Road to Barcelona Marathon Ali edition – Week 6

Cross-Training and Mindset Shift

A bit of a shorter one for this week as it was all about cross-training as Ali continued to recover from his injury. The positive news though, is that it seemed to be getting better and there was no more pain, but we didn’t want to dive into running straight away to give it time to heal properly. This meant our main focus was finding ways to maintain fitness while minimizing impact on his foot. Cycling, swimming, walking and elliptical workouts became the core of his routine as we worked to keep his cardiovascular endurance strong.

At this point, Ali and I were having a chat after uni and he started to doubt whether he would be able to complete the marathon at all. Even saying to me, maybe I should sell my ticket. The mental battle had begun, and it was tough for him to see his progress regress while he had to deal with an injury. He also faced disappointment, realizing that his initial goal of running under 4 hours and 30 minutes might no longer be realistic.

To help him regain motivation, we revisited the reasons he signed up for this marathon in the first place. This journey was never about a specific time, it was about proving to himself that he could do it. By shifting the focus back to finishing the race rather than chasing a time goal, Ali was able to reset his mindset and his expectations to what they originally were.

It’s easy to get caught up in numbers, but at the end of the day, the goal remains the same: to cross the finish line. Now, as we carefully reintroduce running, we’ll continue to listen to his body and adjust accordingly.

We did manage to get in one short run this week to test how his leg was feeling. While there was still some discomfort, it was a good step forward. The goal was not to push the pace or distance but to see how his body responded. With continued focus on recovery and strengthening, we’re hopeful that he can start increasing his running load gradually next week.

A learning for me on this front is to not get over eager and hype them up by raising expectations as anything can happen in training. But it’s to make sure that the end goal is the main objective and to keep working towards that. If it goes better than expected, then great, that can be the cherry on top of the cake.