#trainworklive www.ar-endurancesports.com AR_collective x AdventRunning Endurance Sports and Mental Performance Coach. Co-founder of AR Endurance Sports ltd. Running UTMB 2016. Facilitate to Inspire. Combine what you're passionate about can become a powerful driver for life.
A mental approach to the other part of performance – 7 steps of learning.
The love and hatred for Recovery.
Love or hate this time of the year when your coach prescribes THE OFF SEASON. Time out. Time off. Time off training and your precious training plan. Time off your daily focus. Time off physical and mental demands that structured the remainder of your life. Time off, removing the central pillar that enabled life to fully evolve around. Simply getting a door slam shut in your face.
Some athletes can't wait to get off the training grid for a while, finding the time to engage in 'the other life', things they always wanted to pay more attention to. Others get nervous twitches leading into their season finale: 'What am I going to do with all of my time, myself, my energy beyond my final race? I'm going to get fat and slow – a squishy mass of sloth.' Boredom ringing splitting headaches. And then there is this group which seems to breathe Zen, happily embracing the off season – a meditative glance in their eyes. Using the time away from physical training to unwind, evaluate performance, recover and plot out new exciting goals for the day the gun goes off again.
Let's start thinking in frames.
Ok then – no training, no getting up at stupid o'clock to dive into a cold pool, rushing to work, wolfing down recovery food. Trying not to fall asleep at the desk. Sneaking out for power naps. High fiving the best buddy caffeine. No more of scheduling food around training demands. 10g of protein/kg of body weight – knowing this number better than a friend's mobile number. Brick sessions, double sessions, threshold, tempo, fartlek, stairs, hills, pyramids, planks, early nights, no alcohol, no binge-anything, long rides or runs on the weekend, squeezed in social time. 'Don't talk to me after 9pm, I might as well be dead.' 7 am on a Sunday is considered a lie in. All gone. Furthermore we won't have to constantly try catching up with laundry. That's a positive frame.
Here's another positive frame:
So now – a cosy lie in, starring out of the window, slowly submerging into the day. A fridge full of Oohs and Aahs. Energy aplenty at work, bouncing off the walls. Tapping your feet under the desk. Realising there is a life outside of sweat, mud and tears. Burgers for lunch accompanied by a drink. Indulging in coffee and cake and actually developing a taste for it. Faffing for most of the day. Catching up with the social circle and feeling strangely odd in this old but new environment. Realising that you might have run out of appropriate leisure attire by the middle of the week, as 80% of your wardrobe is built up of sports apparel. Shopping. Yet to become a stressful activity. Yoga, yoga might be good.
And stop. Right there. Before drifting off into negative frames – or negative thought patterns – ask yourself a couple of questions to understand what really is going on.
Q: Do you get stressed for the better or the worse about a little break? Why? Do you love your work? Do you love your sport? Why? Do you like holidays? Why? Pause for a second and ask yourself what is going well right now. What would be the worst that could happen once you step away or spend less time pushing forward, physically and mentally?
What do you mean by 'off'?
Q: How do you define 'off'? What is recovery? How well do you recover? Is recovery a set 'session' in your training regime? How do you do recovery? Could you recover better? Quicker? How?
Gaining clarity: Who am I and what do I want out of life?
Here are a couple of thoughts to help you gain clarity and your feet back on the ground (for running or life or whatever you need right now):
Q1:
Have you chosen to live an active/ athletic life? Is sports a way of living for you? A lifestyle? Part of your routine, like brushing your teeth?
A: Positive.
Then there is no need to shoot for the other end of the scale. Stay active. Just engage in different types of activities. With less pressure, less force, less effort. Anything you'd like to try? Kayaking, squash, rock climbing, cross country skiing, surfing, slacklining, yoga, ...? With friends? Alone? Away? Anything, just a little less. Have a play. Mix it up. Don't be a push over and channel all your energy into another extreme. Share the load. Spread it across. Stay light on your toes. Allow yourself a mental break from your sport, getting inspired and taxing your body in a different way. Going all out on a MTB, coming from road cycling, does not fall into this category btw. After all a change of direction might help you to regain motivation and fuel the passion for your 'main' sport. No harm in that. You are not taking the activity away, you just slow down a bit and look sideways.
Q2:
You are not making a living out of your sport. Your sport is a passion you pursue in your free time to stay active, healthy, challenge yourself, overcome something or gain confidence – whatever the driver.
A: Positive.
Then relax. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can come and play another day. Now it's time to pay some attention to other parts of your life, the ones that also make up your life. See yourself and the activities you engage in (work, family, friends, travel, projects, sports, ...) as 'parts formation'. They are the building blocks of you and all play a significant role in your game of life. They make, create but can also break you. Don't just see your sport isolated within your life. Unless it's your full time job and you make a living out of it. Do you make a living out of it? Likewise are you putting on a mask, being the athlete at night and the workaholic at day, constantly trying to catch up with life and making excuses why not to be able to drink, attend, share, ...? Maybe pushing through injury cycle after injury cycle? Acknowledge your body needs time to catch up. Life is mostly not to push as hard as you can, life is about embracing what's created and enjoying the trip – with the occasional push. Quality before quantity. Have some fun. Slow down more so. Give the other parts a chance to shine in your life. There is more to come.
Q3:
If you would take away the sport right now, how does that make you feel? What else would you do? Do you start to panic and feel hopeless, even scared? And don't really know what else to do with your time? You might end up doing all sorts of binge things? Numb yourself? Or get utterly lazy?
A: Positive.
Then it is time to understand the driver behind your activity. If you cling to exercise like you cling onto the edge of a cliff, you might have lost sight of who you truly are. Ask yourself what got you started in the first place. Has that goal changed? Have you reached your dream? Did you create a new goal/ challenge? Are you hooked on endorphins, fame, acknowledgement, power, progression, development, success, weight control? Higher, better, faster, stronger? On a scale of 1-10, how competitive are you? 1 being: I don't care, 10 being: bring it. Who do you do it for? Yourself or others? What are the drivers? Do you struggle with a particular trait or even want to overcome a traumatic event and sport has given you a great tool to do this? Do you really work through it? Or do you cover up, distract yourself from the root cause of the problem? Take an honest look at the driver behind your performance (or the lack of performance). Who is this person you want to be? How does sport and life fit in? Pause. Assess. Reassess. Gain more clarity. Slowly get going into a direction that feels good, feels right, doesn't jar. Thriving off truthful drivers. Enjoy operating on the back of your true and innermost values. Maybe the extend you devote to your sport is not the right approach. Do some, do less. Do it differently. Explore and see what happens. Be brave. Be honest. And sports can then become a real companion rather than a superhero cape. You choose. It's your life.
The mental game changer.
The way you approach – or in NLP terms 'frame' – the 'other part' of your performance, the less active one; can play a key role in developing your athletic mindset. And therefore your athletic potential resulting in athletic performance. Challenge yourself on a mental level by asking questions, digging a bit into your drivers and evaluating your athletic traits. Getting clearer, getting creative, keeping yourself on your toes. Fostering an environment for growth, passion, motivation, challenge and health. Or anything else you want to add or make it. Your dream space of performance. Your dream space of life. The person you want to be, or fine tuning the person you've already become. Any of these tools can be re-phrased, or 're-framed', for any topic: work, family, a project at work. Our frame here is: Sports performance enhancement (or enjoy being active).
Q: What do you want to do? Why do you want to do it? How do you want to do it? When do you want to do it? For how long do you want to do ti? What do you need in order to do it? What is working well? What could be working better? What could you do less of? What could you do more of?
Start. You can start with as little as taking a day off training and getting your head around it – figuratively. No one asks you to make a killing, just to become a bit more mindful and develop a little respect for the assets given and nurtured over some time now. Speak to your coach and get him/her to explain what super compensation is and why athletes train in cycles. Do a bit of research yourself. Why do we need recovery phases? Once you understand the underlying science behind performance – the fine balance between load and recovery – you might find it easier to digest and actually see yourself doing nothing and enjoying some time off. Why not give it a go.
Keep going. Progression to this would be finding alternatives, opening up choices. Ways to stay active. Stay curious. Don't limit yourself to one extreme. Life has more to offer. Even if you think you are really talented or good at something, is there a reason why you shy away from other activities? You might be good at these too. It keeps your mind and your body interested. The worst you probably want is getting bored and slowly slipping out of love for your sport. Aim for balance not extremes. It's like listening to a song. At first you can't get enough of it. Probably the best song produced ever. Then you listen again. And again. After a while (depending how much you enjoy the song and how high your endurance threshold is or your ears can take it), you get bored. You don't get the same buzz from it. Eventually you get annoyed by it. And one day you will not listen to it again. Slipped out of love.
