To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.
The real competition is against the little voice inside you that wants to quit
It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.
The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.
The best pace is a suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die.
Good things come slow, especially in distance running.
Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it's all about.
Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?'. The answer is usually: 'Yes'.
When you put yourself on the line in a race and expose yourself to the unknown, you learn things about yourself that are very exciting.
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired... You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going.
Everything you need is already inside.
Make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up.
No negative thoughts cross my mind on race day. When I look into their eyes, I know I'm going to beat them.
It's amazing how the same pace in practice can feel so much harder than on race day. Stay confident. Trust the process.
When I was 15, I had lucky underwear. When that failed, I had a lucky hairdo, then a lucky race number, even lucky race days. After 15 years, I've found the secret to success is hard work.
There are too many people on horseback today trying to prove themselves, trying to prepare, trying to get faster. They haven't discovered yet that it's not the fastest who make it to race day. You only have to be the fastest of those who are left.
I think for me I've always loved being in the water and I love training and I love being at the pool so you know it's not a chore for me to go training, but come race day I would never just train to train - I train to race.
Nutrition can make or break you on race day. It's not something you leave to chance. If you don't plan for it you're almost guaranteed to bonk.
Thanks to the race-day adrenaline rush, any pace will feel easier than normal. So make a conscious effort to hold back in the early miles.
or simply:
