Success in the Head

Golf is not a sport I choose to watch on a regular basis – the Ryder Cup is usually my limit once every couple of years. Last weekend though I got sucked into the US Masters in a big way.

With Rory McIlroy in a position going into the final round where, as long as he didn’t do anything silly, he would become the youngest winner since Tiger Woods in 1997, I stayed up later than usual for a Sunday night. What followed was a meltdown of incredible proportions. The Northern Irishman blew a four shot lead, finishing a long way behind eventual winner, South African Charl Schwartzel.

The contrasting fortunes of both throw up equally interesting mental challenges. How does someone with one hand on a trophy approach the final round of a golf championship, especially at the age of 21 and with this set to be their biggest victory to date? Of course the obvious answer is, just keep playing as you’ve done for the first three rounds, but it must take a real test of self control not to experience feelings of nervousness, anticipation and excitement. One minor deviation from game head and, as McIlroy discovered, your ball can hit a tree and bounce off to somewhere the Radio 5 commentators said they’d never seen a golf ball go before.

With things going wrong, frustration inevitably kicks in, which results in things proceeding in an orderly fashion from bad to worse. The natural instinct is to try even harder to put things right, something that leads to yet more mistakes being made, when really the best course of action is deep breath, relax the brain and refocus the mind. So much easier said than done though.

Whilst McIlroy was going to pieces, Schwartzel emerged from the pack which, at one stage, had several players all tied for the lead. It was impossible to pick a winner with an hour to go. A combination of calmness under pressure (even if those watching couldn’t pick him as a possible winner, he’d have certainly thought he was right in with a shout) and doing the basics right saw him take the title on Sunday night, in a way that the BBC website described as “scrapping his way through a crowded leaderboard”.

Is that analogy sounding appropriate at all?

For thousands, this week will be their first London Marathon, an occasion the like of which they will never have experienced before. This group of course includes me.

The Runner’s World Marathon advice page I linked to in my previous post, included this tip:

“Be prepared for the mental ‘rush’ of the crowds, the noise, the colour and the excitement. Some runners find it vastly encouraging – first time round it just stunned me.” – a suggestion from someone calling themselves Ouch Ouch – nice!

This is where a calm head becomes vitally important. It will be so easy for someone to get caught up in the excitement of the occasion and set off far too fast.

My own natural instinct has always been to start at a high tempo and go from there, if I do this on Sunday I’ll be in a right mess by the time I reach fifteen miles.

It’s often said sport is won or lost in the mind. A victory in the London Marathon is achieving the personal goal you’ve set yourself. For me, the first is, what seems on the face of it to be a very modest one, that is, run the whole thing – thousands that should know better won’t because they get carried away.

If we find moving through the crowd becomes hard work, if the noise level makes communication between me and guide difficult, if the weather picks up again and it’s a warm day, tough, live with it. All things I can do little about, other than be prepared for them happening.

So if we assume I complete the first objective, only walking at water stations or to take on Gel, the next question concnerns what time I’ll be satisfied with.

I’ve had several conversations this week about how long I expect to take. I put 3 hours 30 on my entry form, and with Cranleigh 21 being 2 hours 51, all things being equal I shouldn’t be too far off that.

But, as has already been suggested, there’s lots that can prevent equilibrium.

Whatever time I run on Sunday, I’ll know I can better, even if I surprise everyone and break 3:30.

If I end up running 3:50, I’ll still be satisfied with finishing, that is the first objective remember, and am already looking at what the next marathon will be so it gives me something to aim at in the future.