If you are preparing for the full marathon, where are you in the sixteen-week cycle? When you reflect on a Sunday afternoon, what do you tell yourself? Do you say you still have nine more long runs to go, or that you’ve already checked off five of them? The difference in mindset can be astonishing.
A cumulative-based perspective would reflect the fact that we’re weeks shy of the halfway point, and a long way off from the race. A reduction-based perspective tells you that each week brings you closer and closer to the event. Is your glass half empty or half full?
It’s easier and more encouraging to count down instead of up; think of the program starting at Week Sixteen instead of Week One. Each weekend we might take more literal steps during the training run, but we’re one gigantic figurative step closer. How you choose to view that one step can have a significant impact on your motivation, mindset and performance.
The same principle applies for our half-marathon group. We still have a lot of work to do, but it’s less work than we had to do just a few days ago. Temporal boundaries like being “halfway” or “one month out” are not insignificant and should be celebrated, but experiment with the cumulative vs. reduction mindset on a day-to-day basis and see the positive effects it can have on the quality of your training.
Run well,
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