Join us next Friday 21 March at 1pm for a webchat with ASICS sports psychologist Victor Thompson.
Victor will be on hand to answer all your questions relating to the psychological side to training. So if you suffer from race day nerves, want advice on keeping motivated, struggle with injury setbacks or want mental strategies for race day, Victor’s your man.
Post your questions below to join in.
Comments
Hi Victor, as an experienced runner I still get negative thoughts regarding some of my races. What kind of thought process do I need to practice before / during the marathon that might help distract?
Thanks
If psychology has any significant benefit for marathon runners then would you expect that if a leading Kenyan were to employ your services that he would significantly reduce the world record?
Hi Victor,
How best would you break up a marathon?
I felt rather overwhelmed in the start pen of my first marathon last year and thought break Paris into chunks of; 2,7,8,5&4.2 miles onto my Garmin and see if that helps. Is this a good idea? What would you do? Any thoughts on the matter would be really appreciated, thank you.
Hi victor,
Am running london (hopefully) last year i had to defer due to picking up an injury with 3 weeks to go. Am really struggling mentally, ive trained really hard, but every tiny niggle im thinking the worse or if i manage to even get to london i think im going to get ill the night before.
I'm desperate to get to the start & finish but just feel on the edge!
Any tips to calm myself down!!
Thank you for any advice!
Katy
Hi Victor
I struggle with a bit of "social anxiety" around running which I don't get around the other sports I do (swimming and gym work). I worry unduly about what other people will think of me when I'm out running in the street - that they will think I'm rubbish and laugh at me. As a result, I tend to go out a bit panicky and run too fast. Do you have any tips for strategies that can help me not to care so much and slow down more at the start? I also find that these kinds of thoughts tend to put me off going out at all - I can easily talk myself out of a run using all kinds of excuses just to avoid the anxiety.
Any help would be appreciated as it's really annoying!
Thanks
Hi Victor
A few years ago I trained like a mad thing, achieved some really good times (for me) and then, somewhat predictably, got injured. Then I got depressed because I was injured and ended up not running for nearly 2 years. All that is behind me and I now train sensibly, but I find that every time I start to train more intensely it's as if my body and mind conspire to stop me and I'm plagued by all sorts of aches, pains and negative thoughts. In the last half marathon I ran, I nearly pulled out at about 9 miles with all this going on. Any tips on how to overcome this - I know it's all in my head?!
Thanks
Hello Victor,
I recently ran my first Half-Marathon and was delighted with my time but due to my inexperience, the following hours and days have been really tough with my legs feeling so tight!
I am nearly there on recovery but I was wondering if you could advise on what are the best practices after a run like this to ensure recovery is speedy!?
Thank you, Oli.
Hi Victor,
I am currently training for London Marathon and have had a number of injuries leading up to race day. I am worried about the mental battle faced when running the marathon and how to deal with them as I have not run over 16 miles so do not know what to expect mentally from the remaining 10 miles.
Any tricks or tips to help would be most appreciated?
Many thanks,
Sarah
Hello Victor,
any tips on coping with the post-race blues? If I don't have something over the horizon after completing a big race then I tend to slump (motivationally), but there isn't always something race wise I can sign up to. I hope that makes some kind of sense as a question.
Hi Victor,
I'm running my first marathon in Brighton in 2 weeks and find that once I hit mile 15 I start feeling quite negative and worn out. Any advice on how to push through those negative moments? Also I recently found out that Brighton is a headphone free race when music has been an essential part of my training - any ways I can try and make a transition to music free running?
Thank you
Hi Victor,
I have my marathon next Sunday, 30th. My training was going really well until a few weeks ago. I've had a niggle which I've been managing but it meant that I missed my final long run and had to alter my training to help it recover in time. I know I have still doing enough (I've done two 21 milers and was running 5 x days a week for 16 weeks). But i'm really struggling with anxiety and worrying a lot and feeling very emotional about the race. I've never trained this hard and I'm worried it wont pay off or I'll be disappointed with myself. (this is my second marathon). DO you have any tips for mental preparation I can do between now and next week to make me feel more positive about it?
Thanks Victor - I'll give that a go.
Thanks everyone for your questions. I hope that my answers give you something to think about and try out. Best wishes for your marathon and other running challenges.
Victor
www.sportspsychologist.com
Thanks for your answer Dr Victor