I did my first 9 mile run today and all week ive been looking forward to it. This morning came and i was still up for it. But a mile in I started to doubt myself and by 2 miles in i was practically telling myself i couldn't do it.

My running partner did his best to motivate me but i never fully got rid of those negative thoughts. Does this happen often to people? What do you do to get rid of them?

J

I recently did my first 9 miler for 7 years and I think everyone has this but maybe not as much if you havent done one before ....

I tend to think things through in my head when I go around ... whats on telly and all sorts and it tends to pass the time a little bit more ...

If you have an ipod then use that as it will give you something else to concentrate on but be wary of you run on the paths next to roads and dont forget to look at you cross roads.

When you get the first one out of the way you should feel better as you can never say you cant do it as you know you can do it so thats a barrier gone ... all you can do is do more of them and you will become more comfortable

Wel done anyway

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Simon
Currently at Leeds Met Carnegie
Year 1 of a BSc Sport :eek:

i wouldn't stress about it... you should be pleased that you finished the 9 miles at all...

i haven't done that badly and the furthest i run is 5.5 miles and even that kills me even now... can't run slowly to be honest... it might be because i run differently to a lot of people... always with a high cadence and i make sure i keep that up... i change my speed by changing stride length... so most of the time i run like a pigeon with lots of short steps very quickly...

not sure the 'it get's easier' is that true... i've found that as i've got better i push myself more so it always seems tough...

It does get easier as your body adapts although you should then push yourself more

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Simon
Currently at Leeds Met Carnegie
Year 1 of a BSc Sport :eek:

It's important that you don't believe the negative messages in your head...don't give them any time at all, just dismiss them and distract your thoughts to something...anything else.

If you give the negative messages air time then they will affect the chemistry in you body and become self fulfilling. Your mind is an incredibly powerful tool that can act against you if you allow it, but also give you amazing success if you think positively

I always seem to get negative thoughts at the start of my long run, no matter how up for it I was before I started the run.

I know that it always gets better about 3-4miles in.

I remind myself of this at the start of the run and I always seem to manage to finish the run once I get past this point.

I certainly get negative thoughts - usually during races, and I think sadly they can manage to get teh better of me; as Trin quite rightly says, the mind is an incredibly powerful thing!!

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www.richardsimkiss.co.uk - Glooston 10k report added

Thanks Trin, that makes sense to me. I'm considering music, its just the practicality of carrying it.

If it happens again then i will try my best to think positively. I'm doing my first 10 mile run next sunday, could well be a test of character.

J

you don't have to let them get the better of you

There's a great book called 'Running Within' by Lynch/Scott, which has helped me to get the upper hand over the negative thoughts that try to creep in while running

I use an Ipod, which I put in the pocket of a little running belt so there's nothing to carry. You can also get pockets that you strap to your arm, but I don't find that very comfortable