More than 40,000 people put on their trainers and ran around the capital for the London Marathon last weekend..
And thousands of people are now busy applying for their chance to take part in next year’s marathon, which is just six months away. Applications for the next London Marathon, which takes place on Sunday, April 23, 2023, close this Friday so runners don’t have long to decide whether they are up for the challenge.
Peak performance coach Moses Nalocca, who has worked with top athletes including an Olympic gold medallist, says mindset is crucial when it comes to finishing a long-distance race like the London Marathon. And gratitude and appreciation are vital ingredients to marathon success.
The 38-year-old, who lives in London, says those planning to start their marathon training for next year need to think about their attitude just as much as their physical training. Here are his top tips for those hoping to complete the marathon when it returns to London in April:
- Trade expectations for appreciation. Expectations create anxiety, expand fears and distort emotions and feelings. Enjoy every single step, every single mile. Appreciate the fact that you are running in such a beautiful city, in such a prestigious marathon. Appreciate the wind, rain, sun and what you have achieved. Take time to appreciate the people cheering for you on the side of the road as this will help you keep going when things start getting tough.
- Be deeply grateful. With my Olympic athletes, we go through a special moment of gratitude that then reduces the pressure. Find three things you are deeply grateful for, they don’t have to directly relate to the marathon, they can be anything. When you focus on what you are grateful for, you vibrate on a higher frequency and you will be surprised at the results you can achieve.
- Tap into your true identity. Sometimes athletes lose sight of who they are before or during a competition and this can have a negative impact on their performance. There are two major ways you can get into your own true identity:
- Focus: Where focus goes, energy flows. When running a marathon, you get to a point where every cell of your body is telling you to stop. This is where you need to control your thoughts and keep on just looking at the next step, putting one foot in front of the other. When you get to this point, it is mainly a mind game, your body knows exactly what to do. You have prepared all this time with months of preparation, physiotherapies, cramps and so on.
- Internal dialogue. At this time, it is about you and only you. It is a game against yourself and sometimes you will be your own worst enemy. Think about the reality you want to see and speak it into existence both before and during the race. One thing I found useful is, in your mind, having a conversation that starts with: ”I am…” Keep telling yourself “I am a marathon runner.” This will continuously define your identity and keep you on track during the race.
- See yourself as a winner. Your performance is directly proportional to the way you see yourself. When I work with top athletes, they often allow their story and past results to get in the way, so create your own success and see yourself as a finisher. You are a winner when you finish so visualise yourself passing the finish line and achieving your goal.
- Set up a reward: In those hard moments when you are finding it difficult to keep going, you need to have some sort of incentive waiting for you as a reward for completion. I found that most of the time setting up a personal reward is a great incentive when it comes to endurance sports. This moves your focus onto the pleasure of the result, the pleasure and satisfaction of unwrapping that gift, your unique reward for such an incredible achievement.
Moses Nalocca is an International Speaker, Peak-Performance Coach and representative for Tony Robbins and Success Resources in Bulgaria. He has worked closely with some of the most admired people in business and self-actualisation, such as Robert Kiyosaki, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Tony Robbins, to name a few. He has trained the leaders of Philip Morris International, TechoArena, Transpress, iBrokers, FitLine, Oriflame, Entegra, Bul Med Consulting, Happy Bar and Grill, and UXP, as well as the Gold Olympic Medalist Karate 2020 – Ivet Goranova and many more.
You can find Moses here.
Featured Photo by Jordane Mathieu on Unsplash