'Simplicity and complexity need each other. Without complexity, there can be no simple solution. Or, rather, there would be no complex solution to make better.' (by J. Maeda, Laws of simplicity). Simplicity needs complexity to shine. Working right from the bottom of a valley might be hard and heart crushing but only then your are going to be able to enjoy the view from the mountain top – once you made your way up there. Nothing lives in isolation. Just acknowledge it. Don't work too hard against it.
Mindfulness. Everyone talks about it,
not many truly know the active part of it.
Mindfulness is what we call a 'Nominalisation' in NLP (the linguistic part). A verb, a word of action, that got washed down and blown up into a noun. Removing all action and making it a fluffy generic thing. If you'd ask 3 people around you to come up with 3 words to describe mindfulness, guess how many words you'll have in common? One, two or none? Another example would be love or freedom. To love or to be free is much more defined, more energy within, it actually says (does) something. Bottom line, you make meaning of words, through your experience, your education and therefore create a certain mindset. Knowing and doing are two very different kinds of shoes, the flip flop and the racer. Which one do you want to run a mile in? (To confuse you even more: you can run in both considering the distance, the questions was: which one do you WANT to run in? Which one will get you to the finish line? Both? Only the racer? Only you know the answer to this. Or experience the outcome once you decided to slip into one and go.)
Becoming a master of recovery will give you athletic power. Knowledge has power. Nothing new. But do you understand this saying, the difference 'is' and 'has' holds? You know what you need when the most. But only if you ever give yourself the chance to truly understand who you are and why you are doing the things in a way only you can do. One size doesn't fit all. Hence stop comparing yourself to others. It is a biased representation. You can't possibly know what is going on in someone else's world. And you don't need to. What's the point? Focus on getting to know yourself better first and foremost.
Recovery and Injury: what they have in common.
Ever struggled with injury? Or the thought of injury launches you into a wary sensation? Both recovery and injury mean time out. One is chosen the other one is forced. And there might be a huge difference in time spent for each. Generally it is up to you – wait until injury strikes or slow down from time to time. Train yourself in mindfulness and understand the value of recovery. Before long you can bounce back from any setback quicker, stronger and happier than you ever thought possible. Things happen. It's just feedback. Time to think about it and find a way to become better at it.
Staying on your toes (agility) teaches you mindfulness. Letting go of things you might have developed a compulsory trait for, can do so too. But what is mindfulness? Google it. I'd say, find your own reference of this word. Make your own meaning of it.
Q: What can you see, hear, feel when you think about being a mindful you? What do you do? What result do you get? Does it bring you closer to your desired outcome? Can you find a different word that makes better sense to you?
It can mean fostering flexibility in behaviour. Be prepared. Be free. Have fun. Less serious. There are many things you can't control, but you can control the outcome, the way you respond to circumstances. Experience the power of 'frames'. The way you look at your topic or goal or result. Different perspectives. Different insights. Embrace change, challenge your comfort zone and fears by ridding yourself of should and can't and think about what possibilities you can create instead. Forward. Sometimes you just have to jump. It can be scary. Once. The second time around not so much. Simply because you have a reference. Learning taken on board. Knowing yourself a bit better. Your assets, capabilities tested. Expose yourself. Be strong. Sometimes you just have to kickstart your strategic thinking. And sometimes you just have to have a laugh. You choose.
If you want to find out more about recovery, injury, training cycles, motivation or goal setting – for life, work or sports – get in touch.
Write to nlp[at]claudiaschroegel.com
or visit claudiaschroegel.com/NLP
or energylab-bts.com
Reykjavik. City of vikings, hot springs and rain. Plenty of rain.
Sometimes sideways.
The Sub 3:30 Idea
Roughly a year ago Daniel M. and I had a chat about a sub 3:30 marathon. We decided to hit the road together in Vienna in spring 2013. A couple of weeks before the race I made a conscious decision to skip it and focus all my energy towards my A-race in June (Ironman 70.3 UK). Daniel however came back to London with some unfinished business, just missing the 3:30 in Vienna by 1:30min. After the 70.3, a tough nut course under in-hostile conditions, he mentioned Reykjavik and hot springs and a couple of weeks later we were signed up for Mission Marathon Part II. Iceland. Nice.
24 AUG, Sunday, 7am
A strong coffee, some porridge and layering up for yet another not so fair weather race in 2013.
Game on
We walked down to the start, dropped our bags. Gave Borkur S. a hug and well wishes – the Icelandic local was adventuring on his first ever race, his first ever Marathon. He casually ran it in 3:52, gasping for air crossing the finish line: 'Why has no one told me how hard this is?'
Back to the start
We were cold, somehow wet and ready to roar. Then the gun went off. Daniel and I started our race against the clock. He pushed the pace in the beginning, I had to urge him to stay on goal pace to not tire us out too early.
The first half
went by in a blink, running most of the race side by side. At 20k I felt great and realised I could run a Half Marathon PB, picking up the pace, just until the half way mark. Crossing the mat and seeing my time made me smile. A lot. I cleared the PB by 2min. I love long distances and tend to run shorter distance PBs as part of the long haul race. At that point I checked in with my system, giving myself a little pep talk and form check: 'So, how is it going then? I feel good. Anything is possible. Keep going at this rate then. Onwards.' I was very pleased, this little sense of achievement made me fly. Running beyond the half way mark felt effortlessly. I was finally getting into my zone. I giggled myself towards 30k.
By then Daniel was a couple of meters behind me. I kept going up to 32k, when he last caught up with me, telling me he can't keep the pace. I struggled at that time too but tried to get him back up to speed. He dropped back again. Running ahead, pushing the pace I challenged myself mentally again to gain back the required focus. Nevertheless got caught up in painful thoughts and sensations associated with Amsterdam (last year's Marathon); side tracking a clear vision of how I want my race to progress. 'This is how you felt then and then in Amsterdam. This is going to hurt again like hell. Not great, still a long way to go till the finish. Come on, focus! Take the race bit by bit. Outch, ah, eek, huffing and puffing.' Unleashing an armada of mental tools. Calming down, leaving a bit of pain on the road with every step.
35k
I battled through to 35k like this. The toughest part of the race in retrospect: city outskirts, rain, crosswinds, headwinds, deserted, hardly any fellow runners. Somehow this was not London, where thousands and thousands stand, clap, shout and cheer for you. This is just you. Against the elements. And the pain rising. I did not dare to look at my time.
Then I thought
'Fack it' (excuse my language). I tucked behind a faster runner, drafted off him for a bit. Time for another pep talk: 'It's time to let go. It's time to let my body do, what it can do best: run by feel. It knows exactly how to, I have trained it to do exactly this.' I came out behind and breezed past my 'pacer'. Gave him a thumbs up and said thanks. I did not ever take another look at my Garmin. I didn't want the pressure of trying to hit my pace, forcing it, throwing me off course getting closer to the finish. I did not look back. I did not think of Daniel breezing past me all of a sudden anymore. I just ran. I can honestly not tell what happened on the last 7k, what I saw, who I passed, what the weather was like, what the pain was like. I just cruised. Reining in runner after runner. Daniel later told me that he saw me up to 35k and then I shifted into a higher gear and vanished into the mist of Reykjavik's costal bliss.
The Kick
I got kicked out of 'space' by coming out of the last round about, roughly 250m to go until the finish. Seeing the red arch, a blurry time on the clock, people with umbrellas shouting. Water splashing. The road ahead was relatively empty. Some men slogging their way to the finish.
Then I made out a 3:38 something on the clock. 'What the …? What the hell happened on those last 7k?!? I surely didn't run them in 45+min.' Tears started to fill my eyes, making the time on the clock appear even more blurry. My heart sank. I started to pick up the pace, I was a bit in awe. Then I saw the time properly: 3:28 something. 'Oh, dear.' (I actually said that out loud). I smiled, took a deep breath and lifted my knees higher – leaning further forward, looking straight ahead – eyes on the clock. I surged and sprinted like I have never done before, not on track, not in any other race. I looked up: 3:29 something. I rolled across the finish line, bent over, looked at my soggy wet shoes. Smiled, came back up. Cried one big crocodile tear and shook my head in disbelief. Legs shaking. Heart pounding. Head spinning. And this utter sense of levitating. Someone handed me a medal and said 'Well done. Great effort.' I looked back, waited for Daniel right at the line. He came in 8min after me. Head shaking, smiling and saying something like: 'You must have hit the sub 3:30 then. On fire.'
