You deserve to win!!

Happy Tuesday!! I hope you are all having a terrific day and you've had a great run.

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In Studyhall today (yes, mom, my homework was all done before hand) I came across and older article in Runner's World. I love love love reading about elite runners and their backgrounds. What are their strengths and weaknesses, what has made them good, tips they have, and what personality type/work ethic they have that has made them into such a terrific runner. There is something about an elite athlete that sets them apart from the rest of the population. They know what works for them, they have an amazing strong will, determination of gold, and confidence. Well, most of them have confidence.

Reading this article about Kara Goucher, one of her biggest weaknesses is the confidence factor. In that article, she confessed she "has a lot of negative chatter in her head" and on race day will tend to worry about other runners and COMPARE herself to them. She basically sets herself up for not winning before the race even starts by obbessing over the competition and not deserving she needs to be there. Kara, honey, you truly do. You're faster than fast.

Not going to lie, I'm pretty sure each and every one of us runners have self- doubt. I have struggled with it personally for a long time and still do. I have this irrational fear that the race will be too hard, I won't make it through without walking, I will fall back and get last, etc. I will think all of these things before my race-- even when I've had GREAT training.

That is when we have to step in and remember we really have done everything GREAT in our training. WE HAVE WORKED HARD TO BE EVEN STARTING THIS RACE and it's GO TIME. Get 'er done with and just hope for the best. 

Here are Runner's World's Tips and Sports Psychologist Tips that I agree with immensely:

I really love number one on this list--- I am going to add that into my next training plan by writing every worry I have down and facing those fears in my training runs! Can you tell how excited I am that I came across this brilliant tip?
And #5- small victories every day add up to a big victory in time :)

 
Running my half-marathon was so scary to me- I remember turning to my friend saying how much I thought I was going to die. I think if I went into the race with better training, I would have more confidence and who knows what time I would of ran!

Set yourself up to mentally tough to win. Remember, you've done the work. You deserve to win. You DESERVE TO WIN. You have fought every training run, you work hard to eat healthy, you foam roll, you do everything. YOU DESERVE THIS SO PUT UP A FIGHT!! Be confident :)

Last healthy thing you ate?

Salad at lunch!

Are you a confident runner or is this something you need to work on as a runner?

Something I need to work on.

What do you do to get yourself pumped for race day? What do you eat?!

-I listen to music. Like rap, powerful music.

-And I eat banana and bagel and sometimes yogurt. It all depends how long the race is.

What are you looking forward to?

SUMMA SUMMA SUMMA (summer in my vocabulary) and of course, getting my boot off so I can run again. I miss it too much.