How to Overcome Marathon Anxiety and Enjoy a Positive Race Day Experience

To help you have a positive marathon experience, we’re hosting a free pre-race mental skills ‘tune-up’ workshop with the top sports psychologist: Dr Jim Afremow on Thursday October 7th at 4 pm Eastern/3 pm Central.

Is it normal to feel anxious about my marathon?

You are not alone, as the miles reduce during the taper period – anxiety goes up exponentially. With race day approaching, even seasoned marathoners experience a cocktail of negative emotions: self-doubt, angst and fear. You become irrational and every twinge becomes a stress-fracture and you worry about the hundred and one things that could go wrong over 26.2 miles:

·       Have I done enough training?

·       What if I have a gastrointestinal issue?

·       How do I overcome the dreaded ’Wall’ - (I only ran 20 miles)?

The uncertainty around COVID-19 rules has made this year even more stressful.

How do I conquer my fears?

To help you overcome your anxiety and arrive at the start line fully mentally prepared to crush your goals, we’ve persuaded top sports psychologist Dr. Jim Afremow to distill the same mental training playbook he used to coach 17 Olympic champions and share it with you.

What do I do next?

Register now for the free webinar, How To Overcome Marathon Anxiety and Crush Your Race Goals on October 7th at 4 pm Eastern/3 pm Central time. If you can’t make this time – no worries….still register and we’ll send you a recording you can watch before your race.

Places will be limited and there are tens of thousands of runners running Fall races - we therefore recommend reserving your seat today.

PS. There will be a prize draw for attendees at the end of the webinar – prizes include a free annual subscription to the Mental Training App that Dr. Jim uses to coach pro-athletes (Value $275).

Positive Marathon Experience

Elite Runners Find Secret Door In Marathon Wall

Secret Door In Marathon Wall

Only 10 Minutes A Day

Tina Bartoletta 4x Olympic & World Champion

Elite Runners Find Secret Door in the Marathon Wall 

If you have experienced the nightmare of physical collapse and total mental despair in a lost battle with the Marathon Wall you will be anxious to avoid a repeat encounter.

Elite runners have discovered that mental training with a sports psychologist in parallel with their physical program gives them the skills to navigate the Wall .

 “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 share with you the same mental training playbook he used to coach 17 Olympic gold medallists.

Packaged as the ‘Champion’s Mind – Running’, Dr. Jim’s insights are conveniently delivered as a mobile app.

In only 10 minutes a day you will learn the same mental skills that elite runners use to help you run: longer, faster, stronger, happier….

“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

Like Nike Vaporfly Shoes For Your Brain

Like Nike Vaporfly Shoes For Your Brain

Elite athletes embrace the latest innovations in running shoe technology to gain a 1 percent competitive advantage.

They also have a sports psychologist in their support team – because mental training is proven to deliver significant performance gains.

“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’.

Just 10 Minutes a Day

To bridge this gap, we’ve persuaded top sports psychologist - Dr. Jim Afremow to share with you the same mental training playbook he used to coach 17 Olympic gold medalists.

Packaged as the ‘Champion’s Mind – Running’, Dr. Jim’s insights are conveniently delivered as a mobile app.

In only 10 minutes a day you will learn the same mental skills that elite runners use to help you run: longer, faster, stronger, happier….

Anxious About Your Marathon?

Congratulations, you’ve entered a marathon and no matter where you are on the experience curve from first timer to Boston veteran you know in your heart this is going to be a tough journey.

An event built on a legend where in 490 BC the hero Pheidippides collapses and dies of exhaustion has to be respected.

Race organizers might call a 5k a Fun Run – no-one describes a marathon as: “Fun” – it’s called an endurance event for a reason – it is designed to be endured!

You need to prepare for:

·       Exhausting training sessions that you have to somehow squeeze into your already packed work-life schedule.

·       Balancing increased mileage with the risk of injury.

·       Overwhelming anxiety in the build up to the big day.

·       Stressing about hundred and one things that could go wrong.

·       Overcoming the dreaded ’Wall’

·       And to cap it all – if you get to the finish line - there is a high probability of suffering from post-race blues.

In short, at every stage of your journey you will encounter both physical and mental hurdles.

Take the ‘Have You Got The Rundamentals’ quiz to find out where you are today and receive mental training tips to ensure you crush your goals on race day!

Running a Marathon Just Got a Little Easier

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