As I finished my 3 mile run this morning my attention immediately turned to the mental aspect of this race week. Even though I have prepared as much physically as possible, it still comes down to a battle that lies between my ears. I know that there will be moments during the race where I may question whether I had trained enough or worked as hard as I could have.
It is during this time that I will re-read some of my posts from a few months ago and use that to inspire and remind me what I had accomplished these past 5 months. I have run the race in my head many times and will replay that race in my head more times between now and Sunday. I have a picture in my head of what it will look like to cross that finish line and how I will feel immediately afterwards. I have had that picture in my mind for several months now and now the only thing I have to do is paint that picture on Sunday.
Being mentally sharp on Sunday means that I must get enough rest this week (in bed by no later than 10 PM) and drinking lots of water. I have been consumed by this race and have to keep reminding myself that in a few short days I will get to really let the bullets fly for real. I will agonize over these last few days as I hold back my energy.
The hardest part is the carbohydrate loading that I will do starting tomorrow. I typically eat only moderate amount of carbohydrate and will increase that slowly as race day approaches. It's something that I have become pretty good at so I'm hoping it pays off again this time around.
No comments:
Post a Comment