The last six months of marathon training has been transformative in many ways. I feel encouraged to share a few things I’ve experienced that ripple into many other aspects of our lives:
1. ☁️Compassion/kindness: stop when you need to stop, slow down when you need to slow down and take full rest days when your body and mind need it. Approach things with a blanket of kindness and compassion for yourself. You’re doing the best you can in many aspects of your life.
2. ☁️”Sometimes you have to do things you don’t wanna do to get to where you want to be” the cliché of embracing the suck and repeat the mantra just keep swimming. Some runs I don’t want to do but the idea of gifting my future self the ability to feel ok during the marathon keeps me going.
3. ☁️Just begin, the feeling before I cross the front door is often a mixture of dread and fear, mostly before the big runs. However after 15 minutes of running I enter a different zone and dread disappears. Small steps that help us build momentum has become antidote for stuckness. If you feel stuck try doing a technique I learned from Mel Robbins, count up or down from 5 and just do whatever it is, this helps me a lot when I’m having a day where it’s tough to get out of bed in the morning.
4. ☁️Sometimes the knowledge of the point above doesn’t work and it takes courage to get out the door. Courage for me is like tapping in to that extra energy reserve we have, like the extra acceleration on Mario Kart, digging deep and finding your bravery.
5. ☁️Riding solo: if possible I've become even more comfortable in my own company. Long runs are really allowing me to practice this and alongside that I’m able to figure out and understand things I’m working through. Running has naturally become a different type of therapy. Not all of the time but there are wee periods of time where I process and make sense of something happening in my life. Like I’m actively working through things and letting things go as I move.
6. ☁️Weather: living in Scotland I’ve ran in ALL weathers in one day… I’ve been in the scorching heat and rode many a rain storm, this feels like a cliché and important metaphor for life, getting comfortable with the eb and flow of our internal weather (our mood, energy etc) getting comfortable with change.
7. ☁️Being in the moment: not thinking too far ahead- a huge one. If I thought about the end of a long run before I started I would absolutely not get out the door. I often play wee tricks on my mind on long runs. I tell myself that I’m going to stop soon or that I don’t need to reach the planned distance. I sometimes focus on feeling grateful for the ability to run and sometimes I tune in to breathing through my nose. I look to nature for anchors and podcasts to focus on the present conversation. I find many ways to be in the moment and it feels like the key for me to prevent the dread or fear that comes up when I think about how long I will actually be running.
8. ☁️ Trust: self trust and finding trust in the process. I can’t predict how well I will feel on the day of the marathon. I need to trust the process of training and trust that it will support me on the day. I have also strengthened trust in myself outdoors. I trust I will be ok on bumpy trails, I trust my body to carry me and I trust mind to keep going when the going gets tough 🤣
9. ☁️finding balance: so you don’t burn out and are forced to rest. We often sense when we are “burning candles at both ends” we sometimes listen and take the foot off the gas but if you are anything like my past self, you try to ignore or turn the volume down on that internal message of “slow down”…. You push through until something happens that forces you to slow down, injury, illness etc etc. running too much on one day will absolutely impact my whole week of training. I have to ensure I have balance to have sustainability and keep going. This feels related to so many things in life.
10. ☁️motivation/mental aid stations: David Goggins, as far as I know coined the term mental aid stations, and as much as I’m not a fan of the obsession and negative self talk he encourages I really like the idea that our minds need refuel and regular tops ups throughout the day. Find small goals that help you celebrate small wins. As cliché as it sounds, I find joy in small things. I find ways to celebrate wee achievements throughout the run. For example, when you reach mile 4 you can blast one of your favourite songs or munch one of the “nicer” snacks. Finding joy in increments really helps to keep you going in long slogs. How can we find joy in moments throughout the day. I’ve been applying this to transitions throughout the day, finding ways to connect or find joy as I change from writing emails to seeing clients.
PS. I’ve always found it difficult to talk about running. This comes from two main things:
1. my relationship with running has ebbed and flowed from balance to extremes- (I’m currently in the most balanced place I’ve ever been with running)
2. A somewhat irrational fear of making others feel bad about themselves. This comes from the frequent response I’ve had over the years when the topic of me running has come up. Similar to being veggie, it’s surprising how many people have shared “oo I could never do that, I’ve always wanted to run (stop eating meat)”. This led me to not share too much about running even though it’s a daily experience and source of so much joy in my life.