait until the time dictated on the package?? You could use one now, right?!?” “Will 10 GUs be enough for the full-marathon?” “Should you wear your iPod on the right or left?” “Do your shoes have too many miles on them for this event?…not enough miles??”  “Will you have enough time to stop for pictures AND maintain the minimum pace? You have to pee yet again???  You shouldn’t have had that 6th glass of water.”

I realized some time ago that the voices never go away…they just get a tad bit quieter over time.  I’ve also compiled tips for combating these infernal conveyors of bad tidings.

I call it “My Ten Tips for Combating the Infernal Conveyors of Bad Tidings.” Catchy title right?

  • Train regularly. Have a plan and stick to it!
    • The plan should be written down…in pencil. If you can’t get your scheduled 5 miler in then do a 1 miler…
  • Keep track of your numbers so you can celebrate every victory no matter how small.
    • Weight, speed, distance, time, heart rate, eating breakfast every day…whatever you want to track!
  • Plan your training to be a part of your life not a temporary substitute for it.
    • My day includes training. Doesn’t feel right without it!
  • Practice smiling while you train. <– This one small act may be the most important.
    • Do this especially when you’re having a rough go of it during a training session.
    • I always smile any time I run over 10 miles…can’t help it.
  • Tell people about what you’ve got planned.
    • It’s amazing what you can do when you’re accountable to others.
  • Positive self-talk.
    • This is an actual technique used by professional athletes. Tell yourself how awesome you are…try it now.  Feels good doesn’t it!?!?
  • Visualize your Win.
    • This is another technique used by professional athletes. See yourself crossing the finish line.
  • Have multiple goals for an event.
    • A PR is nice, but won’t happen every time. Enjoyment CAN and SHOULD be a goal. Consistency can be another. If you run a half or 5K at the same speed two years in a row then you’ve maintained a good level of fitness so congrats!!
  • Have a planned routine for race day.  I call it my “pre-game”.  Stick to it!
    • I even bring my own cereal with me to overnight events so as to have my pre-game breakfast
  • Relax.
    • There are 20,000 other runners who are also in no danger of winning the race. We all get the same medal and nearly every one of those 20K will say, “congrats” when they see it hanging around your neck. I will. You do the same!

Bonus Tip!

This one is a little strange. At some point the voices will come calling…they always do. My advice is to have a reply ready. Mental preparedness goes a long way to putting a muzzle on self doubt.

Examples:

The Voices: “It’s too cold out here.”  The reply: “Better get running to warm up then.”

The Voices: “The knee is feeling stiff today.”  The reply: “I’ll take a little longer warm up and it’ll loosen up. Give it time.”

The Voices: “You’re not ready for this race.” The reply: “I’ve trained for this day. Worst case, I just cross the finish line and I’m OK with that.”

The Voices: “You need another 10-miler before the race next week.” The reply: “It’s taper time now so I’m sticking to the plan. Better to be over rested than over trained.”

I hope these tips help you when the voices just won’t do the right thing and shut-up.  😉

Happy Training!

Brian

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”

-Marianne Williamson

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Tapering, take 2!

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I’ve written about tapering in the past, but felt it was worth writing about again as I approach my next half-marathon this coming Saturday. I’m running the nation’s largest half-marathon, The Indianapolis Mini-Marathon with 35K+ other runners in Indianapolis, IN.

35,000 runners participate in the Indy Mini-Marathon. The course takes runners around the Indy 500 Speedway track!

What prompted this post was all the “taper tweets” I’ve been reading this morning.  Many runners are worried about doing too much or not enough in the last 7-10 days leading up to their race.  I totally understand dear friends!

First off for all my new runners out there you might be asking, “Tapering?  What’s that?” Tapering is the final days leading up to your big event when you workout less so as to get the recovery you need for race day. Whether it’s a 5K, 10K, 15K, Half, Full or Ultra marathon it really doesn’t matter. All of these have a little taper time before hand.

In my opinion and experience, how much tapering you need depends a lot on your amount of current running experience, the distance you’re going in your event and the number of races you’ve run prior.  All of this combined should fit into a plan of what works best for you.

For me, I tend to taper for 7-10 days before anything less than a full-marathon. So two weeks out from this half I did a final 10 mile long run. Last Friday I did a 6 miler and primarily rested over the weekend except to do yard work. This week I rested Monday and I’ll do short runs Tuesday and Wednesday.  I lifted last week on two days and did a very light (high rep) full body weights routine today (Tuesday).  I’ll be finished with any weight lifting after today.  Thursday I will go to the gym and do something non-impact like cycling, elliptical or maybe just walking on the treadmill while I watch ESPN.  🙂 Friday I will take off completely (and sleep in past my usual 4:30am wake-up call) since the race is the next day.

One big component of my tapering is stretching.  I normally stretch after every workout, but I will take a little extra time to stretch my IT Bands, glutes, legs, shoulders and back.  Basically, instead of doing 2-3 sets of stretches I will do 3-5 sets adding 10-15 minutes of extra stretching. Many times I’ll also use my foam roller at night to make sure I have all the knots worked out of my legs.

As for diet, I don’t change much in the taper zone.  2-3 days out from the race I do eat a little more pasta….mainly because I really LOVE pasta!  There is a lot of hype around carb loading, but I’ve read the actual research studies and while stored muscle glycogen (sugar/carbs) is a limiting factor for performance (sorry about the geek speak), the average runner doesn’t get a lot of benefit from carb loading. As long as you rest a couple days before an event, your muscle glycogen stores will increase just from not exercising.  You’ll also want to replenish during the event/race with Gatorade, gels, etc. at regular intervals. Basically find what works for you and stick with it.

Actual breakfast not shown....wrong cereal.

For me, I eat a measured serving of cereal, a banana and a cup of coffee a couple hours before the race.  15-30 minutes out from the start I pop a GU Energy Gel and then continue to take more gels as the race progresses usually every 30-45 minutes. I also use the provided water and Gatorade on the course. I might be overloading on the carbs, but it doesn’t bother my stomach so I stick with the plan. I also don’t have to worry about hitting the wall at mile 11 and crawling to the finish line.

Remember, tapering is a good thing! You won’t lose the ability to run long distance in a week…or even two weeks. I’ve even had races where I didn’t workout at all 5-6 days before an event and did fine during the race….including earning a PR by over 8 minutes!  I chalk it up to being well rested.

Tapering is also a time to make sure you are getting extra sleep.  If you are a morning exerciser, sleep in those last two days before an event and get your 8 hours (or more if possible).  If you are an evening exerciser use the gym time to get a few things done early so you can get to bed early.  Don’t waste the time on the TV…that’s why we have DVR!  🙂

Active.com had a decent article on Tapering today as well if you’d like to check it out! Also, Runner’s World had a good article on Recovery days today. Though not specific to tapering it speaks well to recovery which is what tapering is all about!

Happy Training and see you on Race Day!

-Brian

Follow mw on Twitter @TheRunningMan23