BQ
Anything is possible. Just believe in it! Have faith in your training and faith in your incredible ability as endurance runner. Learn to focus and learn when it's time to just let go of the hand break. This Sunday I ran a Boston Qualifier (BQ). 3:28:47. A dream I hadn't had on my agenda, as I like to run for the fun of it, not to measure myself against bling, fame or times. However it is insightful to track stats. This time around I shaved off 20min from last year's marathon, ran a HM, 25k, 30k, 35k, 40k and Marathon PB. I placed 5th female across the line in my age category (18-39y) and 7th overall. The winning time was a 2:55, followed by a 3.12. I might return to Reykjavik one day and see if I've got the guts to gun for podium. But until then this was...
'I'm here because I want to hurt, I enjoy it: the pain, the challenge, pushing myself and find out more about myself. That's what we are here for. We grow from it. And take what we have learned from training and racing.'
'I was feeing good and pushed. We train so hard for so many months and you are never ever anywhere near as fresh as on race day. So for future reference: Ignore the numbers, you are much faster than you think [you are on race day].'
'I took my vitamins and ate my veg. Slept when he was tired. And I ate a lot.'
Race report: Amsterdam Marathon – fast and furious
According to Runner's World say its one of the top 10 marathons. The reason they might say so: the Amsterdam marathon is pretty flat and fast.
Held for the 37th time this year (2012), it is one of the later autumn marathons, end of October. Very well organised, start and finish in the Olypmic stadium, the gun went off at a reasonable 9:30 in the morning. Temperature settled at a comfortable 13°C, glad I was wrapped up well – some strong wind gusts and wind chill out there, especially running 20km south and back along the river towpath.
Many sights to run past were on offer – 'unfortunately' I cannot remember seeing any of them. I guess I have been deeply in the zone. You will run across some cobble stones but absolutely manageable. More concerning can be the many tram rail tracks, some bigger gaps in between and very slippery when wet.
The expo was just behind the stadium, fair size and well organised. Arriving in the evening on SAT to pick up my number, I was greeted by the friendly Dutch and retrieved my bib without spending much time queuing. Some well know brands offering their products, not really any sampling opportunities. If you ordered yourself a race shirt, you pick it up and can exchange if the size does not fit.
Start and finish in the Olympic stadium was definitely a highlight. Perfect for getting to and away, meeting friends, having a cheer squad. On the same day the half is run, they start at 1:30pm just outside the stadium. So essentially you can run the half and cheer for the marathoners up to the very last minute. Very well organised again.
The marathon route is a 42k loop, starting at the Olympic stadium, heading North to Vondelpark. Green and tranquil. Then back South and West to the stadium, 180° turn and head East. The half marathon will continue through the city, the marathon will leave the city towards the South, running along the Amstel river towpath (cobble stones). Do not expect many people out there cheering for you, you are very much on your own. It is a long way down, at the bottom you cross a bridge and run all the way back up North on the other side. You just about passed the midway point. Some heavy crosswinds en route. At around 25/30k you are back to civilisation. Well, industrial estates. Unfortunately very dull. Getting through you pass some sights, and people start to line the streets. Some bands and DJs with some proper electronic DJ sets help the runners to get back into their stride. Around 38k you are heading back to Vondelpark and the stadium, the same route from the beginning in reverse. Worth remembering the first part early on, it might help your mind to break the remaining distance into more manageable sections. You finish on tartan inside the stadium. The last 500m are pretty epic and the amplitude of people cheering is incredible. Your race gets tracked every 5k and at the half marathon point like in most marathon races. The timing chip is part of your bib number, no fumbling with time chips and laces and such anymore.
Even with 38.000 runners participating, the race felt reasonably small. A bit of a squeeze in the early stages, especially the start in the stadium, but once the field spreads out you can start to speed up. I think around 11.000 runners participated in the marathon and rest in the half. A lot more male runners than female runners for the full distance. An app was offered that enabled you to track your favourite runners along the route. Nice touch. Not as developed as the NYC app.
Water stations were well situated, every 5k, offering water, isotonic lemon drink that tasted great (not sweet, both offered in paper cups), bananas, sponges, gels. Well behaved runners. The cheering crowd was a bit meh. I guess I am used to London craziness. I took off my headphones for the last 3k to soak up the atmosphere. I regret doing so, because there was no real atmosphere. Only on the last 500m everyone went bonkers.
After finishing you had to leave the stadium immediately and then got a blanket, some drinks, more bananas and orange slices. Done with the bananas for a while. No real space to gather, celebrate, eat or hang out. Fair enough if you offer a marathon and a half within a 200m radius, you are a bit tight on space. Later in the day you will receive a message with your finishing time, can check splits and pictures online too. Pretty standard.
Overall a great marathon for a debut or running a PB.
Amsterdamn or Amsterdamage. It has been a pleasure. Dank je wel en dag!
PART 2 Marathon for beginners – let's get physical.
How did I cruise myself to a jolly 3:50 marathon debut? Take a peek how using bespoke mental tools and a solid training regime have propelled me forward.
TRAINING
How much I ran before standing at the start in Amsterdam? Well, not at all for two months through July and August. Being a mid/forefoot runner in minimal running shoes, the system will remain fragile to the immense impact of running. Most of the engine is capable of enduring long and hard training sessions over and over again, however some small ligaments aren't. They take the longest to adapt and grow strong. A minor ligament inflammation in my ankle brought the whole system to a halt. You are only as strong as your weakest link. Going back to making healthy choices: I let my running shoes settle a bit of dust until running felt good again.
Elite athletes rarely pound the ground 24/7. They train twice a day indeed, on underwater treadmills, zero gravity treadmills, get massages and special treatment to withstand the strains of running. We may not be as fortunate or good yet, but it does not matter. With the rest of life whirling around, it is advised to practise mindfulness when niggles nag.
Enjoying variety in training, I focused on cross training for those two months. Keeping my strength and stamina, losing a bit of my top level speed though. Turbo sessions and road cycling with focus on interval training and hill repeats. Swimming as recovery to keep the mind interested whilst fine tuning my technique. Circuit training and Power Plate served as my strength & conditioning (S&C) regime. Own body weight training with long intervals and lots of repetitions sculpture the lean and strong endurance body. Targeting the core, the centre of power output.
The key to enduring the strains and stresses of long distance running is strength and muscle endurance. You are not racing all out (max effort/heart rate). You cruise and let your strong body do the work. An efficient running style and a proper pacing as well as nutrition strategy will conserve much needed energy for the later stages of the race.
I keep a good level of base training throughout the year. A solid mix of endurance, stamina, power, strength, technique, stretching, rest and active recovery across the board of swim, bike, run, S&C. I have a full rest day every 7 or 10 days. Rest as in: legs up, doing nothing.
A race specific training plan for the last eight weeks leading up to race day ensured I will not peak too early, a problem I faced with my half marathons regularly. I thrived off a highly effective training plan including regular sports massages. Fully trusting in my ability in reaching athletic potential (given the short time frame), I ran three times a week. Not more. These three sessions were quality sessions. Interval training with threshold runs, increasing the duration and effort from week to week. A long flat run or long hilly Hampstead Heath trail laps. The third was an easy recovery run to keep the legs moving or a technique session, focussing on drills. The farthest I ran was 24k three weeks before the Marathon, straight after a sprint triathlon the day before. Speaking tired legs. Until running my marathon I had no reference whatsoever to expect beyond 25k.
Tune up races and B races were part of the mix too. I did a five hour adventure race consisting of trail running, mountain biking and kayaking mid summer. A 10k on 75% effort, a sprint team triathlon three weeks prior to the marathon. A very easy sub 2hour half marathon two weeks before. The point of these B races were never to race a PB but test race strategies, gear, nutrition and most importantly to have fun. Never underestimate the power of enjoyment when embarking big challenges. There was a tough training plan to maintain. No need for tiring yourself out before the big race by racing like a maniac in less important races.
All of this a personal preference, athlete depended and will vary from person to person. The purpose of a training plan is to be bespoke and tailored to your needs, capabilities and realistic goals. Quality before quantity. Cross train to take the impact off the legs, building endurance, strength and stamina. Run specific training to optimise efficiency and master technicalities. The right cycle of hard and easy training sessions. Cut back weeks every four weeks. I never had more fun, faith, trust and confidence being at a start line.
