How to Stay Mentally Strong During an Ultramarathon
Running an ultramarathon demands both physical endurance and mental strength, but how much of it is truly mental? Some runners will tell you it’s all mental. I’ve even seen people take on races with little physical training, depending mostly on their mental strength to power them to the finish.
That’s certainly not the approach I would advise. In my experience, the better you prepare your body, the less pressure you put on your mind. That said, while physical preparedness might lighten the mental load to a degree, mental toughness is essential if you want to finish an ultramarathon. Even with a strong, well-trained body, having mental strength remains a major advantage.
What is mental strength for ultrarunning?
So, if mental strength is so crucial, let's define what it entails in the world of ultrarunning.
It’s not just about pushing through when it gets tough. It’s not about being fearless or emotionless. Mental strength is having the ability to stay focused, calm, and committed when things get difficult, especially when you’re tired, uncertain, or under pressure. It’s about making intentional, strategic choices even when your body hurts and your brain is screaming to stop.
In practice, this looks like following your pacing and fueling plan even when you might be tempted to stray. It's about problem-solving over panicking, and adjusting to heat, stomach issues, or missed aid stations without losing your cool. It’s re-centering your focus when negative thoughts creep in (“I’m falling apart”) and replacing them with useful ones (“Just get to the next checkpoint”).
How do you build mental strength?
Imagine that your mind is like a muscle. If not trained or put under tension, it will not grow. Similarly, it can become weaker if it is not used at all. However, if you consistently train it and apply sufficient pressure, it will grow stronger.
Fortunately, as you build physical strength and endurance training for your chosen ultramarathon, you'll also have the opportunity to train your mind. You build your confidence, resilience, and mental strength by completing challenging workouts, long runs, and back-to-back training days, sometimes under less-than-ideal conditions and often carrying some fatigue or stress from other parts of your life. Under these conditions, you not only discover what you are capable of but also get the opportunity to practice helpful mental strategies.
What follows are some of the strategies I use regularly during long training runs and races.
Mental Strategies
1. View the race as shorter segments.
The most common advice when feeling overwhelmed by the total distance is to break the race into manageable chunks. For example, if you’re at mile 33 of a 100-mile race, rather than thinking about another 67 miles to go, focus on getting to the next aid station or checkpoint. If that’s too long, focus on getting to a landmark you see ahead. This strategy helps make a long day more manageable, working particularly well when you’ve already started to feel significant pain or psychological stress. I find myself using this more toward the end of a race.
2. You’re just getting warmed up.
One of my favorite strategies is the inverse of the first. I accept that it’s going to be a long day, and I treat most of the race like I’m just warming up. Instead of thinking, ‘only 4 miles to go until the next aid station,’ my internal dialogue is more like, ‘we’re good, just warming up here.’ I try to carry it lightly and downplay the fatigue I might be feeling. It’s like telling myself I haven’t really done much yet and I’m still in good shape. This works well when I’m dealing with just fatigue, not any specific pain point. I try to carry this mindset with me as long as I can. This mindset can be maintained even after more than half the distance has been covered.
3. Expect the lows — and have a plan for them.
Expect it to be challenging. Don’t be surprised when things go wrong or don't go according to plan. The very nature of ultramarathons is challenge, and with so much time spent on a course, there are ample opportunities for things to go sideways with equipment, nutrition, hydration, and even challenging terrain. One time, I was five minutes into an extremely muddy race when I realized the day was going to play out entirely differently than I had originally imagined. All I could do was say to myself, “Aha, here it is—my first test.”
The key is to respond, not react. See things as they are, without adding extra meaning or emotion. Something happened. Does it affect my plan? If so, what are my options? Okay, I will decide to do X instead of Y.
4. Have a clear “Why”.
Beyond the immediate strategies, understanding your deeper motivation is paramount. Your ‘why’ needs to be bigger than the discomfort you are feeling in the moment. When your body is screaming at you with every step and you may have several hours to go, what is your compelling reason to continue?
Some people want to prove they can do hard things. Others want to show their children what’s possible with hard work and determination. Many runners are raising money for a noble cause—something much bigger than themselves. Whatever your reason, make sure it’s strong enough and true to who you are. That way, when extreme fatigue and discomfort wear you down and test your resolve, you will still be inspired to forge on.
