I’ve just finished and glad I’ve re-read. It’s been pretty helpful for me over the last week and this as it’s reinforcing / reminding / reaffirming for me key messages to give to runners competing in either Boston or London.
Reminding me of the specific chemical & hormonal shift in framing something as a threat or a challenge was helpful.
Related to this was using the wider concept “Threat Vs Challenge” for runners doing their last long run (this maybe 3 weeks ago) where I was actively encouraging individuals to stress test potential challenges, to see out issues that may arise and approach them with curiosity, with that challenge approach of “how do I solve this”. I wanted them to see their last big run as a dress rehearsal that (as far as is possible) give them the chance to look for problems.
I also really value the end of the book, with the lists of suggested tools to use. This has been really helpful as I’ve been going through all 12 of those you can do for yourself and considering the most effective ones to utilise in a marathon.
I have settled on for periods of challenge:
A) Combining 1 (distanced self-talk) with mental time travel. ie How would Kevin McQuaid approach this a week ago, or in 3 days time?
B) Pre-race reinforce this as a challenge, something that is going to get hard, be ready to reach the point where you need to problem solve. At this point lean into the challenge to find a solution.
C) Change the view – imagine you are watching from above, a drone following the course, how much can you actually see. I’d widen this to actually encouraging runners to then actively try to physically broaden their gaze to look around them as much as possible.
A quote that I found summarised the book for me was on page 136:
“Our minds can cause emotional distress, while simultaneously and covertly reducing that distress.”
BreatheToMove 