Yesterday there was the webinar titled “The marathon mental coaching” and one question concerned the use of mindfulness in the marathon. If we mean with mindfulness “to allow the present to be as it is and to allow us to be, simply, in this present” (John Teasdale) this mental condition can certainly be useful to the marathon. During the long distance running the present is the stride or the breath. Learn how to listen it’s especially useful in the early pahses and in the end of the marathon, in which for the athletes is important to be aware of the reactions of the body. During the run the mindfulness can be differentiate from non-judgmental acceptance of the present, because the athletes may be aware that they are in trouble. For example, they realize that breathing became too frequent or the heart rate is too high, or even that the stride is becoming increasingly heavy. In these moments, the runners have to go in a state of mind more active, with the aim to reduce or counteract these feelings that are undermining the run.The runners maybe short the stride or slow down a few seconds the speed or shift the attention to other aspects, distracting from these debilitating feelings. Many runners use a dissociative strategy allowing to be focused on anything else but your own body. Paula Radcliffe said that in these moments she counts to 100, knowing that after she counted three times she ran another mile. Every runner has to find solutions during workouts. The marathon training is very challenging and difficult times met are used to find these answers and begin to put them into practice, so as to arrive at the day of the race the runners will be mentally prepared.
Tag Archive for 'Paula Radcliffe'
Some interesting answers given by Paula Radcliffe during the talk with Adharand Finn
(full text: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/the-running-blog/2013/mar/08/paula-radcliffe-interview-running-blog)
If you don’t get back to running competitively, will you still run for fun? Yes. This is the most important thing for me. I’ve gone crazy in the last few months not being able to run. Running gives me a lot of pleasure. It’s something I’ll always do, as long as I can.
Looking back on your career, what was your greatest moment? Probably the world record. [Paula holds the world record for the marathon at 2:15:25. That's almost three minutes faster than anyone else ever, and is considered one of the greatest world records in athletics.] But then winning the world cross-country champs [in 2001 and 2002] was pretty huge for me. It was a long term ambition of mine to win it.
When you ran the 2:15 world record, was it your plan to run that fast, or did you just feel great on the day? I never plan to run at a certain pace. All my career my motto has been “no limits”. I don’t try to run with a set time in mind, sticking to set splits, because what happens if you’re ahead of your splits, are you going to slow down?
Is that when you first realised you were good? It wasn’t like I ever thought: “Oh I’m good.” I just enjoyed it. Later, the question was: “Could I make a career out of it?” Winning the world junior cross-country [in 1992] was a big turning point, but even then my main aim was to get through university, and see if I was good enough after that.
Where is your favourite place to run? I always love running in Central Park [New York]. To be in a beautiful park, but to have the Manhattan skyline just there is pretty special. But I also love Fort Romeu [France], running along some coastal paths, some places in Iten [Kenya]. Basically I have favourite places everywhere I go.
When someone asks for a training tip what do you tell them?Make sure you get the right running shoes for you. Get some gait analysis done in a running shop. And don’t just run at one pace all the time, but put some fartlek [alternating between fast and slow pace], or hillwork into your schedule. And do some core training as well.
Do you ever run to music? Yes, in the gym, but never outside. I prefer to be in tune with my surroundings and to be aware of things. I like listening to my footstrike and my breathing. It can be quite soothing.
