When you begin training you will find that the longest and most strenuous mental and physical exertions all come at the start…It seems to me that stamina is just as much a mental attribute as a physical one. Make your mind healthy and it will do the rest. If it is not normally healthy, you will never make a decent job of anything. One of my favourite maxims about training is that the most difficult part of any run is the bit between the sofa and the front door! Mental toughness is, I believe, essential in all forms of running in order to be successful This view is echoed by Noakes and Newton. Noakes devotes an entire section of his book to the mental aspect of the sport. At the elite level, often it is only the mental aspect that … [Read more...]
“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” ~Jim Rohn
When I first started competing on the track, my main event was 400m hurdles. To get some insight into the event, I read David Hemery’s biography hoping to get some good tips about training. Hemery had spent the winter of 1967 at university in Boston before competing at the 1968 Olympics in the altitude of Mexico City. Hemery set a new world record in winning the gold medal – by the largest winning margin of any Olympic sprint event for 50 years. As well as his running training, Hemery spent time in the weights room. What really struck me though was the amount of time he spent on mental rehearsal. He was prepared for any type of race in any lane come the Olympic final because he had already replayed the scene many times in his … [Read more...]
Always have a plan, and believe in it. Nothing happens by accident. – Chuck Knox
Wednesday evening was always club night. A group of somewhere between ten to twenty runners would set off, usually running nine miles at about seven and half minute miling. It was intended to be a social run and would always start with a lot of banter. However, normally at about the six mile point, one or two of the guys would gradually start to wind the pace up. For them it was almost a point of honour to be the first one home. Everyone else seemed to get carried along and what had started as an easy social run often finished with guys running faster than race pace just to keep up!! That is not running smart!! When training smart, every time you start a run, you have a clear idea of your session – how far, how fast and what training … [Read more...]