Building Mental Endurance When Running

Mental endurance should ideally be trained through the physical training. Do you do truly hard workouts anytime during the season? Or is it mostly keeping within yourself?

Also don't fall into the trap of thinking that mental endurance is the only thing keeping you back from amazing times, the physical part of distance running is imo 90% of it.

If you want to train it, try setting up a very hard workout for your level and finish it even if you can't keep the paces you set out to do. Or try one of these examples: 8x200m with 2min rest, where the goal is to get the best average time on the 200s. Another example: 4x1000m with 700m at 5k pace and the last 300m you kick into mile pace or faster. 4-5min rest.

Thanks for the link, keep sharing this type of info

Try long slow runs. 90-120 minutes. Just focus on finishing with good form the whole time

Thanks for the advice. I'm trying to build up my speed endurance, but I've just recently got the hang of going truly hard for my sprint workouts. I didn't make it clear, but I thinking more so about my distance oriented races (5k, 3200). Being able to maintain a consistent pace and handling discomfort over longer periods of time.

One of the most common mistakes a young runner makes in races is uneven splits, which almost always is the result of starting the race too fast. It's possible you are running out of gas at the end. If that's the case, no amount of "mental toughness" in the world is going to help you run faster if the tank is empty. Make it a goal in your next race to run negative spits, or even splits at a minimum.

You need to learn how to race, and it should begin to come more naturally to you the more experience you have.

August West wrote:

One of the most common mistakes a young runner makes in races is uneven splits, which almost always is the result of starting the race too fast. It's possible you are running out of gas at the end. If that's the case, no amount of "mental toughness" in the world is going to help you run faster if the tank is empty. Make it a goal in your next race to run negative spits, or even splits at a minimum.

You need to learn how to race, and it should begin to come more naturally to you the more experience you have.

+1

Continuous tempo runs of 20 minutes or longer help you to build that focus of hitting even splits like a human metronome. Also progression runs.

Hard longer interval race pace workouts. You can be more aggressive in practice and experiment with goal pace. Just be careful about becoming a workout hero and not saving anything for race day.

Tenshi_Euro wrote:

Maybe I'm approaching this from the wrong angle. Idk.

(For anyone wondering)

800m: 2:22

1600m: 5:07

3200m: 10:50

Yes, you are approaching it from the wrong angle. Your times show the exact opposite of what you are claiming. You are not mentally weak, just overthinking the anxiety aspect of the intensity of concentration required to race.

You will get beaten by faster runners, but you have excellent endurance.

There is no specific method for developing "mental endurance". As you train and race, you will learn how hard you can push yourself.

You’re doing just fine as a freshman running those times. Much of what has been said here is true. Mostly, as you run more and race more you’ll naturally understand your limits better... and you’ll also gain maturity and greater self control by the time you’re an upperclassman.

The greats can embrace pain and do not shy away from it. When it starts to hurt instead of shutting it out or ignoring it, I have found it helps to focus closely on it. “My upper abdomen feels like a knot” rather than “oh no it’s hurting again already.” Helps me compartmentalize what’s actually going on and it reduces the panic that can set in.

I used to think that mental toughness was just a matter of physical fitness, but Matt Fitzgerald's book How Bad Do You Want It? convinced me that mental toughness can be cultivated. Take a look at the book (and a few more running books, too).

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30752624489&searchurl=an%3Dfitzgerald%26sortby%3D17%26tn%3Dhow%2Bbad%2Bdo%2Byou%2Bwant%2Bit&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1

A great book comes to my mind. It is called "Endurance" and you might be interested. Deeps into the science of the mental side of running.

amen to that wrote:

August West wrote:

One of the most common mistakes a young runner makes in races is uneven splits, which almost always is the result of starting the race too fast. It's possible you are running out of gas at the end. If that's the case, no amount of "mental toughness" in the world is going to help you run faster if the tank is empty. Make it a goal in your next race to run negative spits, or even splits at a minimum.

You need to learn how to race, and it should begin to come more naturally to you the more experience you have.

+1

This and, when you start a race you should be going out a bit peppy but settle into a difficult but not impossible pace and midway commit to maintaining/going faster and by the last lap you give it all you got. I always found races shorter than a mile to be difficult because they went by so relatively quickly that it was hard to get all I had out. It was "easier" for me to be "tough" in a longer race because there was time to think and to build speed.

But don't get caught in the mental trap of "toughness". I will likely explain this clumsily but essentially there is a tendency for younger runners to think that all they need to do is "will to win" and if they don't it's because they are "weak". This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that you can't race faster because you are tough enough and you aren't tough enough because you are not running faster. It's an easy trap to fall into because if you are anything like most runners, a tremendous amount of self-worth comes from this sport. However, you have to validate yourself outside of your identity as a runner otherwise you will only be "good" as a person based on your last race, workout or run. That isn't tenable even for the pros. You need a sense of detachment from your results IMO but when you are in the race focus only on the race. Don't think about the potential results, your coaches, your friends, your family, just on the race. Have mantra like "relaxed speed", plan out your attack, know what pace you are aiming for +/-, and in the last half to quarter bring out the pace and accept it's going to be uncomfortable. If you achieve your goal(s) for that race enjoy it, if you don't, try to learn from it and move on.

This is not really about how to tolerate pain (even if that happens through enough tough training). I think it is about how you approach it positively and how you are able to build enough mental readiness and competitive edge before the race. This is something that you cannot do when training, normally and I think you need to find out how you "click". The more "on" you are before the race with higher levels of adrenaline and a positive energetic attitude, the better I think.

Henrik Ingebrigtsen is really good at racing well despite not having the training for it. And he thinks mental toughness is the ability to go all in despite not having the perfect physical performance. It is easy to perform well when being in great shape, but what about the other days.

I would try to build some sort of race mentality that works for you. Go for it!

It's absolutely something that you can work on and improve. It just takes practice. One approach you can try is setting a "mental toughness" goal for each race. As some others have already said, starting out a little more conservatively might set you up to be able to dig deeper (physically and mentally) later in the race.

Having a plan helps too. That could be things like focusing on good form and turnover during the last 2 laps of the 3200, or attacking the 500-700 stretch in the 800, not getting passed in the last lap, or passing people on the last lap. Tons of possibilities. Talk to your coach and faster teammates to get other ideas. Make it a game to find out what works best for you.

Sounds like you are on the right track. It just takes time and experience.