Dean Karnazes Explores The Mental Battle Involved in Surviving a Marathon

Dean Karnazes Explores The Mental Battle Involved in Surviving a Marathon

Running legend Dean Karnazes proves he is not just an exceptional endurance athlete….he is also a great writer. In his latest inspirational book: The Road To Sparta, Dean openly shares the physical and mental pain he endured during one of his toughest ever challenges. He has kindly agreed to share his vivid description of what it takes to run a marathon. If you have survived the marathon (or plan to) you will find reading this text a very emotional experience. Enjoy.

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10 mental strategies to make you a stronger runner

10 mental strategies to make you a stronger runner

Our guest expert for this episode is: Mary Jennings: an Irish running coach with a Masters Degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology. Mary founded ForgetTheGym in 2007 to encourage people to get outdoors, get moving and get motivated.

In her book ‘Get Running’; Mary outlines her belief that exercise should be fun, social, enjoyable and pain free. As a keen long-distance runner Mary herself has completed over 40 marathons and ultra-marathons up to 100k in distance.

Mary has kindly agreed to share an excerpt of an article she wrote that was first published in the Irish Times. As you will read below, Mary takes 10 mental strategies and explains how they can be applied to improve running performance: “Training our head as well as our legs”.

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How to conquer extreme mental challenges: the Dean Karnazes interview

How to conquer extreme mental challenges: the Dean Karnazes interview

Our expert for this episode is legendary ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes. Dean provides insights into the mindset he uses to overcome extreme physical and mental challenges. To illustrate his approach, he also shares excerpts from his latest book, The Road to Sparta, which chronicles his experiences running one of the world’s most difficult ultramarathon events: The Spartathlon—a grueling 153-mile run from Athens to Sparta.

“There are two ways to cope with pain. One is to put your head down and grunt through it. I don’t know the other way”

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12.5 easy ways to screw up a marathon

12.5 easy ways to screw up a marathon

It is exactly one week since I ran the Illinois Marathon in my slowest ever (uninjured) time. Age grading the result in the Yale Run Age calculator (aka The Runner’s Time Machine) confirmed that I performed as my 75 year-old self. In short it was a ‘stinker’.

Recalling the interview with the eminent sports psychologist, Dr. Jim Afremow, a winning mindset looks at a defeat as a learning opportunity. Dr. Jim advocates “Win or Learn” rather than the more typical Win-Lose mentality.

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