Mental Preparation for Ultrarunning: Conquer challenges with self-talk and self-belief.

By Andrew Pye 

It’s May 2019. I’m halfway up Snowdon. I’m halfway through the Ultra Trail Snowdonia 50-mile event. It’s hot, I’m not fuelled correctly, I’m near the back of the race, I’m really struggling. I don’t have an injury. It’s time to have a word with myself! 

I’ve done the training; I’ve recced the route; I’ve done the climbing. It’s now time to utilise self-talk motivation and, in a sense, get a grip and finish what I’ve started!

Self-talk is a trained mental psychology tool that we can utilise before and during our events, during training and during our life, but how do we do it, and how do we utilise it?

Athletes are only just starting to focus on training the mental side of performance, and we still have a lot to learn. But it is now recognised as an important side of preparedness for any event that will challenge us physically and mentally.  Mental resilience can be the difference between pushing through your boundaries when you CAN physically carry on or making the decision whether it’s worth pushing through a niggle or not.  The great thing is it can be trained and applied to all endurance sports.