5. Remember the impermanence of things.
Emotions and physical sensations will come and go; you will experience highs and lows. Some feelings may last longer than others, but it’s good to remember that ‘this too shall pass.’ When things are going well, this can keep you from becoming overconfident or making a reckless choice. Of course, this way of thinking also helps when you are feeling worn down.
As humans, we are predicting machines. We experience fatigue and try to make an unscientific calculation to extrapolate how fatigued we might be in another hour, 2 hours, 8 hours, etc. Fortunately, our experience of fatigue and discomfort during an ultra is not so straightforward and predictable. We may make a change to hydration, nutrition, equipment, pacing, or anything else, and start to feel things turn positive. So keep an open mind to conditions, sensations, and mental states changing.
6. Don’t go it alone — even if you are alone.
If I have a crew, I will let them know in advance what I need and how they can support me. There’s much more to say about crewing, but at its core, the crew needs to understand the runner’s intentions and goals, and how to respond when their mind starts slipping.
Because of the nature of many races, if I’m not able to see my support team during the race, I carry their encouragement with me. I will imagine all the people in my life who are cheering for me from somewhere. I think about those who are inspired by what I’m taking on. I think about the future version of myself who will live with the results of the effort I am making today.
There’s one more bit of mental imagery I engage in from time to time. Now, this one’s a little 'woo-woo,' but I sometimes imagine a wave of positive energy behind me, pushing me forward like a supportive wind at my back. I think about how the universe wants me to win and that the odds are in my favor (even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment).
If I haven’t lost you, let’s move on to one of my favorites: a more stoic idea.
7. Control the controllables.
Energy is a valuable and limited resource during an ultramarathon. You must spend your energy on things you can control, and quickly catch yourself when you are wasting energy on things that are beyond your control.
I’ve gone off course a few times, and each time was very frustrating. Not only did I lose time and position, but I then had to figure out how far off course I was and how to get back. That’s not easy to do, especially when already fatigued. Indulging in negative rumination would have just made it harder to think clearly and find my way back to the trail. My go-to response is to catch negative emotions as they arise and, as quickly as possible, extinguish them. This is where I imagine myself more like a machine that just makes intelligent decisions based on data and feedback. Do what you can with what you have.
8. Practice gratitude and perspective.
After dealing with a couple of injuries that took me off the trails for months, it’s easy to appreciate the ability to run. But I still have tough long runs and races where discomfort and pain can bring me down mentally. In these moments, I think about the good fortune I have that I’m able to run. What a unique experience it is to know the feeling of physical and mental exhaustion. I’ve never felt more alive in those moments. And for some of us, we’ll be racing in incredible locations with beautiful and inspiring scenery. We may also have the privilege of being surrounded by fascinating old and new friends. With all the suffering going on in the world, we who get to choose our suffering really are the lucky ones.
9. Return to a mantra.
A mantra can be a powerful anchor for maintaining a positive mindset when fatigue sets in, preventing your mind from wandering into negative territory. As I mentioned earlier, I use gratitude to maintain positivity, since it's impossible to feel both grateful and pessimistic simultaneously.
A mantra is most powerful and effective when chosen intentionally in advance. The word or phrase you choose may depend on the particular race or your mental state for the season of life you are in. Try them out in long training runs to find which ones resonate and stick with you. If you think it will help, write the mantra on your arm or somewhere visible.
Some ideas are:
“Unstoppable”
“Forward”
“One step at a time.”
“Gratitude” (or “Grateful”)
“Relentless”
“I belong here.”
“This too shall pass.”
“I can do hard things.”
“Run your own race.”
Mental strength is built, not born.
If you have dealt with adversity or have taken on difficult challenges before, then you probably have gained some mental strength already. If this is all new to you, and you’re a bit worried about whether you’ll be strong enough, treat it like a skill that can be developed. Every time you face a challenge in your training journey, view it as an opportunity to train your mental strength too.
Try applying these strategies whenever you face challenges in other areas of your life. If you modify these strategies slightly to suit other contexts, you’ll see how these ideas can make you stronger and more capable in all parts of your life. If training can make you a stronger runner and a stronger human in general, well… I’d call that a win-win.