I’ve been having lots of conversations with runners over the last few days since London marathon about how their times didn’t necessarily reflect their training.

I also had a coaching session today where my client was frustrated that their final performance wasn’t reflective of the months of rehearsing they had worked so hard on.

The last three marathons I’ve done, have each been slower than the one before.

And with each one, I’ve had to adjust my mindset towards what I’m actually proud of and what I call a ‘success’. It’s becoming so much more about just the time achieving enjoyment & other milestones.

There’s a fine line between finding something to ‘blame’ or it just being something that didn’t go to plan. Sometimes there is a reason and we are allowed to blame it. 

Valencia - I had ITB issues

Nagoya - I was running into wind

Boston - I was still recovering from unbearable tooth pain/was on antibiotics 

I could say, well I’m clearly not as fit or as fast as I thought I was.

Or I could look at the bigger picture.

In actual fact, my training for both Valencia and Nagoya was amazing. Yes, there were times I struggled, but on the whole, my training was an achievement in itself.

So why do we put so much pressure on one day? 

Do we wake up and feel 100% every single day? No. There are some days that we just feel off. There are some days where there’s bad weather. There are some days where something hurts. 

I know that I did everything I could’ve possibly done in the lead up to all my marathons.

Should that not just be enough? 

Sometimes our race day/performance/exam - whatever it is we might be working towards - just so happens to be on an off day. Just so happens to be on a day where the uncontrollables show up. Perhaps our nerves get the better of us, perhaps we’ve come on our period, or perhaps we just feel BLEGH.

That shouldn’t take away from the hours and hours of hard work we have completed towards reaching and achieving a goal. 

Let’s rewrite the narrative. Let’s start celebrating the process. Showing up day after day, grinding through and pushing barriers, should be enough of a reason to celebrate!

28th April 2025