As my body gets back to normal my thoughts are meandering towards my next big event “Piece of String”
This event is the brain child of James Adams and James Elson who obviously have decided that running X amount of miles isn’t enough of a challenge. Not only do they want to test runners physical ability now they want to test our mental ability.
During my running life my mindset has got stronger and stronger, but then I have always known the distance of the race. When we enter an event we all know the distance we have to cover within a certain time consequently we start training the mind and thinking of triggers that will keep us going through the bad patches (of which there may be many) and you know however bad you are feeling there is an end.
During my first and last 10k race in 1999 the first half was flat or downhill and the last half all up hill. I remember rounding a corner towards the end to see the hill continue I felt disheartened and frustrated and asking the lady next to me “how far is it to the bleep bleep end” to which she replied top of the hill and your there. Fantastic all I had to do was keep going, however once at the top of the hill I wasn’t quite there I still had to run UP AND THROUGH a field to get to the finish. I stopped and stood in disbelief at how far I still had to run, in my head I had reached the finish line. I did keep going and I finished the race but the last section I was mentally at a low ebb.
My next low ebb was during the MdS in 2001. I had managed to overcome illness, had 5 bags of IV drip and was mentally as prepared as I thought I could be. However on the longest day myself and the girls were coming up to the CP where we planned to have food before carrying on. The CP in the dark never seemed to get closer, I was getting further and further behind the girls, my mind was wondering and all the negative thoughts were creeping in. All my triggers and any positivity had gone, nothing seemed to work, I was switching off. One of my team mates came back to find me and instead of giving me sympathy (which I believed I needed!!!) she checked I was OK, then said “remember all those people at home who think you are going to fail” and walked off. That was all I needed, I couldn’t bear the thought of going home and people patting me on the back saying “never mind” I told you so” etc for me it was the trigger my mind needed to give me a big kick up the backside and keep moving and I’m proud to say finish the race.
During my JOGLE WR I had various triggers and landmarks to keep me motivated. If I had woken up the morning of the 16th July 2008 and thought right I now have 840 miles to run I don’t think I would have even put my trainers on. Instead I took one day at a time and every time I got to a “CP I would throw it over my shoulder and continue to move forward. However hard the WR got I knew the distance I had to run so mentally was prepared the same with my Ireland WR. However, if any of us are then told at the end of an Ultra that the organisers have made a mistake and we still have a further X miles to go we would really struggle or in many cases mentally wouldn’t be able to continue. In your head you had 50 miles to run NOT 55!
So the big question is how do we prepare mentally and physically for a race that has no known length? The training part is fairly easy (she says with confidence!) and I think mentally I am getting there. I know I will have ups and downs and can talk myself out of those or will know the moment will pass, but how many bad patches can a person go through when they don’t know when the pain will stop? The anticipation of getting to the CP and thinking “this could be it” getting there only to discover the journey continues. For me I have decided that as long as the race isn’t over 3,200 miles I hope my mind is strong enough to keep me going. I will have my usual triggers but will have to re-think the finish line trigger and perhaps shout at myself a bit more when I feel negative.
Finally once we have the mental preparation sorted how do you run a race with no distance………………
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/09/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string-bbc/
Happy Training!
