The mind games we play on ourselves...

[Tomas]

I'm sure we've all had bad runs where we came home wondering whether it is actually worth all the effort. I had one of those Saturday and spent a good part of Sunday re-considering my training plan and what I can do to engineer a bit more tlc into it. In the end I decided to make only minimal changes, and the reason I gave myself was:

A month from now it will only be a little more than 3 months before the taper starts. Tapering feels nice and will cure all the pains. And I'm nearly there, it would be a shame to give up now.

It sounds quite similar to the "moral support" I give myself when I'm getting tired on a long run: "Just 3 km more, then you'll be at three quarters" or "just another 2 km then it'll only be twice the distance from the mechanic to home, and you've done from the mechanic to home so many times, it's easy peasy".

What's your favourite mind trick when you want to cheat the gremlins?

[C3PO Marathon]

I tend to tell myself "Look how well you're doing! This is way better than last time you ran past here."

[Tomas Marathon in reply to C3PO]

I like that attitude. It's very positive.

[ancientrunner Half Marathon]

Very similar to you really - over half way now , have done this lots before etc. Often tell myself am on the way home and will get there quicker if I continue to run rather than walk it.

[Curlygurly2 Half Marathon]

My tactics are similar to your Tomas, on my 12 K run last week (which turned into 13, I was chuffed with that!) at 3K I told myself only another 3 K and you're half way, it's all counting down from there...the worst ones though always come at about a mile from the end, no matter how long or short the run is they wait for me at that point. I tell them "only another 10 minutes, you can do that, it's easy!" Yes, I lie....10 minutes ha ha I wish!

[misswobble Marathon]

Simple! I don't believe in gremlins!

😊

[ju-ju- Marathon]

I have many mind games. These are a few:

My goal is to run daily but if I absolutely cannot then I don't beat myself up. So the day is always about how I fit it in rather than the debate whether to or not. So no space for gremlins.

If I'm tired I say to myself just do 1 mile and I do just that. This means I'm consistently running, moving legs without losing out on training. I always combine this with a 10 minute core work.

When the gremlins start about how slow I am, or that I'll never get better, I just remind myself why I run and that shuts them up!!!

Sorry for the longest ever reply!!!