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COVID-19: How to manage the disappointment of sporting events being postponed and keep your training on track

With major sporting events such as the London Marathon, due to take place this weekend, postponed due to coronavirus, Dr Philip Clarke, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, provides advice on how to manage disappointment and top tips to keep your training on track.

As we enter another three weeks oflockdown in the UK, there is a level of uncertainty of when things are going toget back to normal. This can mean that a lot of people who have signed up forkey events such as marathons and 5km runs – which have now been rescheduled orcancelled – will be feeling a sense of loss from the community that theyusually run with, the experience of competing, or the feeling of completing thedistance.

During these uncertain times it isimportant to keep physically active and keep your fitness levels up, so that wheneverything returns to normal and events start to get rescheduled, you can getback up to speed quicker, but also to help you get through the isolation period.Here are some useful tips to help manage the situation.

Accepting the situation

The first important thing to do is toaccept the situation for what it is. For some, you may have invested a lot of timebefore COVID-19 hit the UK in training, feeling that you were making greatprogress. Now that events have been postponed and cancelled, you may feel agreat level of disappointment and may have stopped training completely.

Although it is disappointing,accepting the situation for what it is, and coming to terms with it, will allowyou to move forward and start to look at the positives of the situation. Withacceptance, it means you can deal with any further setbacks and be adaptive toany changes in the environment.

Remember the benefits of why you were taking part

For some of us, these are sportingevents that we regularly sign up to and therefore training, competing in orjust completing these types of events have become a solid part of our lives.However, for some, this will have been the first event you had ever signed upfor.

The key thing here is not to losesight of the benefits you have gained already from being involved in it. Thiscould be losing weight, feeling healthier, more energy or just generally havinga greater mental health and wellbeing. Exercise can be a really effective copingmechanism for managing stress which, in the current climate, a lot of us arefeeling a lot of. Therefore, even though you may be disappointed, keep engagingin training (of any type – with consideration of government guidance) not onlyfor the performance benefits of keeping fit, but for helping with your mentalhealth and wellbeing.

Reframe the situation

Although it is likely you will see alot of negatives associated with the current situation, from a performingperspective for your running event this may give you an opportunity to enhance yourfitness and be creative in ways in which you get your training completed.

For those with families, this canbe a great opportunity to get your biggest supporters involved in training withyou. This be anything such as a circuit class in your garden using them as bodyweights. When it comes to keeping in touch with your friends and runningpartners, you could try virtual training sessions, comparing times withfriends. Furthermore, when it comes to the actual race itself, this period maygive you more opportunity to refine your race plan and strategy, and try it outin your training runs in future.

Try new things

A final thing to consider is thatthe newfound time may allow you to try new and innovative ways of maintaining yourphysical fitness but also keep on top of your mental health. Trying newactivities such as a home yoga session, a body weight workout, sprints in theback garden, are just a few examples of how to stay fit at home. You could alsotry new sports to get the family involved. This can be a great chance to letyour creativity run wild and just have fun with it.

Need some help training your mind for long-distance running? Check out Dr Philip Clarke’s blog here.

For further press information please contact the Corporate Communications Team on 01332 591491, [email protected] or @derbyunipress


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