Mental Toolbox by Coach Stacey

What do you have in your mental toolbox?  If you are new to this whole half marathon training program, my guess is not much.  If you are an experienced endurance athlete, then you should have several things, but no one has a packed, there is no room for one more thing in my toolbox, toolbox.  Your mental toolbox is a topic that you will hear me speak about, write about, and stress how important it is.  There is nothing that will carry you through without a doubt more than your mental toolbox.  Well, except your feet of course!  But, what is a mental toolbox?
 Each time you go out for a training walk, run/walk, run, there is something to learn, something to remember, something to put in your mental toolbox so that if it happens on event day, you can go back in your mind and say to yourself, “I’ve done this, I know how to handle it.  I know what to expect, and how to not let it de-rail my race.”  This is why it is so important that you go out in all kinds of weather.  Saturday was a perfect day.  Perfect!!  Although, it was spitting rain at the beginning, it was a little windy, and a bit cold, it was perfect.  Why?  Because you got three mental toolbox items for the price of one.  If one race day, if it is raining, windy or cold, then you have already walked, run/walked, or ran in it, and you already know that you will be fine.  Yes, you may be cold or wet, but you can go on and finish.  It is all about having the experience and then turning it into a learning experience.  Even this morning, with the snow, it was a perfect metal toolbox day.  No, it is not going to snow in Napa, but it isn’t always about the race that you are doing right now, but a race that you may do next, or even one that you haven’t thought about. 
 I know that it is hard to go out and do your training when the weather is bad, or when you are tired, or don’t feel very good, but I urge you to do just that.  Go out, open yourself to the experience, learn, and store it in your mental toolbox.  I promise you that at some point durning your race, what ever race that is, you will use something that you have stored in your mental toolbox, and will be thankful because it will get you through whatever it was that confronted you.
“Feel the Fear and Do It Anyways!”
Coach Stacey