Whether this is your first race or you’ve been competing for a while, all those participating in the coming marathon or half-marathon should be preparing themselves mentally as from now.

On the day, being mentally prepared may make the difference between clocking a good time or not and completing the route or failing to make the finish.

There are various ways one can prepare mentally for this big day. One of the most basic techniques is ‘visualisation’ or ‘imagery’.

Like stretching exercises before a run, the mind also requires a ‘warm-up’ to return productive thoughts.

At this point, we are likely to be nervous but good imagery can help you deal with the pre-race jitters. So, what is it exactly?

Imagery is day-dreaming. It is important that you spend a few minutes daily imagining how you would like to run your race, picturing certain parts of the route, realistically, of course.

Include also your feelings in this imagery.

So, if you know that you will be somewhat nervous on the start line, create that anxiety in your image and deal with it in your mind.

Create the ‘what-if’ situations and see what the best solution would be.

For example, what if it’s rainy and there are puddles everywhere, how would you deal with that? What if you commit a mistake, how would you rectify it?

In the days before the event, particularly on the morning of the big day, visualise ‘running’ parts of the ‘race’ successfully.

Set your aims in the coming weeks. Not just the times but also targets during training sessions. Your objectives need to be specific and measurable and cover technical, physical and mental areas.

Don’t go out for training simply to say I did my part today. Give yourself a target so that you know you are on the right track.

Push yourself through your programme.

Very often we don’t reach our targets not because we are unable to but because we do not try hard enough. The mind is powerful and can help you reach goals you never expected before.

But you need to find the ‘switch’ up there. Positive self-talk is vital. It is the best way to keep yourself focused.

So, when you’re out there training, keep telling yourself, ‘come on, push harder... you can do it’. You will be surprised how much further or faster you can run once you start practising this technique regularly.

And change any negative situations into positive vibes. On a rainy day, your thought would probably be to stay indoors and stay cosy on the sofa. But on such instances you have to convince yourself to dress up well and try and have some fun in the rain.

These are but a few of the mental training techniques you can adopt but some of the most effective an athlete can refer to.

Do not procrastinate with mental training.

Start today. Incorporate these techniques into your daily training and by marathon day you will feel that you have prepared as best as you could. You will feel confident and the results will come.

Race pacesetters

This year, for the first time, there should be a number of pacesetters for the half marathon.

The front-runners will have a balloon attached with the pacer’s anticipated finishing time.

The pacers will also be wearing Malta Marathon Pacer bibs with the anticipated finishing time printed on the back.

The times that will be paced are 1:40, 1:45, 1:50, 1:55 and 2:00.

If you are interested in following a pacer look out for the marker balloons at the start line and follow your target time.

NOTE: The author is a sport psychologist.