Among the mental tools recommended for athletes is pre-race visualization. I've always found that hard to do. But for the Bellingham Bay Marathon, which I am about to start in less than 12 hours from now, I decided to try by putting my visualization into words.
In early August I wrote a mile by mile ideal race scenario for tomorrow's race. At just under 11,000 words, it's a small book. I didn't look at it again until today, and decided to publish the epistel on a separate blog for those interested. We'll see how the real thing pans out tomorrow.
I found it a helpful exercise and may repeat it for another goal race. To read the pre-race visualization for the marathon, please follow the link http://marathonvisualization.blogspot.com/
It's 7:55pm now. Time to go to sleep soon!
I'll leave you with this superb advice from Bill Rodgers in Bill Rodgers' Lifetime Running Plan, a book I highly recommend:
"You should try to talk to yourself constantly in a race. Assess how you're doing, how you might be able tot notch it up a bit, and continually tell yourself how well you're doing, what you've already accomplished, and what you have left to do. During my races, I talk myself through the whole thing. ... I don't think I'm a particularly tough runner mentally, but I've learned the tricks of the trade. You can beat people who might be as fit as you by talking yourself through a race with positive remarks."
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