The last two weeks were a blur of airports, heat and trying to keep some kind of training rhythm alive. I missed last week’s blog, but today marks 100 days until Tokyo, so it feels like the perfect time to reset and talk about what really matters right now.

Because the real battle lately has not been the heat, the humidity or the travel.
It has been the voice in my head.

It started back in the Philippines. The humidity was very thick. I finished the trip with a 16 km run along the boulevard. It was hot, slow and heavy. Every kilometre felt like three. My heart rate was high and the sweat was constant. The voice in my head kept asking why it felt so hard and if I was losing fitness. I knew it was the weather, but when things feel tough, doubt likes to creep in.

After our trip, I had a quick stop in Melbourne and then flew straight to Sydney for two days. I managed a few runs there, looping around the park where the Sydney Marathon starts. That helped bring some confidence back. Sometimes all you need is a familiar route and a bit of routine to quiet the noise.

By Wednesday I was home again and finally running locally in Keilor. It felt good to be back where my legs know the ground. The big session came today. 18.5 km at a 4.42 pace. Not my fastest, not my smoothest, but exactly what I needed to feel like I am settling back into the groove.

And again, the voice showed up.
At first it said I was too slow. Then it said I was too tired. Then it said the travel had set me back.

But here is what I am learning.

The voice in your head is not always telling the truth.
It tells the story of how you feel in the moment, not the story of who you are becoming.

That voice comes from a few places. Part of it is habit. Part of it is fear. And part of it is your brain trying to protect you. When you feel tired, stressed or out of routine, your brain often acts like an alarm system. It tries to convince you to pull back, even when you do not need to. Psychologists call this the negativity bias. Your brain is wired to pay more attention to danger than to progress. It is a survival thing, not a performance thing.

When you push yourself in training, that alarm gets louder. It tells you that you are too slow. Too tired. Too far behind. But most of the time, the voice is reacting to discomfort, not reality. What feels like a sign to stop is often just your brain trying to keep you safe from hard work.

That is why self talk is a skill.
Some days it lifts you and reminds you what you can do.
Some days it tries to derail you and pull you back into comfort.

Good self talk is not about being positive all the time. It is about being honest and helpful. Instead of “I can’t do this”, it becomes “This feels hard, but I can take the next step”. Instead of “I am behind”, it becomes “I am building something, and this is part of it”.

Training for a marathon asks a lot from your body, but it asks even more from your mind. The long runs that feel heavy, the sessions where you do not hit your times, and the days when you feel flat are the ones your brain learns from. This is called building self efficacy. It is the belief that you can handle challenge because you have done it before.

Every time you push back against that voice, you get a little stronger.
You teach your brain that discomfort is not danger.
You teach yourself that effort is not failure.
And you build the kind of confidence that only comes from showing up on the days when you do not feel ready.

Over the next three weeks I will be training here in Melbourne, and then we head to Canada for five weeks. That will bring its own challenge with winter running. Cold mornings, icy paths, layers, gloves, breath that freezes as soon as it leaves your mouth. And on the way there, I am hoping to squeeze in a long run during the stopover in Fiji. Heat one day, freezing the next. A full spectrum of weather for the legs.

The big thing I know I need to work on now is food. When training ramps up, hunger comes with it. The brain starts believing you have earned every snack you see. The voice in your head can talk you into a lot if you are not careful. So over the next few weeks, that is where I will focus. Fuel that helps, not fuel that harms.

Tokyo is now 100 days away.
That number feels real.
The training will pick up from here, and so will the mental game.

This is where the voice in your head matters most.
It can be the thing that holds you back, or the thing that carries you forward.
And the good thing is, you get to choose which one you listen to.

Tip of the Week

Talk to yourself the way you would talk to a friend. When things feel hard, choose words that help you take the next step, not words that slow you down.

Next week

More distance, more structure and a closer look at winter training plans for Canada. The countdown to Tokyo keeps moving.