NUTRITION
Healthy choices. I consider my diet to be 90% healthy. The months leading up to race day I made it 110%. Focussing on lean protein (chicken, yogurt, pulses, chia seeds, nuts – lots of them, eggs – lots of too), good fat (avocado, salmon, mackerel, more nuts), good carbs (quinoa, brown rice, barely, oats), fresh fruit and veg for essential vitamins and minerals. At least two litres of water plus the extra amount of hydration I needed during and post training. Herbal teas, fruit and veg juices (beetroot, carrot, apple, celeriac, ginger, orange, parsley), a coffee here and there to tune myself for key workouts. I am very sensitive to caffeine, a very powerful tool for racing by the way. Wholemeal banana cake with nuts and dried fruits as pre, during and post training snack. Not a big fan of protein shakes *yuk, I choose to have yogurt with fruit or a boiled egg post hard training sessions.
I cut out refined sugars, animal fats wherever possible (cheese, ham, salami, pork, red meat, cows milk, ...), stopped baking my beloved German rye bread, no pasta, no cream. I kept dark chocolate. Treats and rewards are very important. In moderation though to keep them special.
It is very easy to let go of you favourite dishes and foods, once you experience the difference it makes. The biggest difference mad alcohol to me. The liver stores up to 1/5 of your glycogen. This is the stuff that gets you home. Once you throw alcohol in the mix, the liver takes care of detoxifying the body and getting rid of alcoholic contents. No time and room to store any of the precious glycogen. Ergo I missed many binge drinking events. Happy to not drink at all for six weeks prior to race day. Happy to have had beer, red wine and vodka running through my veins the hours after my race.
A note on racing weight: I am considerably lean and tiny figured but even for me there was a much lower weight I had to hit before race day. The purpose of losing a couple of kilos (2-2.5kg down for me) is getting you lighter and therefore less to carry around the distance. Ergo, becoming faster and saving energy. Less impact on the joints. And so on.
To determine your race weight, speak to a endurance specific nutritionist or coach. The key to approaching your racing weight is making adjustments in your diet, hit the correct amount of nutrients and kcal needed daily, exercise and look at the size of your portions. I reached my racing weight and kept it stable for four weeks prior to the race. Aim for something that is achievable over 2-4months. Never ever stop eating. You are doing more harm than good. Your body needs vitamins and minerals and energy to function properly and deal with the stresses of training. The main aim is to turn fat into lean muscles mass. Not about the number you hit on the scale but how much of that actually is muscle mass, fat and water (hydration) in relation. You will train your body to use fat reserves once the glycogen is used up.
In peak training periods, you can easily get busy with life and the it can be tough to maintain a healthy diet and eat vast amounts of protein and carbs according to your weight and exercise output. I helped myself to vitamin supplements like vitamin A, C, E, Zinc, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium and Cod liver oil. A note of warning: supplements should only be taken for a short period of time and not replace a healthy diet. The best and quality worthy vitamins and minerals you can get are simply found in fresh fruit and veg.
Any of the above is athlete depend and an individual preference. I hear people eating fast food daily and hit great marathon times. Whatever it takes to bring out the best in you.
R&R = REST & RECOVERY
My favourite part. Well sort of. I think most of my rest and recovery was injected due to a very hectic and demanding business I am running. Looking back at my training log and heart rates, I can tell when I was stressed and training would have overloaded the system. Many days of not training but working a lot instead. More than once I skipped a workout in favour of good food and sleep. Given the natural gift of a deep sleep and basically being able to fall asleep anywhere within 20 seconds, I managed to get through feeling fresh, alert, rested and healthy. I never worried to have missed a workout, I chose to listen to my body and rested when needed to go hard in training when I was supposed to. This is where Quality before quantity comes back in again. We are all just amateurs and do not make a living from running. If you get to train and nap twice a day and do nothing else in between the you can call yourself one. Maybe.
I come across many runners who are completely wired and only live for this epic race, getting completely wound up on not hitting their numbers, feeling tired, lacking enjoyment in training, carrying colds, going hard every session, being frustrated whislt nursing an injury. Seriously? If you cannot enjoy what you are doing, consider doing something else. Relax. It is just a race, a couple of hours in a day of your life in fact. You can run a marathon any other time. No excuses though, but It is also not defining who you are. Take the pressure out and you might be surprised by how much better you perform come any training session or race day. Also, ditch numbers and GPS and run by feel from time to time. Trust your mind-body connection.
Recovery things
no. 1: sleep, sleep and sleep, get into the habit of regular sleeping patterns
food: high quality vitamins, minerals, protein
stretching: keep up your mobility post training, prevent injuries
foam rolling, deep tissue massage: painful but highly effective, injury prevention
yoga, meditation, breathing exercises: unwind, switch off
sauna: unwind, detox, strengthen immune system
fresh air & sunshine: daily dose of vitamin D for strong bones, oxygen, unwind
get social: friends, family, chat, smile, laugh, relax & enjoy
happiness: whatever that means to you, and wherever you can top up on this
do nothing: legs up
GEAR
Well known for my oranges, greens, purples and neon colour combinations, I still do care more about quality and comfort than looks.
Multifunctional fabrics: dry fit, sweat wicking. Material that cools you down when it is hot or keeps you warm when it is chilly. Nice textures and feel on skin. Durability. Perfect fit, no chafing. Practical. Lightweight.
Training is to try out what works best for you. A personal preference, well trusted equipment. Never ever try new things on race day. It is so simple yet you see people buying new running shoes at the running expo and race in them, completely destroying their feet and beyond.
New shoes should be introduced slowly, run a couple of kilometres in them, switch back to the old ones, run more kilometres in the new ones then ditch the old ones. Replace shoes every 6-12months/ 250-500km. Depending on how heavy you are and how efficient your running style, sooner than later. Minimal running shoes are not really made for scrubbing miles, they last a couple of months. Have a spare pair and train in heaver trainers. Race in lighter racing shoes. It really does not matter what make or brand you are wearing. Nonetheless, get a professional gait analysis and make sure the shoe you are about to purchase and run in feels like a very comfy glove. It should not restrict your natural movement but should give enough stability, especially if you pronate and your feet and lower leg muscles are not yet strong enough to stabilise the foot. Injury is waving at the horizon otherwise. The body doesn't grow with the latest fashion that washes up on the market. Respect the speed of growths, don't get fooled. Hurry slowly.
TAPER
Taper means, cutting down your volume and intensity in training the weeks leading up to your race. The longer the race, the longer the taper. The aim is to give your body a change to adapt to training impulses, repair and and come back stronger. Super compensation.
Be well rested come race day. A good taper for marathons is anything up to three weeks. Cut back your load by 20, 20 and 20% each week. In fairness, the taper is again athlete depended. Many can maintain high level output up to a couple of days before. If you are feeling fatigued and sluggish, think about taking it easy for longer. The last week can be a bit like bouncing off the walls. Due to the fact you are not running that much and are probably feeling a bit nervous about the race ahead. Think about how nice it is to find time for others things. If you simply cannot stand still: try low impact exercise like swimming. Stretch, massage, sleep. Again: do not tire yourself out with any long and hard sessions. Enjoy the days of gaining fresh legs for once.
THE DAY BEFORE THE DAY
Try to stay off your feet for most of the day, you are supposed to rest. Think food and enjoyment, relax. Do not try out a new fancy dish for dinner, go with the well trusted. Eat your dinner early-ish and have a snack before you go to bed. Have a look at the running route, your race strategy, lay out your kit. Hydrate hydrate hydrate. Have an early night in. Set your alarm. Set two.
Regarding carbo loading. I am not a big fan of it, I function much better when not feeling like I ate an elephant who wants to get dragged around. Maintain a good level of high carbohydrates the days leading up to the race and add extra carbs through snacks and drinks. Do not overdo it. The most important meal is your pre race breakfast anyway.
I personally like to head out for a gentle 10-15min very easy run in the afternoon. To wake up the legs, pump some fresh blood and get them ready for a good stretch. Especially after flying in the morning, you want to avoid your legs to look like grandma just lent you hers.
RACE DAY MORNING
Good morning. It's 5am. Get up. Kick ass. Depending what time your race starts and the time it takes you to get going and to the start line, it might be even earlier. If you struggle to get out of bed and eat these early hours: train yourself to do so. Get up early and have breakfast early, even work out in the early hours to get yourself ready for race day. 1-2 weeks prior will do.
