Ready as I’ll ever be
When I lined up to start my 63 marathons in 63 days adventure at John O’Groats, Scotland back in 2017, I had not long turned 50 years old, I was feeling as strong as I’d ever been, as fit as I’d ever been and as ready as I was ever going to be to take on the challenge ahead of me.
Now that I have finished my latest adventure – RunAustralia – I can admit that I was not in a similar physical starting place as I was in 2017. I was six years older and my perimenopause journey throughout those years was definitely not rockn’roll. Instead, I’d had some very rocky injuries and I am still rolling up and down the rollercoaster ride of hormonal flux.
However, I had the same mindset – I was as ready as I was ever going to be to take on this challenge ahead of me, and I believed that I was going to give it my very best shot, my all!
And I DID!
Working on my mindset, as well as the physical training, has been a huge part of my ability to get to my adventure starting lines and is always a work in progress – much like my body training.
I didn’t do one run and say “yep I’m ready to run across a continent”, I put a lot of time into my physical training.
Same, I didn’t have one idea with a positive thought and say “yep, I’m ready to run across a continent”, I put a lot of time into my mental training.
I’m going to share some of the processes I use that help me overcome my fears and doubts – and trust me, I’ve got them. However, I work hard at not holding myself back.
There’s neuroplasticity processes that I use and have been using regularly since 2010 (by the way, before that I used this other process called “daydreaming”, but neuroplasticity processes sounds way smarter).
In simple terms neuroplasticity is the teaching or training of your brain to believe and change to achieve the goals you set. I set the goal; I think positively about the goal; I focus on what I want to achieve; I work hard moving towards the goal and I never give up.
It used to be said that this was just positive thinking or wishful thinking, but neuroscience has shown that the brain is not a static lump, it is a constant work in progress and changes with the continual thoughts that we put in.
I journal most days – although when I’m in the middle of an adventure I tend not to journal because I’m usually too tired and I’m in the moment doing the thing that I’d usually be journalling about – I journal about the things I want to do, the person I want to become, the life I am creating.
I take my daydreams and put them in writing.
For years I was writing that I was a successful adventure runner and that I had completed many extreme endurance adventures, well before I had a long CV of extreme endurance adventures.
This does several things, including allowing me to think very specifically about my goals.
I write my list of adventures regularly and I write visions about the specific adventure I’m focussing on. I describe how I’m going to feel, what I’ll hear, what I’ll see, what I’ll smell. I try to make it as real in my head as I can possibly make it and get it on paper so that I can read it. My vision always finishes with me succeeding. It’s my success story.
I have a list of runs that I have completed and I have a list of runs that I want to complete.
However, I always write the list as one “the list of runs that I have done” whether I’ve done them or not.
Here’s an example of what I write on a regular basis:
I am a successful adventure runner. I have run a marathon, I have run many marathons, many ultramarathons, 7 marathons in 7 days. I have run the jungleultra, the desertultra, the mountainultra, the iceultra. I have run 63 marathons in 63 days. I have run around Ireland, across Netherlands, the length of Wales, I have run across Australia, Jogle 3 peaks, I have run across America, I have run around the world.
In that list there are many adventures that I have done, and there are some still to do but I tell myself I’ve done them. I have been telling myself that I’ve done them even before I’ve done them.
(And yeah there’s a few hints in that list about what’s to come 😊, and if you’re still not certain, here’s a link to my instagram post with some very motivational music that might give some more clues).
I have trained my brain to think and in turn act like I am a successful adventure runner.
Was I a “successful adventure runner” when I started?
No – I just liked running and I wanted to get better at doing the long distance stuff and I really liked the idea of becoming a “successful adventure runner”.
In fact, I failed at my first attempt at completing a marathon, but that was not the story I wanted to leave in my head. I wanted to tell myself, and my kid, that I had run a marathon.
I didn’t see “a fact” that I had failed as a full stop, it was simply a lesson I learned along my path to becoming a marathon runner. The only solution to this DNF situation was to enter another marathon, keep working towards that goal and file the first one away as a training run.
I reflected on what worked, what didn’t, how I could make a change that would hopefully bring a different result and I worked on that process and never gave up.
My second attempt at a marathon saw me cross the finish line and just like that I had created Nikki the marathon runner.
By the way “and just like” took 30 years of training runs – I started running when I was 12/13, I started running marathons when I was 43.
I have definitely been in this for the long run 😊
I use this attitude for all of my adventures – they are all training runs for the next one.
Getting back to neuroplasticity - I guess I could have become a marathon runner way before turning 34, but it wasn’t something I focussed on.
Becoming a professional endurance adventure runner, writer, motivational speaker, and sports psychologist are now my focus.
I have been working on all of these roles for many years now and I still have fears and doubts that bubble up and knock me down.
But I also have tools that I keep working on because I know that my mind is a continual work in progress and if I keep feeding it with the information of what I want to do, who I want to be and what I’m achieving (now and in the future) I know that I am as ready as I’m ever going to be to do my life.
If you are interested in reading up on Neuroplasticity then I recommend this book “The Power of Neuro-plasticity” by Shad Helmstetter, PH.D. which I have listed in my Recommended Reading section of my website shop click here (that is until I write my own book after I have earned letters to put after my name 😊).*
If you would like to download and use my “Your Success Story” template that I use for myself and for my coaching clients for free, then please send me an email and I’ll whiz one over to you.
Keep believing and back yourself
Nikki x
*I do get a commission if you buy books through my bookshop (this is all a part of being “professional” ie., I earn my income from the things I do).