26.2
With less than 5 weeks to go until the ASICs Manchester marathon we can’t help feeling a little apprehensive about the day .
Fortunately we have had the help in preparation for the day of ASICS front runners and our mentor Mel.
We traveled to Manchester on Sunday to meet up with the rest of the mentors and their mentees , and have some photos taken and be interviewed about our journey so far and how we feel about the upcoming marathon.
We also had the chance to quiz sports psychologist Stuart Holiday who works with the ASICs pro team about how we can prepare mentally for the race and how to deal with the challenges it will throw up during it.
He had some amazing techniques we can use to prepare and feel confident in our training plan.
Banking the training miles had to be the one that struck me and really did make me think that with all the hard miles we are physically in good shape to do this.
We need to remember that Medals are not just earned in race day. They are earned on dark, cold early mornings and wet and windy weekend long runs when you would rather be snuggled up in the sofa with the kids.
Mentally the miles will be hard especially as we won’t run further than 20 in training.
Stuart reassured us that this is normal and perhaps we could have something in our heads or written down for the last six.
Maybe dedicating each of the last 6 miles to something or someone that means a lot to us.
It’s certainly gave us food for though about how we approach the day and between now and April 7th we will sort out our “Big Six” !