Running a Marathon Just Got a Little Easier

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If you have a Fall/Autumn marathon on your dance card, you probably have a goal in mind. This could be just finishing, a personal record (PR) or a Boston Qualification (BQ).

Unfortunately, the stark reality is that the majority of runners will fail to achieve their goal. Many will also have a depressing, miserable experience on race day when they encounter the dreaded Wall.

A survey conducted by Chicago Athlete Magazine asked runners the question: “What is your goal for the Chicago Marathon?” The results were:

Sub 3:00 - 25%
Sub 3:30 - 16%
Sub 4:00 - 25%
Sub 4.30 - 8%


Therefore 66% of participants thought they would achieve a time better than 4 hours!

These predictions are surprising when you sanity check against the analysis conducted by Athlinks where the average marathon time achieved was actually 4.33.13 based on over 400,000 finishers.

So runners were extremely optimistic starting their training…..what did reality look like after 26.2 miles? As you may have guessed, the race results were dramatically different….. only 31.28% of Chicago finishers came home in under 4 hours. Furthermore, on a flat course, only 2.3% achieved the sub 3-hour goal.

Based on these statistics, the vast majority of Chicago Marathoners would therefore be disappointed….having failed (many by literally hours) to achieve their stated goal.

What can you do to improve your odds of achieving your goal?

The Answer = Copy What Elite Athletes Do!

Elite runners have solved the marathon puzzle and you can copy their approach.
Indeed, many runners are already adopting ‘professional’ techniques:

  • Structured mileage plans

  • Speed work

  • Cross training

  • Strength conditioning

  • Pro footwear

The one area we typically fail to copy could be the most critical component of all – the mental game!

Your brain is like any other muscle in your body. It takes deliberate, regular training to make it stronger.

Every elite athlete has a sports psychologist or mental coach – because it works.

“Athletics is not so much about the legs. It's about the heart and mind.”
Eliud Kipchoge (Marathon world record holder)


Until now, sports psychology wasn’t readily available to what the marketing guys call the ‘recreational runner’.

To bridge this gap, we’ve persuaded top sports psychologist Dr. Jim Afremow to distill the same mental training play-book he uses with Olympic champions and share it with you.

Packaged as the ‘Champion’s Mind – Running’, Dr. Jim’s mental skills training is conveniently delivered as a mobile app.

It only takes 10 minutes a day to give you the mental skills to develop a Champion’s Mind and run: longer, faster, stronger, happier…

For full details on how the Champion’s Mind app will help you to crush your next race and a special Olympic Games offer click below.

Run smart

Kevin McGirl
Editor – Rundamentalists

PS “The mental component of sport has long been acknowledged, but few people knew enough about how to cultivate that skill to make a difference in performance. Dr. Jim Afremow takes mental conditioning and breaks it down in easy to understand ways that we can put into practice immediately.”

Tianna Bartoletta
4x Olympic and World Champion