Mental Toughness Strategies for Ultramarathons

Running requires not only physical effort, but mental toughness as well—this is especially true when it comes to ultras. Learning what methods work for you and practicing strategies for race day is crucial. The mental battle of running an ultra does not happen only during the race.

First, determine your goals.

In a psychology study focused on the perseverance of runners in 100 mile race, many participants endorsed the importance of setting multiple goals. While finishing the race may be the ultimate goal, finish time and placing may be secondary goals. As circumstances change, one goal might fall out of reach, but you will still have another accessible goal to motivate you through the race.

Write out your goals.

Once you have developed clear and specific goals, write them down. Studies have shown that the act of writing down a goal makes you 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to achieve your goal. This works for two reasons: seeing the physical paper (external storage) is a constant reminder of the goal and the act of writing down the goal helps your brain encode it and store it in long term memory. On days when you’re feeling unmotivated or parts of the race where you want to give up, your goal will give you an extra push.

Make a mantra.

Mantras can be a word or statement repeated throughout your race—you can make it up or look up a quote. The primary function of mantras is to facilitate perseverance. Some athletes in the ultramarathon study mentioned earlier used mantras to stay positive by saying things like “the glowing mind” as a reminder to only have positive thoughts, while others used mantras like “I am only as good as my nutrition” as a reminder to fuel properly.

Consider telling your crew to remind you of your mantra when you start to feel down. Write it down somewhere you will see it during your race (maybe on your wrist, water bottle, or shoes—get creative).

Keep your self-talk positive.

Self-talk is the dialog you have with yourself in your head. When you’re running an ultra, you probably have a lot of self-talk going on. It is proven that positive self-talk improves athletic performance. If you fall behind pace in your race don’t think “I’m so slow, there’s no way I’ll make my goal”, but instead tell yourself “that’s okay, I can do better on the next section”. If you beat yourself up after a little failure, you aren’t leaving room for improvement in the race.

Break it into small steps.

Almost all of the participants in the study used chunking to break the race into smaller, manageable sections. While the runners in the study may have used chunking naturally, it actually does improve your mental endurance. Whether you break it down by intervals of 10 miles or when you’ll reach the next aid station, viewing the race as many little parts helps take away from the overwhelmingness of 100 miles. Plus, this way it is easier to see how far you have gone already so you can celebrate each little accomplishment (bonus tip: use positive self-talk to congratulate yourself for every little achievement).

Most importantly, have confidence and be kind to yourself.

Leave no room for self-doubt on race day. Remind yourself that you’ve been training hard for this and you are going to give it your best effort. Celebrate the goals you achieve and know that other goals leave room for future growth.

Mental Strategies for Race Day