The things we tell ourselves...

I don't know if this will help anyone but I realised something about myself the other day that's already reaping huge rewards in my life, not just in sports. I'm training for a half-marathon that's now less than a month away and I've been struggling and doubting myself. On a recent run, I actually paid attention to my thoughts for the first time in ages and challenged them. Previously I've always said things to myself like, 'Wow, you're so slow. You might as well quit,' or, 'You're not doing that well. I don't think you'll be able to finish the half. You're going to fail and you'll come dead last and everyone will laugh at you and think you're crap,' and other mean thoughts revolving around body image and athletic ability (or lack of!) So on a recent run, I was challenging those thoughts and basically trying to shame them out of me and.... it worked! That nasty little voice became quieter and quieter and then shut up altogether. Do you think it's a coincidence that it ended up being my best run yet? That I was running an entire 1:00/km faster in pace than I was targeting? That it felt easy? That I did my fastest 5k of the season on that run and it was in *training* and not in a race? I don't. Mental baggage is heavy.

So I don't know if this will help anyone but if you're feeling down about your progress, maybe it's time to take a look at the things you say to yourself. Would you say those things to a friends or would it be too mean? If it's too mean, why do you say those things to yourself??!