Mental 'Videos'

I am currently in Perth and entering my final six weeks of training before the big day. 

This was my running track this morning: City Beach to Trigg and back -- 13.4 km. It was probably the toughest training session I've done yet. 

Running on soft sand, in 20 km/h winds and through waist-deep surf surges was really hard. While I knew I had the fitness to complete the run, my brain just wanted me to stop and walk whenever I hit a difficult spot. I am finding such psychological barriers more difficult to overcome than physical barriers at the moment. 

To get through the run I employed a technique of playing mental 'videos' -- an internal vision of a perfect training run -- whenever my motivation waned. It worked really well. As soon as I 'played the video' my entire body relaxed, especially the shoulders, and I felt physically lighter. The running became less difficult, even if I increased the pace. It was quite amazing and I completed the run in good time.

That old adage, 'it's all in the mind', may indeed be true.