Des Linden’s Twitter is the marathon pep talk you need

Marathon advice from the best of the best

Madeleine Kelly October 24, 2019

Des Linden is gearing up for the 2019 New York City Marathon. There, she’s looking to improve upon her 2018 performance, where she finished sixth in 2:27. Linden owns a personal best of 2:22:38.

Linden will be joined in New York by women’s-only record-holder Mary Keitany, Americans Kellyn Taylor and Sara Hall and Ruti Aga, the tenth-fastest marathoner of all time.

The runner has been on the scene for a long time, making multiple Olympic Games and World Championships teams, reaching the podium at multiple World Major Marathons and making a true career out of the sport of running. You don’t accomplish all of that without learning a lot along the way. If you’re about to run a fall marathon and are looking for some last-minute advice from one of the all-time greats, look no further than Linden’s Twitter profile.

On keeping your life balanced:

Sometimes social media can paint an inaccurate picture of real life. I love sharing my journey but I have to be honest, it’s not all ‘pie for breakfast’ good times — today I had an apple, a banana, and like a ton of water.

Learn to love the process, all of it.

— des_linden (@des_linden) October 19, 2019

On race day mentality:

Marathon training is running yourself right up to your breaking point but backing off before you crack. Marathon racing is for finishing the job in front of an audience.

Almost time to hurt so good. #tcsnycmarathon

— des_linden (@des_linden) October 24, 2019

On getting through the rough days:

Some days it just flows and I feel like I’m born to do this, other days it feels like I’m trudging through hell. Every day I make the choice to show up and see what I’ve got, and to try and be better.

My advice: keep showing up.#MondayMotivaton #TogetherForward

— des_linden (@des_linden) March 5, 2018

Nutrition advice:

Hear me out — a cookbook that partway through every recipe reveals one ingredient as not for the meal at all(!) but actually just a snack to be enjoyed while you cook.

— des_linden (@des_linden) October 22, 2019

On training smart, not training hard:

Note to self: Workouts are for building fitness. Races are for proving fitness. Understand the objective of the work and be intentional in how you do it. #MondayMotivaton

— des_linden (@des_linden) October 7, 2019

The best piece of race advice you’ll ever receive:

The best advice you can give a distance runner, but the last thing we really want to hear: be patient.

— des_linden (@des_linden) September 4, 2019