Training your mind to have a higher tolerance of pain can be as critical to road racing as the physical training that you do. If you have put in a decent build-up to a marathon, chances are that in the last 10K of the race your performance will not be limited 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 training.
Just like all the other parts of my training, though, this needs to be planned and controlled. Going out every day and learning to run 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 .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 so I know that I’m going to have to hit that pain zone. The key I find 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.
