Mental Toughness for Ultramarathons: How to Push Through the Hard Moments

The moment every ultra runner faces

It doesn't matter how well prepared you are. At some point in an ultra, something will go wrong, or nothing will go wrong but everything will feel impossible anyway. The low patch is not a sign that you've failed. It is part of the race. Think of it like a feature rather than a bug. It's meant to be there.

I remember my first 100km race (Race to the Stones) like it was yesterday. I'd done the training, practised my nutrition, studied the course and put myself in enough uncomfortable situations to know at least somewhat of what I was getting myself into. I felt great up until about 70km in, I was moving well, eating, drinking... until I wasn't. At 70km I hit what can only be described as a mega-wall. My stomach gave up, my hips seized up, I started getting headaches and in that moment I genuinely felt as though my race was over. I slowed down and walked for what can only have been 5-10 minutes but it felt like forever and in that time I had to problem solve. How was I going to keep going?

Why fitness alone won't get you through

Most DNFs aren't caused by physical failure. They happen when the brain decides the suffering can't be endured any longer. We're all physically more capable than we give ourselves credit for, but often it's the mental chatter that talks you out of finishing. The difference between finishing and not finishing is how you deal with the negative voices, refocus and problem solve.

Because training can rarely truly simulate the mental side of race day we're often confronted with challenges that catch us off guard. I tell all my athletes the same thing before race day: "you've never been ready for what you've never done." This doesn't mean that they're not prepared or can't do the thing, but it serves as a reminder that you can never account for all eventualities during a race. Knowing that you'll have to deal with new experiences makes them less scary when they do present themselves, and that includes how you talk to yourself when things stop going to plan.

Breaking the race into pieces

One of the most effective tools in ultra running is refusing to think about the full distance. When you're at kilometre 70 of a 100km and your legs are gone, thinking about the last 30km isn't going to put a smile on your face. The next aid station is a much more manageable target.

The chat I have with my athletes often centres around breaking the race into sections, and understanding how they might feel at different stages. Knowing which aid stations to spend a bit more time in, where to have a bit of extra food, where to slow down and where they can push.

Most of the problems you face during an ultra can be solved with one of three things: drinking a bit, eating a bit, walking a bit.

Self-talk: what you say to yourself matters

The internal monologue during a hard ultra can make or break you. Most runners default to negative self-talk under pressure without realising it. Developing intentional self-talk is a skill, and like any skill, it can be practised.

What to avoid

Projecting how you're feeling now into the future. We've all experienced moments where the task at hand feels massive, but worrying about it can at best have a neutral effect on the outcome. Your feelings change for the better as much as for the worse. If you're feeling rough now, you can take comfort that a good spell is probably just around the corner.

What to replace it with

I steal a lot of the hacks that help me on race day from two of the greatest distance runners on earth: Eliud Kipchoge and Courtney Dauwalter, both of whom know something about running. When things get hard and I'm starting to feel a bit battered and bruised, I think of Eliud smiling during races. It actually rewires your brain to not feel pain in the same way, and there's something about the absurdity of it, the fact that we chose to do this for fun, that shifts something. When it comes to Courtney it's a little different. She talks about a pain cave where she welcomes the pain and struggle rather than fighting against it, then starts chipping away at it and organising it in her brain.

The point is that even the best runners feel pain. It's unavoidable, but it doesn't have to be detrimental. Knowing that it's coming is part of the challenge, not something we're looking to avoid.

You hear a lot of endurance athletes talk about their "why". This isn't a target time or a goal per se, it's often a bit bigger than that. Everyone's why is unique to them but they often share some through lines. I ask my athletes to sit on this thought before race day because it's a huge source of meaning and focus to pull from when the discomfort gets too high.

Most people were brought to the sport because they wanted to learn something about themselves, prove something to themselves, or because part of them never realised they were capable of achieving something so big. Whatever your "why" is, use it on race day.

Training your mind before race day

Mental toughness is not something you either have or don't. It is built the same way fitness is, through consistent exposure to discomfort over time.

Building toughness isn't a quick process because things need to go wrong for you to develop it. If every run of your block went to plan, your stomach never gave you trouble, you never struggled with the early mornings, busy days, endless washing of your kit, the rainy days or the hot ones... you're learning whilst doing, and that's how resilience is built. It's not built by deciding you have it or you don't. It's developed through gathering evidence that you are someone who can work through setbacks. Give yourself the time to develop a big enough bank of data.

Visualisation is part of that too. In the week before a race I'll often mentally walk through the course, specifically including the hard sections, and I'll ask my athletes to do the same. Not imagining everything going perfectly, but actually sitting with the discomfort of the low patch in their mind: what it feels like, what they'll do, how they get through it. Athletes who have done this tend to handle the real thing differently. It's less of a shock because mentally you've already been there.

What to do when you genuinely want to quit

There is a difference between the discomfort of a hard race and a signal that something is actually wrong. Learning to distinguish between the two is important. Most of the time, the urge to quit is the former.

It sounds a little bit weird but stay with me. During a race I ask myself: "would a hot shower, fresh clothes, my sofa and my favourite meal solve my problem?" If the answer is yes, I know I'm just uncomfortable, tired, fed up, sore, talking negatively to myself, hungry, thirsty or in a bit of a funk. I know nothing is actually wrong with me. I'm not injured, I'm not vomiting, I'm not in serious pain. I'm just uncomfortable. Don't give up on the possibility of achieving something amazing because you feel uncomfortable.

The role of preparation in mental resilience

Confidence on race day comes from preparation. Athletes who have done the training, practised their nutrition, and run in similar conditions walk to the start line knowing they have done the work. That knowledge is the basis for trusting yourself.

There isn't a single athlete in any sport who hasn't experienced a moment when they didn't prepare as well as they could have. I'm no different. I can't count how many times I've made mistakes because of preparation issues: didn't properly look at the route or elevation profile, didn't check the aid stations, didn't bring enough food or water, wore the wrong socks, saved weight on a base layer only to need it. The list goes on. Making a preparation mistake once isn't ideal but it happens. Making the same preparation mistakes over and over is a choice.

It's way too easy to say "it wasn't my day" and leave it there. I'd encourage being more rigorous than that. Take accountability for how you could have prepared better, what you would do differently, and reflect on the experience. It's not an exercise in being hard on yourself, but rather in understanding that accountability and preparation are a disproportionate part of the outcome.