How to Avoid a Half Marathon Meltdown - Inner Coach vs. Inner Critic

YOU Vs. YOU

If you made it through all of my posts on, How to Avoid a Half Marathon Meltdown, you’ve probably come to realize that running is almost as much a mental battle as it is a physical one. Every day we get up and we try to progress in some area or aspect of our life. When we throw in additional factors that aren’t part of our normal routine, it takes an extra amount of exertion to push ourselves to perform those non-routine tasks. That’s why I can’t stress enough that you need to create a few affirmations that you can repeat daily. By repeating these daily affirmations you can help quell the inner critic.

“…the worst enemy you can meet will always be yourself”

– Friedrich Nietzsche

Inner Critic

While you’ve been reading this, it’s possible that your inner critic has paid you a visit. Your inner critic may very well have even asked you a question such as, “Do you really have time to read this post?” We all have an inner critic that critiques our every thought and move. Yes, he serves a really good purpose especially for survival and from making huge mistakes we’ve made in the past.

However, your inner critic also listens to external sources and is programmed by what he hears. These can be things you heard from teachers or parents when you were growing up. Even though I’ve published over 15 books in multiple languages, it’s still tough writing the next book. I still to this day have my inner critic tell me things like, “I won’t succeed as a writer” or “I just don’t feel like writing today.” When I hear these things like this, I have to wake up the inner coach to come to fight off the inner critic.

Inner Coach

“Keep going, don’t stop, you only have 3 miles left.” This is the inner coach that is there to help push you when you need an extra kick. The inner coach doesn’t magically appear for everyone. Some individuals have to help train the inner coach with things such as meditation, visualization, and affirmations. If your inner critic is punching the lights out of your coach you need to start performing one of the three suggestions to help train your inner coach. Pick one or two affirmations that you want to get started with. If you have too many they will overbear you and tend to stress you out. Remember that affirmations can be for any part of your life. Here are a few more examples:

I will increase my sales this year by 50%.
l will run a marathon by <insert date>
I will run 3 miles today.
I will learn to surf by July 2018 ( this was actually one of mine which I accomplished )

The sky is the limit. Try to keep them measurable with a time frame attached.

For a more detailed post about the inner mental battle, all runners face check out – You vs. You – Who will win?

CLICK HERE TO READ Part 9 – The Long Run

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Coach Scott's Credentials:

Published Author
RRCA Certified Running Coach (Level 2)
RRCA Certified Youth Running Coach
NASM CPT (Certified Personal Trainer).
NASM CNC (Certified Nutrition Coach)
NASM WLS (Weight Loss Specialist)
ACE SFC (Stretching and Flexibility Coach)
ACE GFI (Group Fitness Instructor)

He has published over 20 books including, Beginner's Guide to Half Marathons: A Simple Step-By-Step Solution to Get You to the Finish Line in 12 Weeks! (Beginner To Finisher Book 3), which has become an Amazon International #1 bestseller. Scott specializes in helping new runners become injury-free race finishers. He recently completed his 22nd half marathon race.

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