Monday, 19 April 2010

Friday, 16th April – 9 days to go

Up to Tony’s for yet another sports massage. Tony gives me a thorough working over and I feel a lot looser as a result.

Have been thinking about some advice from Sam from Tuesday about mental preparation. I’m hoping that I won’t need to summon any mental strength in the first three quarters of the race, but I know the last quarter is going to be tough. Sam’s advice is about remembering feelings and emotions from runs that have gone well in the past and converting this into positive energy when the going gets tough. Being a male accountant of a certain age, getting in touch with emotions is not entirely comfortable territory so I’ll park this for now and consider the more practical aspects of getting round.

Thinking about churning out 26 and a bit miles is somewhat daunting. I need to break it down into manageable chunks. I intend to approach the run as eight consecutive 5ks followed by a bit of a dash for the finishing line. As long as each 5k is at 23 minutes plus or minus 30 seconds I’ll simply be able to mentally log each one as they’re completed and concentrate on the next one. Without noticeably changing pace, I’ll balance up any that are slightly faster than target with ones that are slightly slower, so I’m always there or thereabouts.

Not sure what I’ll do if I start to slip behind schedule; try and go faster? Think about form, try and hang onto anyone who overtakes and mentally chastise myself seem to be the familiar tactics. I haven’t tried to visualise previous good performance when things haven’t gone to plan in the past, so I’m not sure I’m ready to start now.

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