It's been 2 years since the Hot Birds trained for a marathon. We are back and ready to tackle and PR our fall marathons. You've heard us talk a lot about base trianing before beginning marathon season. One aspect that is crucial to our prepping and training, but we haven't talked about, is our mental prep.
Mental prep is huge for us. We have a lot of internal pep talks and text messages checking in and supporting each other. We know how crucial it is to be mentally prepared for training because it is an intense few months. We can't do it totally alone - we rely on each other and friends and family to support us and give us those pep talks when our spirits are low. So, find your support team for your next training season. Let people know you are training and you'll be surprised how many people want to support you!
I make sure I have a few yoga classes on my calendar each month and I do a lot of visualization. I find that using visualization techniques while running, especially during a tempo or track workout, visualizing running my marathon and finishing helps push me. I imagine the roar of the crowd and how my body will feel as I'm running the race.
Meditation has never been easy for me - my mind races when sitting still! However, I've found a few apps that help me. Omvana is a great one. It has guided meditations as well as music tracks to help soothe you. It's amazing how listening to someone tell you to relax your shoulders, your hands, your legs, etc, actually works.