What can runners learn from a comedian about motivation?

Earlier this year, the comedian, Eddie Izzard, completed a running feat that astonished just about everyone who heard about it; this was especially true amongst the running community. Any runner knows how hard it is to run a marathon. But what about running more than one marathon? Maybe 2 in a week, or 2 on consecutive days. The famous explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes famously ran 7 marathons in 7 days. It was hailed as an extraordinary human achievement and rightly so.

So what about Eddie Izzard, a man with little sporting inclination or running pedigree? With just 6 weeks of training he undertook the seemingly impossible task of running 43 marathons in 52 days — 1100 miles. It is almost beyond comprehension to anyone who has any experience of endurance running how he did it. It truly was a fantastic human achievement, and one that illustrates how amazing our bodies are.

But it’s not just the body — running just a single marathon demands a huge mental effort too.
So how does someone, essentially untrained and inexperienced, run 43 in 52 days?

Sports psychology teaches us the power of imagery or visualisation. Mentally rehearsing the desired outcome is proven to be an effective way of improving our chances of success. If we can vividly imagine ourselves performing at a particular level, for instance, running under 40 minutes for a 10k race, then we become experienced in the act — we expect to do it. Come race day, we will do all we can to match our behaviour to that performance — both consciously and sub-consciously.

Sports psychology is firmly planted in the positive side of the motivation model; we motivate ourselves to achieve what we want.
But, there is another side of the motivation model, and some would say that it provides an even stronger motivation than the ‘towards pleasure’ side.

We all know what it feels like to be beaten, and very few actually enjoy it. When you race, do you race to win or do you race not to lose? Do you know what thought will help you more.

Of course it depends on the individual.

Moving back to marathon running, is it enough to motivate ourselves by wanting to keep going?
Keeping going results in more pain — do we really want that?

Now, if you are Eddie Izzard you might employ a slightly different tactic.
What kept him going, mile after mile, day after day, with blisters upon blisters and toenails dropping off and legs and joints that must have been screaming at him to stop?

If you imagined (and imagined so strongly you almost believed) that you were being chased by a bear, would that keep you going?

It kept him going.