Time for some breakfast. Your pre race meal is key to how you feel in the later stages of the race. Aim for a well trusted and tested breakfast with mainly carbs, some protein and water, tea or coffee. Many are surprised by how much they actually have to eat and digest by the time the race starts. Research shows that consuming 0.57 – 1 grams of carbs per kg of bodyweight is ideal for improving performance.
That was around 700kcl for me. A lot for these early hours. Break it down. Have the biggest part first: my preferred breakfast of champions is 60g of porridge with seeds, yogurt, almond milk, 1 banana, honey, chia seeds. A cup of green tea and about 600ml of water 3–4 hours before gun time. 1–1.5 hours prior gun time I have some toast/bagel with peanut butter or jam. A little coffee and a little water. This gives you enough time to hit the toilet before heading out. I don't drink any more before the start. Maybe another banana, depending how I feel and my stomach can still take. Your aim to eat early to make sure your stomach is almost empty come race start and valuable energy is stored in your muscles. Ready to roll. Once you start moving the body switches the main blood supply towards your muscles, cardiovascular system and extremities. Digestion is not a priority anymore. Overload the stomach with solid snacks or a high fibre diet and you are likely to get in trouble. One way or the other.
RACE DAY RITUALS
it can be quite entertaining to watch what I kept myself busy with in the hours of dawn. I developed my personal regime, it prepares my body and mind and most importantly keeps me calm before the start.
wrap up in warm cosy clothes
make breakfast
eat breakfast wrapped in a blanket on the sofa, reading, chatting, rehearsing my race
have a shower
put on half of my gear
massage my legs with a sports massage oil to prepare them for the party ahead. I prefer Arnica, it warms the muscles nicely.
have breakfast number 2, legs up
go through some of my mental tools, rehearse, look at the map and pace strategy once more.
put vaseline where needed to prevent chafing. Feet for sure.
put on the rest of my gear, check my race nutrition, etc.
Take my bag for after the race, packed with warm clothes, snacks, money, etc. Whatever you think you could use after crossing the finish line.
and off.
Once more, a very personal ritual. Some people just put on their clothes, eat and out of the door. Whatever works for you to perform at your best: go for it!
PARTY TIME
Leave the house on time. Know where you are going, when you are supposed to be there and how to get there. Avoid leaving it till the morning to figure out. Have a plan B if the bus, train, tube is cancelled.
Allow enough time to drop your bag. Depending on how well the race is organised, you can face long queuing times. Also if you need a toilet, aim to take care of it at home. The worst feeling is to start with a full bladder or freak out by still being stuck in a queue once the gun has gone off. No need to put up with unnecessary stressors.
Start in the pen you are suppose to. Slower: you will have to do a lot of zig zagging to get anywhere. You run more than the required distance and lose valuable energy. A pen too fast for your ability and you'll hit the wall early on. Relax, enjoy, soak up the atmosphere. You are about to start this incredible journey you have worked for so hard. Remember all your amazing training sessions and how very well prepared you are. The race is a celebration of your efforts, not another training session. Have fun!
Stick to your pace strategy. Take it easy on the first 2k/1mile. Get into your rhythm. Find your cruising pace and keep it going until you A) cross the finish line or B) have to adjust your pace to reach the finish line.
Chunk the race down into smaller more manageable parts. I chose eight intervals of 5k plus a fast 2k finish. On race day, I only told myself: take it easy on the first 5k, refrain from running any faster than your goal race pace. If you run it 30sec slower, that is fine, you can adjust and speed up about a sec per k for the remaining distance. Check in with your 5k times. First 5k done. Think about the next. Not any further than this. 10k done. Next 5k and so on. You probably fall into a very nice and comfortable rhythm, cruising pace that is. Everything feels light and effortless, you could keep going like this forever. This is how you want to feel for most parts of your race, at least up to 25-30k. Then you have to work a bit harder and focus your thoughts and energy towards the finish.
'Anyone can run 20 miles. It's the next six that count.'
~ Barry Magee
30k till finish line. There is a reason why people say the real marathon starts from 30k onwards. 30k is just about manageable for most of us. The body used up most of its glycogen. Some 2-2.5hours into the race is where you start to come down heavy with effort, if you missed to refuel correctly. Lactate acid starts to accumulate, that burning sensation, it almost feels like the body is eating up its own muscle fibres. There are many ways to deal with it, it is mainly a mental race from now on. If your fuelling strategy was well planned and maintained you should be fine. Avoid drinking too much water, trying any of the gels they offer you. Carry the stuff you need and use it wisely. If you mange to eat a decent breakfast and kept it, you only have to fuel mid race. Less lucky, start earlier.
I skipped the first three water stations and only started to hit the fuel docks from 20k on. A cup of water, a little piece of banana. 25k, a cup of water, a cup of isotonic drink, a piece of banana, a gel (my gel). 30k, water, iso, banana. 35K water, water, iso, sponge to cool the head. And off to the finish, In hindsight I should have taken another gel to get me through the last 5k in less pain. But my stomach was a bit on the edge and I did not want to risk to overload and become sick. Not a big fan of these gooey uber sweet gels. I tried many and just about found one I can just about tolerate. I trained myself to need less water and fuel so I can delay the point of lactate acid kicking in. In training you learn to run on fat rather than carbs.
PAINS & PLEASURES
The party I have been waiting for. 32k and the pain levels started to raise and hit the red. 35k severe power loss. 38k only 3k more to go. '38.2k ehm, wtf?! I am not getting anywhere!!' Funny though, as I was still traveling at a reasonable pace, just 15sec slower than my race pace, it felt like ages to get anywhere near 40k. Those last 2k were a killer. My quads kicking and screaming, overworked from compensating for the rest of my legs, that went a wee bit earlier. It felt like someone is slowly slicing my muscle off the bone. I had to dig deep and concentrate so hard, accumulating more fatigue. Focus on anything but pain. Even for an NLP practitioner a tough call, when your body screams and kicks in agony every time your feet hit the ground. I think I started to hum and sing and moan on this last stretch. But I really did not care.
I usually have a strong finishing kick and can squeeze that last little drop out of the system. Not so much this time, I felt like hopping and wobbling slowly approaching the finish line. Fantastic finish, the last 250m on tartan in the stadium, a crowd to cheer you home.
'First you feel like dying. Then you feel reborn.' ~ Asics
I was in agony for the most of the next 30minutes. Very glad to have found my cheer squad waiting with my bag, hugs and encouraging words. They said something like 'you just bloody ran a marathon'. I just nodded and tried to put on a smile. The lovely ladies had to help me get into my warm clothes. I struggled to connect with my legs. And then the pain did ebb away, and then I looked down at my medal and thought: 'Yes, I bloody ran a marathon. And my feet are fine.' Weird things you think at first, but apparently my pretty feet are very precious to me...
It took me a couple of days to really appreciate and celebrate on and off what did happen that Sunday. Quite chuffed with my debut. Missing my goal finishing time by just 5minutes. Nothing went horribly wrong and I was expecting to deal with pain, to be honest, much earlier on. Looking back, more than 80% of the race were just brilliant, cruising with ease and so happy to just run and experience the beauty of the sport. Those remaining 20% were that extra bit of effort, tapping against boundaries and pushing through. But otherwise what would have been the point? This is the reason you run this thing. Everything went to plan and I enjoyed every step of the race. Even these agonising ones.
R&R Vol. 2
Time to celebrate, eat and drink, sleep, do anything but think about racing. Rest is best. Enjoy!
Immediately after the race: keep moving, keep warm, the lactic acid will clear quickly
Hydrate, go easy on the stomach, bit by bit drink until you need to go to the toilet ensuring your kidneys are in good working order again
Refuel with a bit of protein and carbs within 20min after crossing the finish line (protein shake, yogurt, banana, nuts, eggs, ...)
Do some light stretches
Have a proper meal with good quality protein, carbs, fruit and veg within 2 hours after finishing
RICE: rest, ice, compress, elevate any niggles or injuries. Seek medical treatment if needed
Ice bath: brave the cold to speed up recovery, 12-15min in 12°C water, hip high
or hot bath: to relax, unwind, warm up, make sure you have a decent cold rinse afterwards. Otherwise your legs swell up like grandmas'.
