Hello and welcome to my penultimate Hypnosis For Running training log before I start my 5 successive marathons!
Good to be back here and focused on the running after a week running my hypnotherapy diploma course last week, which meant I was only able to do sporadic runs and interval sessions, though with the weather being so sunny and warm, and the clocks having gone forward, the light in the evenings made for some great conditions.
My taper is underway. Hoorah! The taper is very welcome after the weeks of big mileage, and I can feel my legs and feet starting to like me again.
Here is my mileage for this week:
Mon 2nd Apr 18M (approx 2hrs 35 mins) slow
Tue 3rd Apr 6M of 1M jog, then 9 x 400m (or 90 secs) fast, with 200m (or 2-min) jog recoveries, then 1M jog
Wed 4th Apr 5M (45 mins) slow
Thu 5th Apr 1M jog, then 3M (22 mins) brisk, then 1M jog
Fri 6th Apr Cross Train
Sat 7th Apr 3M (27 mins) easy
Sun 8th Apr 12M (95 mins) steady
The 12 miler on Easter Sunday will effectively be my last run of any major consequence before Brighton marathon. I will be doing some light mileage next week, but while I am carbo loading next week, my miles will come right down and I’ll not run for 3 days prior to the marathon. Over the years it is something I have learned about my own best preparation.
Speaking of Brighton marathon, I got my race number through!
I am loving the fact that the chip is attached to the race number (that flap at the top you can see in the picture) and there is no need for anything to be attached to my ankle or wrist for a change. My brother Ben and I will be going to the Brighton marathon expo on Saturday afternoon, then having dinner in Brighton that night before staying the night just the two of us – Ben organised the hotel which is walking distance to the expo and just over a mile from the start.
Ideal. We can relax, walk to the event, soak up the atmosphere, get chatting with other runners and really enjoy it without worrying about travelling on the morning of the race.
Unusually for a big city marathon, it starts at 9am in the morning, so it’ll all be over by lunchtime… We are very excited about the first of our marathons starting. It is these preliminary exciting times and race day preparations that start making all the lonely hours of winter training seem like a distant memory.
Also, this year I have got myself my own tailor made pace bands. I know you can pick them up for free at the race expo events and lucozade do really good ones that I have used in previous years. But this time I have got some with my own motto “Mind Over Matter” written on them and my times that I am aiming for with each of the marathon events.
Pretty cool, eh? At least I think they are, and I realise that these little things are idiosyncrasies that enable me to run marathons on my own terms, in my own way and with as much enjoyment as I can extract from them.
In the week I have been away, my brother sent me a great motivational quote by Lance Armstrong which I hope he’ll share here too soon.
On a psychological level, I have run through my own entire audio programme now and am allowing the occasion to keep me lifted, in good spirits and feeling good. I shall keep on with various techniques throughout the races themselves (keeping my strength up, positive mindset, imaging processes etc) but until race day, I am focused on the desired outcome and keeping my levels of arousal healthy and assuring myself that I have prepared and trained diligently.
Later this week, I’ll get another self-hypnosis technique posted up here, then next week will be my final training log before I start posting race reports here and ticking off my marathons… It is all getting very real now.
I’ll be back very soon…
