Marathon Fueling: Podcast Episode #25 Overcoming limiting beliefs to accomplish anything you set your mind to

One thing that we all have in common as runners is this unique sense of ambition. It’s the thing that led us to that very first google search “how to train for a marathon”. It’s the thing that helps us keep going at mile 15, the thing that keeps us coming back for more as we hit “register” on that next race. If you’re anything like me, you get kinda itchy if there’s not something on the calendar that says “RACE DAY”. It’s almost like this tangible feeling inside our body once our mind says “challenge accepted.” 

And this is true whether you’ve finished multiple marathons, or just want to do that ONE race so you can cross it off your bucket list. It’s a belief that you are capable of doing the thing that feels impossible. Maybe you’re listening and youre like “yes, this is me, two hands in the air.” Or maybe you’re listening and you’re more like “I’d really love to believe that anything is possible, but it feels out of reach for ME.” Let’s pause here for a sec, because how many of us have felt that? Felt like “I am seeing other people do this thing, I really want to do that thing but it doesn’t feel realistic for me.” If you don't have your hand up you’re either lying to me OR I need to have you on the podcast so that you can teach me your ways. 

There’s a few things that trip us up time and time again, so let’s talk about those, and also discuss ways we can approach them differently in order to make those big dreams a reality:

1) Number one, we run from discomfort. We think that being “new” at something is a personal defect. The thing is, our brains are wired to be resistant to discomfort. We are creatures of habits, our mind latches onto patterns and behaviors that we practice regularly. And when we challenge that with something new, it can be really difficult. That’s why replacing old habits with new ones is so hard for a lot of people. It’s the reason we have a lot of good intentions to change certain things but struggle to execute, because everything in our body is screaming “that’s new, you don’t usually do that. When we approach a goal that we’ve never done before, we often think “it’s impossible” simply because we don’t know how. The reality is it’s very possible, we just haven’t figured out the in between steps. We’re going to talk about those in between steps in a bit. 

2) Number two, we dwell on failure instead of framing it as a “learning experience”. We have really demonized the process of learning. How common is it to hear “I just hate being the new person at the job, I can’t wait until I know what I’m doing.” Just like we talked about in number one, we shy away from discomfort largely because we know that it means we will experience some failure. But really it’s not failure, failure feels like a strong, definite word to me. As we try to figure out how to make this dream happen, we will inevitably figure out how NOT to. We quickly learn what NOT to do, what DOESN’T work. And instead of being like “yep, this is normal, this is helpful to know” we instead get easily frustrated by this and a lot of times we quit. And this is so ironic, because how do we expect to find what DOES work, without experiencing what does NOT? It’s like, we wouldn’t even comprehend what happiness felt like if we hadn’t also felt sadness in comparison. It’s not that we’re simply failing a whole bunch and waiting to get lucky, we are literally just learning. Our success cannot happen without that. 

3) Number three, we forget to celebrate the small wins. Have you ever finished a 10 mile run and been like “well that was super, but I still need 16.2 more to be at marathon distance, so there’s nothing here to celebrate”. This is SO common and when we say it out loud it feels kind of silly, right? This is not just about celebrating at the end, dream accomplished, check the box. This is celebrating how you’re evolving on the way. If you ran one single mile today, maybe you walked half of it, you still got up and went. If you ran 5 miles when you could only run 3 last month, AMAZING. These are the wins that are stacking up, pushing you up the stairs and changing who you are in the process. In fact, that’s a good way to put it: Celebrate who you are becoming in the process. 

4) Number four, we know the end goal, but we don’t have a plan. This goes back to number one, where we’ve clearly defined what we want, that big thing, the marathon finish line, but we don’t know how to get there. There’s two very important parts to this. If you’re going to run a marathon, you’ve got to visualize yourself doing the dang thing. Crossing that finish line. Make this a tangible thing, get your brain in that headspace where you accomplishing the big dream is a familiar thing. And most of us don’t have a problem with this, we can daydream about our wildest dreams all day long. But the second part of this is perhaps the most important. You also have to visualize the steps. You need to imagine yourself doing your daily run, making that post-recovery meal. Visualize the mundane, because this is HOW you are going to make the impossible happen. If we don’t have a strategic plan, then we’re likely not even going to start, because we don’t know where to start. Break this down into actionable steps for yourself. For example, I want to run a marathon. What do I need to do in order to make that happen? I need to start running, I need to learn about how much I should be running every day and every week to build up to that 26.2. I need to learn about how to properly nourish and hydrate myself, how to prevent common injuries, and I may need to invest in some running shoes. So we learn and make a very specific plan. 

This is where I went wrong in my early days as a runner. I was getting injured and my body didn’t feel great, until I learned the importance of strategy and planning in order to really optimize my performance to be successful. That meant adjusting what and when I ate, tweaking my warm up and recovery routine. And every part of this plan led me to accomplish things that I previously thought were untouchable. 

So there we have it, four limiting beliefs that stop us from accomplishing anything we set our mind to, and ways to combat them. Thanks for tuning in marathoners, if this was helpful in any way please share on social media, share with someone you think might appreciate it the way you did, subscribe, comment, I’d love to hear from you and your feedback truly keeps this show going. I’ll see you next time on Marathon Fueling!