One of the things necessary for running a Ultra Marathon (or should that be Ultramarathon ?) is great mental strength – it’s gonna hurt, so having the will to continue regardless if critical. It is too easy to talk your self into giving up:
I deserve to stop and rest at the aid station, as I’ve been running for 9 hours.
…or…
I should give up as I ache all over and have been in pain for the last 4 hours and still have 4 hours to go..
Here’s a little mental strength builder tip – find a (short) loop that passes the front of your home (or close by) and run it that two or more times. For example I use a 6 mile loop – on a wet, weekday evening I run it multiple times to get my mid week long effort in.
I get mental strength, and satisfaction from running past my front door and carrying on for another loop – it really helps with those long dark ultra marathon training runs.
It has the added benefit of being able to resupply, or ‘stash’ water/food on part of the loop somewhere and pick it a few miles later.
[…] another ultra marathon mental tip that I’ve found really useful (if you missed the first one you can find it here). This one is about giving yourself the mental confidence that you can go […]