How to Build Mental Toughness to Become a Better Runner

Ever wonder how to keep going the distance when you mind tells you to quit? You can build mental toughness to become a better runner with some simple techniques. You can train your mind to go the distance and crush that PR. Just like a training plan to increase your distance, you need train your mind to go the distance as well.

What is Mental Toughness

Mental toughness is the ability to endure difficulty situations. This does not mean just suffering through it. It means being able to deal with difficult or unplanned situations in a race and handling them proactively and with positivity. This is not something that you just have or do not have. It is something that you train your mind to do. The more training you do, the more you build on your mental toughness and become a better runner.

Ways to Enhance Mental Toughness

There are ways to enhance your mental toughness. It can take time and practice to be successful. Add techniques into your training plan.

Believe in Yourself

Having a strong self-efficacy will help you go the distance. Self-efficacy is an individual belief in oneself that a particular behavior will result in a certain outcome. How much effort you will need to put forth and how long you persist at a particular obstacle.

One way to enhance your self-efficacy is to focus on the positives. One way I like to build my positivity is to celebrate my successes. That doesn’t mean when I reach a PR, I celebrate even the small things. Like running a long run in tough conditions. It may not have been your best run time wise, but you persevered, pushed on and never gave up. Celebrate that!

One of the things I like to do from time to time is journal. I will write down how a run went. When I write, my goal is to only write positive thoughts or to find something positive in a negative situation. So if I ran slow and had to walk, I will write how despite some challenges I finished a 10 mile run and I am proud of my effort. By only writing positive thoughts, it challenges you to think that way also.

Stop comparing yourself with others and find your why. It’s not one of your friends races, it’s your race. Why are you running it? What drives you to want to run that race or that distance? I will write down why the race is important to me. Jot down what you love about running and why you are a good runner.

Goals

During training for a race I always pick three goals. One goal is my ultimate best race day goal. The other two goals are times that I can live with. Never set a goal that you can’t live with. These are your goals and no one else and sometimes just finishing is huge!

Visualization

Using visualization is key to enhancing mental toughness. I like to picture how the race will go. Drive the race course or print off the map. If your able to run sections of the course even better. You can use that snapshot in your mind later to visual the race.

Think about how focused and calm you are at the starting line. Picture in your mind how you will feel at mile twenty with the crowd cheering and how strong and fierce you feel at that point.

Use visualization on long runs during training. While heading to the finish of the run visualize yourself crossing the race finish line, your family yelling your name and a volunteer placing the medal on your neck. Using visualization helps you get out of those tough spots.

Pick a Mantra

Mantras are positive phrases or words that you repeat. Some are motivational and some are for instruction. Your mantra should contain the word you. I have a few that I use such as; “you are strong and fierce”, “it’s your time” or “you belong”. I will repeat that while waiting for the race gun to go off. This keeps me in the zone and allows me to focus on the race and not on my nerves.

I like to use instructive mantras also. These tell me what to do so to speak. When I ran the NYC Virtual Marathon, the wind was blowing hard and I was so tense. I kept repeating “light and loose” and the tension flowed right out of me. For closing a race or even a long run, I will repeat “finish strong”. Suddenly despite tired legs, I can pick up the pace.

Pick some powerful words for your mantra like strong, fierce, or fast. Write them down. Which one speaks to you? Try them out on your long runs. Find some that work best for you.

Training

I opt to do hard things. This helps me keep going when times are tough. When I plan my long runs, I don’t avoid hills but instead add some in. Your race may be flat and you may hate hills, but accomplishing a difficult run will make you feel successful. This is also something that you can look back on and think, I finished it then and I will do it again.

Run in difficult weather conditions. If it’s snowing don’t opt for the treadmill, layer up and hit the road. This will train your mind to cope with the challenging conditions. The more you run in these types of conditions, the more you can build mental toughness and become a stronger runner.

You never get to pick the weather for a race. When I ran the Marquette Marathon, it was about 45 degrees and at mile 11 it started to rain. The light rain became a downpour for miles. If you’ve never run in the rain, race day will be very mentally challenging. If you’ve trained for it, you can draw from experience and push on.

Dress the Part

Clothing has an impact on the wearer physiologically and improves performance this is coined enclothed cognition. Research has shown that clothing can have an impact on how you feel.

For a race, I like to set out my race clothes. Picking out the clothes that I look best in makes me feel strong. I choose a color I look best in. I pick out my favorite hat and sunglasses.

Even though no one can see my toes, I polish my toe nails in a bold color. My fingernails I polish in a color that makes me feel fierce. I normally do not wear makeup to run, but with the tough conditions for the NYC Virtual Marathon, I needed that little bit extra. Dressing the part can make you feel stronger and more powerful. This is a recipe for race day success.

Secrets to Success

How do you pull this all together and build mental toughness to become a better runner? Practice it. When I started running races it was tough mentally. I spent a lot of time researching to try to overcome this. Always know that there will be challenges but by harnessing your mental toughness you will persevere. Now even when it’s hard I know I won’t quit. I have many tools I can use at any point in the run. One of the biggest successes for me in learning these processes is that I have found how much more I love to run. I am able to find joy and purpose in every run. What are some things that help you mentally during a race?