As part of the class materials we received Marathoning Start to Finish by Patti & Warren Finke. There is no flash to this book. It has a lot of basic information. But as was stressed in the clinic, many times the basics are forgotten. There is a chapter on psychological preparation. Let me share the bullet points:
TOOLS
Have a training plan
- Long term goals
- Short term goals
- Strategy
Keep a training log
- Daily plans and goals
- Daily results
- Comments
PRE-WORKOUT
Revisit plan and goals
Plan rewards
- How far
- How fast
- What is the purpose of this workout
- For major workouts
- For achieving goals
Visualize workout as a positive experience (2-3minutes)DURING WORKOUT
- Yourself exercising
- Your route
- What you feel, see, hear, smell and taste
- Completing as planned
- Any post workout reward
Develop self awareness
Develop self control
- Listen to body
- Listen to thoughts
- Generate positive thoughts and relaxation
- Deal with negative thoughts and tension
- Focus on the present
- Visualize yourself in the present
AFTER WORKOUT
Log results
Log any positive / negative influences
- Plan means of using positives in the future
- Plan ways to minimize negatives
Reward yourself for accomplishing major goals
I have never seen a list this thorough. I do like to plan my goals and make my plans. I also make sure my sessions have purpose. But have I been missing some of the quality? I have always just taken a cursory look at the workout and then immediately jumped in head first. This works most of the time. However, could I have greater success if I really read the workout, planned for the workout, thought about its purpose and then executed? Would that allow the workouts to have more quality – for the workouts to become breakthrough sessions? I have started planning my goals and making my plans. Now I need to make sure I get the maximum out of out of each workout.
