Ready to Race

From the Foreword by John Loftus, Ultra-marathoner and Safety Consultant: Why would someone write a running / walking book about SAFETY—managing the unforeseen, the training route, weather, gear, and personal security, about INJURY AVOIDANCE—minimizing hurt and pain to our body and mind and CREATING GOOD HABITS so that we do the right thing" unconsciously? The reality is, whether at work, at home, or pursuing our leisure passions, such as running and walking, we want to be happy and successful as we journey towards and achieve our goals, and this includes being incident-and injury-free. Just get out there, and do it! It's natural. That's what I was told years ago when I first started to run and walk faster and further than I had ever done before. It started with just one mile (1.6K), and today my real passion is endurance-walking races (62 miles / 100K), and, when I'm not racing, I'm training and cross-training. I suffered more pain, injury, and mental anguish working my way from 1 mile to a half-marathon and marathons than I have over this past 10 years of doing ultra-marathons. Why? Knowledge, or a lack there of...

There are teachable methods to help you to reach your goal to run or walk your first marathon or half marathon or to complete your next one faster. Here is some of what you'll learn in this book: * The seven "need" beliefs you should have about your endurance running or walking * The "three-finger" way to crush fears and limiting beliefs about your endurance running or walking * Three psychologically powerful ways to engage other people in support of your endurance running or walking * The sixteen-part fortress that will protect your endurance training schedule from sabotage * How to talk to yourself on race day-so that you have your best race ever! * How to mentally "energize" yourself right before an endurance race * The one thought process that hurts newcomers and seasoned veterans alike * The seven mental rituals that you should follow daily while training * The three-step process for becoming more relaxed in your races-and the research behind this * Fourteen mental tricks to coach you through a race-as if you had a coach beside you the whole way! * A super-simple way to recover faster from an endurance injury * How to benefit from research results that prove that you CAN become more proficient with these mental tricks * The one mistake that almost everyone makes in almost every race-and how to "mentally immunize" yourself against it! * Why and how a statistician's approach to each of your races is crucial to your future success (Hint: It's not what most people suppose!) * Three examples of why and how to apply something called "psychological acupuncture" immediately after an endurance race * How seemingly minor parts of your race-day experience consciously AND unconsciously affect your future performance * Why and how pretending to be this person makes you a better racer (It's not who you expect!) * Two mental mistakes that nearly everyone makes after an endurance race * The five "R"s behind this one thing that you must do immediately after a race Learn all of this... and more!