Compression tights for 2 days
Nap, sleep, nap, sleep
Stay clear of alcohol. A beer won't do any harm, make sure you hydrate well on water first.
Gentle recovery: don't run for at least 5 days. Be happy about the fact you can focus on something else. Go for a walk, do some light stretching, swim, ride a bike (if you can). Rest and elevate the legs. Massage them. Give them a tap. Be proud.
If you have to fly out: definitely wear compression tights to prevent thrombosis. Keep getting up and walk around
Go on a vacation and do nothing.
If you have to head back to work: make the effort and get up regularly. Make tea, walk to the printer, speak to your colleague across the hall in person rather than picking up the phone.
Book yourself in for a sports massage, deep tissue, thai, stretching
Do yoga
Go easy on the stairs, dem legs won't obey as they used to.
Think about your achievement in retrospective.
Make plans for your next challenge, do not get caught up in post race depression.
DOMS – DELAYED ONSET MUSCLE SORENESS
DOMS also known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is a great sensation you get for free after your race. What it actually means: you feel muscle pain and stiffness after hard, unfamiliar, unusual or strenuous exercise. It is worse than muscle pain after a tough workout but less sharp than a muscle sprain/tear. Something painful in between. Likely to happen if you go to hard too early in training, race hard or deal with a lot of up and down hill running. You hit a peak soreness at about 24-48hours post exercise, a delayed hit with a hammer. Your legs feel like wooden sticks and can collapse underneath you. A relatively simple mechanism of your body trying to tell you to stop or ease off during exercise to prevent further damage or injury.
During exercise muscle fibre damage occurs due to the muscle being overworked and forced to contract in a stretched out state (e.g. downhill) and contracted over and over again (palpation, uphill). The pain or soreness feels different to sore muscles after a weight session. Lengthening contractions (eccentric) cause higher muscle fibre damage than static (isomeric) exercise.
Pain will ease after 3-7days. You can help speed up recovery (see above mentioned R&R strategies) however the only way to not reach a state of DOMS is to prevent it in the first place. Being well prepared physically, not overreaching your physical capabilities and ensuring spot on nutrition pre or during exercise to fuel the muscles. A good warm up is always advisable but will not prevent. Same applies to stretching.
The best thing about DOMS (if you want some comforting assurance): given enough rest, your body will grow back much stronger and fitter after getting through the days of pain. Recovering means growing, the little fibre tears will be put back together and strengthened (super compensation). Upwards and onwards.
Let's hit a 3:30 next. Absolutely doable.
Thanks for reading through this marathon of words. I hope you find this article valuable.
How can the idea of running a marathon
be used as a good innuendo for life?
First of all what is 'challenge' and how can a challenge be a blessing in disguise? The majority of challenges we face in 'life' get thrown at us, rarely do we pursue to push for hardship by choice. It's simply exhausting and overwhelming. Unless you get some sort of satisfaction out of it. However we happily roll up our sleeves when we are a bit bored with life. We choose to push for trial. Bringing back some excitement into an otherwise dull life. Signing up for a marathon seems to become the experiment of choice. It means labour, actively doing the work yourself. Being in control. Finding some meaning in life, generating focus, overcoming a set back or bad habit. Also possible is covering up rather unpleasant obstacles we won't dare to challenge head on. Pushing for feedback, getting hurt, getting upset, coming to a halt. Working through it, getting better, getting up, higher up. Manifesting motivation into race day. And sometimes losing sight of the actual goal – bored, frustrated, unable to cope. Back to square one: challenges in 'life' thrown at us. Square one comes with internal conflicts and feelings of worry, self doubt and loss of power. Chasing your own tail. Does it matter if we challenge ourselves or get challenged if it all potentially ends up in an endless and fruitless task – the Sisyphean task? Life is going that way and you will rarely be able to avoid the occasional road block. But don't surrender just yet. It's just a road block.
What to do when facing a road block?
Q: What do you do when you are facing an obstacle?
Q: How can you use these valuable insights for your current challenge/ obstacle/ problem/ task/ dream/ goal/ figurative road block?
Failure only comes to full effect once you stop trying. Would you just come to a halt, stuck with this road block and eventually die out of thirst, hunger, loneliness, boredom, anger? No, that seems a rather foolish idea or action to take. Instead you come up with alternatives. A diversion: around, over, back with external help or you get this road block out of the way yourself. Which ever it is, does not matter at first, they all hold potential for you to continue your journey. There is no right or wrong. As long as you keep trying. Have a play. Taken good measure or being old enough to refer back to experience, you may be able to predict the outcome. Playing it safe might not work, have some fun gaining more. No false illusions, having the mental strength to pull yourself together after getting knocked down can be hard work indeed. A lone trip between rockbottom and mountain top.
Q: What is worse? Feeling miserable and bathing in a grim, chest crushing and heavy sensation; or taking that single step towards change and see what happens?
Makes sense, but why can I simply not get going?
One simple answer: You haven't plotted out a goal or destination that is worth going for.
Turning dreams into goals requires motivation and action. Motivation is a desire, a passion for the end result or the journey towards your destination. And action: you have to get going, no one is going to live your dream but yourself.
A small but powerful distinction:
Q: Are you goal orientated (eyes on the prize) or process orientated (enjoying the ride)? On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being: I don't care and 10 being: my innermost desire; how much do you want to achieve your goal right now? How do you feel if you could have it right now? As if it already has become true? What do you see, hear, feel in this moment of standing at the mountain top?
Getting anything between 8 and 10 and you can be certain to have the motivation to go. Make the first step. You are going to do great.
Anything lower than 8: Not enough motivation yet to gain momentum, so
Q: What is currently in your way of achieving your goal? What are the road blocks? How can you work with them? Is your goal too big? Make it smaller. Is your goal too small? Make it bigger. Get the motivation, the objectives lined up.
You said comfort zone? I don't know what that means.
Q: How do you define comfort zone? Where does yours end? What lies beyond your comfort zone? Anything interesting? Who defines the border of your comfort zone? What limitations do you set yourself? And is this really true? A 100%? All the time?
The same person who chooses to run a marathon might be completely incapable of applying valuable personality traits like passion, determination, focus, commitment, discipline etc. to other areas of life – and vice versa. Rarely does the type of 'challenge' matter: it is the same person, the same system facing the challenge. When referring to system think body, mind and heart; ideally working together in alignment. Hence taking a step back from the challenge and cross referencing capabilities can be very liberating and resourceful.
Gain some perspective and break the challenge into smaller more manageable pieces. How about getting creative around your problem? What other pathways can you walk to reach your desired goal? Hitting the wall with your head over and over again might be effective at some point. Painful for the time being for sure. How about zooming out, stepping away from the wall, taking stock. Maybe you want to run and take a big jump across or just simply walk around the edges? Take control by being yourself and have faith in your decisions and capabilities.
Worry – a constructed false reality.
Worry is a construct of thought, you experience the future in the now. Good news: we cannot time travel. Therefore where is the need to think about what lies ahead, things you might not be able to control anyway, things that look and feel so overwhelming they numb you? And how can you know? Have you arrived in the future yet? Looking back at past events, have they been really daunting and scary? Or easy and manageable after all?
With negative associations you limit yourself and waste precious energy of being associated in the moment, being truly in the here and now. Prepare your future in the present but no need to over think what your limitations are. You will find out, once you get there. They might not even exist at the point anymore.
Inner conflict based on value clashes.
Inner conflict, a strange feeling of 'something is not quite right', is a valuable sensation: your system is trying to tell you something. At first you might be confused and have no clue in how to decode this strange sensation that just bubbled up. It can be a feeling, a thought, a sudden raise in your heart rate, confusion, a nervous twitch, pacing around the room, loss of power, feeling distracted, feeling actual physical pain, feeling sad for no good reason. Do not tempt to shut your eyes and turn around, even run away. Hold it, find the time to start an inner dialog.
Conflict is associated with a clash of values for example. Someone wants you to do something and you feel like this person asks you to make a killing. Highly possible the task at hand works against your highest values and beliefs. If you see yourself in a situation like this, find an appropriate moment of downtime and take a piece of a paper.
Brainstorm.
1/ Write down any values and beliefs you hold high, personality traits that are important to you and you want to surround yourself with in other people. For example: health, success, power, balance, happiness, fun, diversity, friendship, family, security. Money is not a real ‘value’. Chunk it down to its essence: What does money stand for? What feeling do you associate with money? You are more likely to find answers like security, freedom, etc.
