Training your mind to have a higher pain tolerance can be as critical to road racing as the physical training that you do. During the last 10K of the marathon, your performance will be limited not solely by your physical ability, but also your tolerance to withstand suffering.
I have learned over the years to be able to push myself to new levels of pain at the business end of races and although a lot of that has come from embracing certain personal mantras and mind ‘tricks’, my tolerance levels have also increased through repeatedly pushing myself to new limits in my training. Just like all the other parts of my training, though, this needs to be planned and controlled.
Going out every day and running through the pain of a serious niggle is not what we are looking for here; there is a time and a place for putting yourself in the ‘hurt locker’, and it should be expected and enjoyed in a strange sort of way!
During my marathon training, I do some very large speed sessions in the middle of the week with a couple of easy days either side of them. My goal during these sessions is not only to push my physical limits but also my mental ones as well. Towards the end of one of these sessions, I may be trying to hit marathon pace having already clocked up 20 miles on the run. To do so, I know that I’m going to have to break through that pain barrier. The key is to embrace the pain as a planned part of my training and know that I am one step closer to being the runner I need to be for race day, both in body and mind.
Steve’s top tip: Practice Pilates
When I first started running and didn’t have 30,000 training miles under my belt, I could get away with just running and nothing else. These days my hamstrings are about a foot shorter, which is why I have fully embraced the world of ‘pilates for runners’. I’m seeing some great benefits and wish I’d started earlier in my running career. Learn from my mistakes; get yourself to your local class. Your glutes and hamstrings will thank you for it.
