How to Unlock Your Running Potential Through Mental Training

Develop the Mindset of an Endurance Champion

“You will not give up again,” I told myself. “Stop calculating. Just keep running.”

I took a sip of water and trudged forward in the dark forest. “Just until the next checkpoint. Then you can take a break.”

I wondered if they had coffee.

Halfway through my first 100-mile race, I was on the verge of repeating the same mistake I made during my first 24-hour ultramarathon just 3 months earlier. I started calculating: “How much time would I need if I just walked the rest of the way?” Wouldn’t that be enough to finish? After all, I had only started running a year ago.

But I reminded myself of my biggest regret after that 24-hour race — I had convinced myself that 150 kilometers would be “good enough” for my first try. My longest run before that was only 61 kilometers, and when I let myself believe walking was acceptable, I stopped running entirely. My goal no longer mattered.

Not this time. I wanted to finish in under 24 hours. I needed to keep running to achieve this goal, so I forced myself to run, using the mental techniques I had practiced in training.