2/ Gather as many as you feel like. Keep going beyond 15, there are many more to bubble up. No restrictions, just let the words pop into your head.
3/ Once you have done this go through your list. Notice how you can group some of the words, making up 'areas of your life', you might hold different values for work and leisure, the stage you are in life right now or various experiences that influence your life depending on context.
4/ Top 10. Create your Top 10. Sometimes you have values that are different in meaning but equally important. Have two No.1. That is perfectly fine.
Now you have this powerful list, use it as a filter. Apply it to any situation, decision, scenario you face in life. Or a challenge you had in the past. Notice how to see things differently just by knowing more about yourself – seeing life through your values-filter. Sometimes just acknowledging what is going on, can help you to gain perspective. Try to match your values or dial back on some to work out a solution or compromise. Very powerful when dealing with people, at work or in a relationship.
Values will change over the due course of life, experience we gain and people we meet. A decade ago you would have laughed about your 'old self' and your trivial values compared to those you hold true today. Welcome to your life. Welcome back the reins.
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Faith, self belief and confidence – where to start?
Self doubt, worry, trust issues and lack of confidence result in loss of power. Can result in depression. Can make you feel like tumbling around in a turmoil. Out of control and at effect. It can make you feel sick, angry and tired. Anything feels like a hard effort. Fun? I don't know what that is anymore.
The first step to address any of these stressful feelings and associations: simply be aware of them. Do not put a lid on there and try to forget. Think about how you can take responsibility now. Are you living someone else's life or yours? No one else is responsible for the state you are in. You might be affected by something someone did or said, but it is up to you how to respond. It sounds simple. And it very much is. Take the nonsense, stay where you are and feel sorry for yourself. Or change it. Remember the wall – walk around it. See the beauty of what lies ahead. The lightness and ease once you consciously made the decision to let go and move on.
There are many definitions of confidence and many more opinions. Tend not to use this word too much, as we all have different understandings of what we actually want to make meaning of. Let us keep it as being certain of your own abilities and capabilities in a given situation. An emotional security of self.
Confidence is something you cannot force yourself into or purchase in a shop or is given through birth. You can gain assurance through working on your personality. It needs to come from within (intrinsic). Money, objects, medals, Facebook likes and a tap on the shoulder (extrinsic) can add to the bank account of confidence but it will not last for long. You will constantly seek for more. A hunger that never will be satisfied. True belief in yourself can be grown and nursed by one person only: yourself. The same applies to the principles of motivation.
Tapping into it.
Knowing your values from earlier, have a think how these can benefit your trust, faith, control, self belief, assurance, traits and so on. Find practical examples. Sources of energy, things that make you happy. Habits, people, tasks that give you that extra push, passion, warmth, power. Tap into it. Imagine what it would feel like to have all this right now. Hold that thought. And come back to it whenever you feel a struggle. Relax. Easy.
Cruising to a 42.195km debut – a kingdom of happiness and belief
Eureka! Jump for joy, through the roof and all this.
Last Sunday I toed the starting line of the 37th Amsterdam Marathon, a first attempt to travel on foot for 26miles. After postponing Paris and Edinburgh Marathon earlier in spring due to shifting priorities towards my entrepreneurial furore, I was more than ready to go. In hindsight, things happen for a reason and I said back in spring: I can run a marathon any other time.
The opportunity to start up your own business might cross your direction of travel once in a decade or less often, at any rate life goes on beyond training for a marathon. Feeling a bit down whilst sitting at my desk on the Paris Marathon Sunday, I remembered why I chose to sit there: the pursuit of a much greater goal, cruising with joy, accelerating in the things I put all my heart and passion into. Bursting with determination, focus, commitment, discipline. Taking responsibility for my own outcomes. Nudging my self set limitations further, keep going when others stop, start drinking or partying. Dealing with pressure and all sorts of new challenges. A travel into the unknown. A leap outside the comfort zone. There is only so much you can control. The rest you take on the flight.
A sort of marathon just run on a different platform and within altered framework. I wonder how completing a marathon and facing the challenges of life can actually relate.
Through Coaching triathletes, I work a great deal with anxieties, pressures and worries – quite fragile and counterproductive traits regarding the quest of enduring and completing long distance events. We take it from there and develop an immense and powerful set of mental tools together, tap into the power of dreams and work far beyond positive thinking and mantras. I developed an 8-week mental toughness programme leading into race day with a final race day peak performance guide. Get in touch if you want to find out more.
I encourage our athletes to incorporate their bespoke mental tools into their training routine. As much as you need to train your body and physical assets, a race specific mindset that is capable of pushing boundaries will not appear in a surprise egg. Train it well and you achieve goals you thought impossible.
'I've learned that finishing a marathon isn't just an athletic achievement. It's a state of mind; a state of mind that says anything is possible.' ~ John Hanc, running writer
Take a look at this selection of famous quotes relating to long distance running:
'If you feel bad at 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal.' ~ Rob de Castella, winner 1983 World Marathon Championships
'Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.' ~ Dean Karnazes, runner & writer
'Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.' ~ Haruki Murakami, writer, book: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
I read pain, effort, hard work, suffering. Rarely someone says it is a walk in the park running a marathon. So why are so many people hooked and want nothing more than taking part or even signing up all over and over again? There is a limit to reading up on, studying and asking athletes to fill out questionnaires on the topic. Sometimes you have to go the distance to deeply understand and experience what all this means. Also serving my coaching credibility.
'Run the first part of your race with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart.' ~ Mike Fanelli, running coach
Apparently the marathon is '10% physical and 90% mental'. I am up for that. Let me have a crack at the distance and see for myself if I can relate to any of this and what the fuzz is all about.
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The following PART 1 will cover some powerful NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) tools I practice myself and coach as NLP practitioner and Triathlon coach. A more generic take on your true potential and challenges crossing your pathways in life. Furthermore some advice on how to overcome these in a very practical manner.
PART 2 discloses the physical elements needed to run a marathon. Physical exertion as well as pre, during and post racing strategies like training, nutrition, recovery and such.
Enjoy.
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Quick links go to
PART 1 MARATHON OF LIFE – LET’S GO MENTAL
PART 2 MARATHON FOR BEGINNERS – LET’S GET PHYSICAL
Pancakes can be healthy and wholesome using good ingredients:
130g wholemeal flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
5 tbsp wheatgerm
2 tbsp ground flaxseeds
1 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 tbsp olive oil
450ml buttermilk or 350ml milk + 3 tbsp plain yogurt
Mix all dry ingredients well and add the remaining ingredients. The batter should be very liquid. Let it sit for about 10minutes, so the fibre and chia seeds can expand (which makes the pancakes less textured and easier to digest).
Heat a frying pan (optional: oil lightly with olive oil) over medium high heat. Scoop the batter onto the pan, creating little individual pancakes. Brown on both sides, turning once.
Toppings
The pancakes are supposed to be quite neutral in taste (contains no refined sugar) so you can experiment with sweet or savoury toppings.
Sweet
Bio live yogurt, raspberries, Manuka honey, mint
Bio live yogurt, Manuka honey, walnuts
· 1 aubergine
· olive oil, fresh ground black pepper, sea salt
· ciabatta bread roll
· tomatoes
· home made pesto
· mozzarella
· rocket
· roasted pine nuts
Slice aubergine, dip in olive oil, season with black pepper & sea salt and grill in the oven at 200°C for about 10minutes until golden brown and soft. Slice ciabatta bread in half, dress with aubergine slices, pesto, tomatoes and mozzarella. Place in the oven for 2-4minutes, until the cheese starts to melt. Serve with a good handful of rocket and sprinkle some roasted pine nuts on top. Some extra drizzle of olive oil, because it's so good for you.
Food lovers: Apple-butternut squash cake with ginger-oat crumble
Big squash autumn days.
Use half of the squash to make a nutritious lentil soup, the other half for a moroccan cous cous with apricots (Ottolenghi). Or bake a cake. This one below.
The squash (like any other pumpkin) comes with a nutty flavour and mildly sweet taste and is favoured in both savoury as well as sweet dish. I hadn't used it in a dessert yet, so I sketched out this cake recipe.
Apple-butternut squash cake with ginger-oat crumble
CAKE
100g flour
100g almond meal
130g brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs
110ml vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange or lemon zest
2 apples
300g butternut squash puree
(optional: to make the cake sweeter, add some raisins)
Whisk all liquid ingredients together, add the butternut squash puree (first you have to peel, cut & roast the butternut squash) until well blended.
