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Marathon Tips: Running Injuries, Anxiety, and More
Attack of the Nagging Fears
What are you afraid of? Injury? Blisters? The wall? Whatever it is, there's a way to fight back when running anxiety strikes
By
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Hurdle Your Running Worries
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1
Getting Injured
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2
Falling Behind
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3
Tackling Hard Hills
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4
Failing to Hit Speedwork Goals
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5
Coming in Last
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6
Falling Off the Treadmill
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7
Hitting the Wall
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8
Gaining Weight
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9
Facing Resistance from My Family
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10
Feeling Exhausted on Hot Runs
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11
Getting Blisters from New Shoes
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12
Saying Goodbye to Personal Bests
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13
Not Finishing
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14
Needing to Take an Unplanned Pit Stop
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15
Never Getting into a Bucket-List Race
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16
Race-Day Anxiety
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17
Getting Lost or Hurt on Trail Runs
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18
Catching a Cold
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19
Not Running Again
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20
Fear of [Fill in the Blank]
Tackling Hard Hills
The Fix: Put it in perspective
Lisa Rainsberger, the last American woman to win Boston, in 1985, tempered her fear of Heartbreak Hill by focusing on the fact that it makes up only a small percentage of the total distance. "That's true of most racecourses," says Rainsberger, who coaches U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program runners and civilians in Colorado Springs. To help her runners conquer dread of hill repeats, Rainsberger has them run hills by time, not distance. "We do three sets of 30, 60, and 90 seconds, so they always know exactly how long they'll be in pain," she says. "Knowing when they'll get to stop takes the fear away." Also, studies have found that people tend to overestimate the steepness of hills by an average of 18 to 19 degrees. So that monster hill may not be as monstrous as it looks.
Think Positive: "Never fear those mountains in the distance; never settle for the path of least resistance." —Lee Ann Womack
More: Use these strategies to learn to love hills (or at least not dread them)
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