How To Build Mental Toughness
Being tough is one of the most vital parts of finishing an ultramarathon. This is why we train for our races. We need to get tougher. But I believe mental toughness is far more important than a super fit body to finish an ultra. And you can develop your mind just like you do your body. In fact, if you don’t, you may not finish.
On a hot afternoon, I had just climbed the last of the 4,000 or so feet you have to scale in the Mount Hood 50, a race I did in 2018. I slumped in a chair in an aid station and one of the volunteers offered me a popsicle. It was heaven. It was also mile 39. As the station’s cutoff neared — I’m slow, remember — all I wanted to do was stay in the chair and eat more popsicles. My ankle hurt, my quads threatened to cramp and I was a salt lick. What got me out of the chair?
It wasn’t my body. I knew I could finish. I also knew it would hurt. It was my mind telling me to get moving despite the pain or I’d regret it later.
Toughness is the foundation for doing any hard thing, really, from heading to work after your baby was up all night, finally doing a pull-up or scraping your windshield when it’s below zero.
Our training, by default, does build our mind as well as our body. You can’t push through a four-hour run without sharpening your mind. But training alone doesn’t get you there.
So how do we get tougher? It’s hard. But that’s why you’re here.
1. Run in all weather conditions — When it’s nasty outside, don’t turn to the treadmill. Get out there and experience the cold, the wet and the wind. Run in the afternoon in the summer. Be safe, of course. Don’t run in a blizzard, or when there’s lightning right above you, or when it’s 100 degrees. But running in weather that challenges us teaches our brain to deal with harsh conditions, and that goes a long way when you’re by yourself on a trail with 10 miles to go. It’s also likely that when you do get out the door, the conditions won’t feel so bad after a few minutes. It’s good for your brain to learn that too.
2. Embrace the phrase “shit happens” — There was a book years ago called “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff.” It taught me to bitch less about the little things in life that suck. I now use the phrase “shit happens” when I get caught in traffic or my car won’t start or, you know, when my water bladder leaks all over my back when I’m out for a training run. Telling yourself not to get upset over mishaps teaches us to accept them, and that’s the best training for an ultramarathon. It’s an ultra, it’s not if something goes wrong, it’s when.
3. Life crap makes you tougher too — Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that cleaning up puke at 3 a.m. because your flu-ridden kid didn’t make it the bathroom in time ain’t much fun. This makes us tougher.
When you’re in a race, and you’re suffering, think about all the crappy things you’ve had to do in life and how much better you are as a result. What’s a few more miles on a beautiful trail compared to that?
4. Be grateful — It’s a privilege to be able to travel to beautiful areas, run where few people can go and get a shiny medal to hang on our wall and feel good about ourselves. You aren’t suffering. You GET to suffer. Gratitude alone can get you through a race.
5. Learn how to answer your pain — Whenever a negative thought enters your brain on a long run, such as some whining about your legs hurting, learn how to answer it, such as “well, yeah, of course they hurt, you’ve been running for 10 hours.” Or, better yet, “yes, but they don’t hurt as much as you thought they would.” Bad thoughts, when left unchecked, can spiral into what we call dark moments. Answering those thoughts will quiet those intrusions, and you can start thinking about how lucky you are to be there.