Mix all dry ingredients and add to the mixture and whisk well.
Cut the apples in small chunks und stir into the mixture.
Grease a baking tin, pour in the cake mixture.
CRUMBLE
150g rolled oats
50g brown sugar
50g butter
3cm piece of fresh ginger
Grate the ginger and mix all ingredients together. You might need to play with the amount of butter vs. oats. You should end up with a semi dry sticky mixture.
Sprinkle on top of the cake mixture.
This now can go into the oven: 200°C, 45-60min depending on how big the apples where, ergo how moist the cake is. A wooden stick/ toothpick should come out clear.
THE FUSS ABOUT THE SQUASH
Butternut squash contains many anti-oxidants and vitamins. It has more vitamin A than pumpkin. Actually has the highest levels of vitamin-A in this family, providing about 354% of RDA. Vitamin A is a powerful anti-oxidant required for healthy skin, mucus membranes and vision. It has also plenty of α and ß-carotenes and lutein. The body converts these to vitamin A and have the same protective functions of vitamin A. Butternut Squash also comes with a vitamin B-complex like folic acid (B9), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pyridoxine (B6), thiamin (B1), and pantothenic acid (B5). Mineral wise it is equally powerful: iron, zinc, copper, calcium, potassium and phosphorus can be yours.
Food Lovers: Chia seeds – the ancient super ingredient
Chia seeds are taking the running world by storm. Chia seeds are being rediscovered as one of nature’s most nutritious foods. Probably one of the richest source of omega-3 fatty acids, known to reduce inflammation and help the body fight off some of the effects of ageing. Chia can be used in almost any dish or drink as it isn't particularly strong in flavour.
The tiny black, grey and white seeds are also high in protein, minerals, enzymes, fiber and calcium. And in comparison to your other runner's superfoods, they beat almost all of them.
(compared gram per gram)
1400% more magnesium than broccoli
700% more omega-3 fatty acids than Salmon
800% more phosphorus than whole milk
500% more calcium than milk
500% more protein than kidney beans
200% more iron than spinach
300% more selenium than flax seed
100% more potassium than bananas
100% more fibre than bran flakes
more antioxidants than blueberries
more folate than asparagus
more lignans than flax
(source: best chia seeds)
If you've read the book 'Born to Run' by Christopher McDougall, you came across the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico, who carried with them a blend of maize and chia seeds on their ultra runs through the desert. The Tarahumara are superathletes who can run great distances in extreme conditions without fatigue or injury. The secret to their athletic superpowers? Their love of running – mankind's first fine art and their diet.
Christopher McDougall describes almost magical, endurance-enhancing qualities to this simple seed.
Chia seeds have the interesting property that when they’re left in water for a few minutes, the seeds expand in size and take on a gel-like appearance. This is because chia seeds are hydrophilic and hold around 10-12x their weight in water. This also happens in your stomach, even if you eat the seeds raw. So make sure you drink plenty of water when you eat them in their raw form. The gel coats the stomach and provides a barrier between carbohydrates and digestive enzymes resulting in slower absorption of sugar into the blood stream. The net result is that Chia seeds are a super slow release energy source, avoiding the usual blood glucose highs and lows. This gives you prolonged energy and hitting the wall on a long run will be less so.
The other important result of this gel-forming reaction is the retention of water. When in the gut, this means that water loss is minimised and electrolyte balance is maintained for longer.
Chia seeds can be added to smoothies, sprinkled over meals, or ground and added to baking. Find them in your local health food shop.
I recommend trying a small amount first, and see how you react to it. The first couple of times I didn't take enough water in and had some minor stomach cramps. Powerful little seeds.
Here 2 quick chia seed recipes
REFRESHING CHIA SEED DRINK
300ml water
juice of ½ lemon
(1 tsp of honey if you want to sweeten it)
1 tsp raw chia seeds
mix everything together, let it sit for 10min, add some ice cubes
and enjoy
CHIA SEED ENERGY GEL
50ml water
1 tsp ground chia seeds
1 tsp honey
pinch of sea salt
some lemon juice if preferred
1-3 pieces of dried fruit (dates, apricots, raisins)
Blend ingredients until smooth. You can freeze it to store for longer. It will remain soft in the freezer.
Pep talk: Chrissie Wellington at BBC world service
The other day my lovely friend Deb invited me to come along and meet Chrissie Wellington. Yes. Four time World Ironman Champion and 'athlete-by-accident' Chrissie Wellington.
As part of BBC's 80th Anniversary, several exciting shows were held on 29th FEB at Bush House, London. 'Health Check: The Human Race live special' was the one we went to.
Us amongst a small audience were taken on a journey into the world of athletes. Claudia Hammond, the show host, was to find out what makes elite athletes so special – physically and mental. Not only Chrissie but sprinter James Ellington was on the show too. Runners from the Serpentine Club were brought on stage and used as the 'average person' to compete against the famous athletes.
So this show wasn't only about a chat about performance, more so were we offered to watch live experiments like VO2max tests, jumps and sprints. Alongside the pair of athletes and 'average Joe & Jane' were a sport scientist and professor for sports and engineering research from Sheffield Hallam University, a resident doctor and a sports psychiatrist. They were taking a closer look at performance, explained differences between the well trained athlete and the average sports person and showed various aspects of training and development within the sports.
Listen to 55min of BBC's programme here.
Overall this was a superb experience, informative science lecture mixed with live experiment mixed with performance analytics mixed with personal insights to keep us on our toes. I personally found it very inspiring and particularly liked Chrissie's approach of seeing herself within a holistic system. It's not only your genes, talent and training that make a good athlete. It is nutrition, recovery, science, mental strength achieved by brain training, mantras, drive & determination too and you are more likely to become the best person you can be.
A note on the brain training, which is a key element in NLP coaching as well: You can't coach someone who doesn't want to get coached. So the desire to achieve a certain goal needs to be in place first. – More about brain training, NLP coaching tools and techniques in another post. Very exciting stuff, so stay tuned.
Of course I got the chance to chat to Chrissie for a bit after the show. A very lovely and grounded person. We chatted about her new book Chrissie Wellington – a life without limits (which became No1 non fiction best seller in the UK in the first week), her charity work and plans for the future.
So today was a very exciting day. One big thing was worth exploring further and writing about: another crazy healthy runner's food called 'honey' tadaaah. On today's Holland & Barrett shopping stroll I got to a halt picking up almond butter: my eyes got drawn to rows of honey. Well, let's say, drawn to the price tags, which I thought must have been accidentally put there. £40 for some tiny glass of honey? Brand name: pure gold. I thought: 'There better is gold in there...'
'Active Manuka Honey 24+' from New Zealand. I heard of this honey before but no one mentioned that hefty price tag. Spending 30+ minutes chasing up and down the aisle, reading every label and comparing prices, even pulling out my phone to do some instant online research (praise smart phones), I couldn't resist to try it and off to the till I was.
So here what the fuzz is all about:
'Active' Manuka Honey has its origin in New Zealand, in wild uncultivated areas in which Manuka bushes grow. Manuka bushes are indigenous only to New Zealand. The honey making process is enriched by the pollution free environment of New Zealand.
The honey has a high antibacterial property, due to its non-hydrogen peroxide antibacterial content. All honey has some level of antibacterial property, which is produced by enzymes in the honey. But these enzymes are easily destroyed by exposure to heat or light and also by contact with body fluids. Only rare and valuable honeys (like the Manuka) are resistant to losing their antibacterial activity. That's were the price comes in.
The honey can be used as part of a healthy diet, to enhance your immune system and shake off colds rapidly. It also can be applied onto skin to treat persistent bacterial skin infections.
The 'Unique Manuka Factor' (UMF) is a system that quantifies and measures the antibacterial strength of the honey. So look out for this label. You can get the honey in a range of 5+ to +25, the higher the number, the more 'active' the honey, the higher the antibacterial property, the bigger the price tag.
A UMF rating of 10 should be the minimum. Anything above 16 is considered as superior quality with very high activity.
The honey is dark creamy with a distinctive taste. Yummy.
At home I prepared this nice yogurt with Chia seeds, mint, cute little apples from the Market and added some of that expensive golden sugar. Damn yummy.
More about Chia seeds and a book worth reading in the next post.
And here an inspirational surf video. Think sunshine, think epic footage using a array of 30 go pro cameras and some fun loving surfer dudes enjoying Fiji's super waves. Check it out. Mirage by Rip Curl.
