Emotional Regulation in Ultrarunning

What the Research Shows and How Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Helps You Go Further

Ultrarunning isn’t just a test of physical endurance it’s a crucible for emotional resilience. Whether you’re grinding up Hope Pass at Leadville, managing stomach issues at Foresthill at Western States, or riding the mental rollercoaster of the Moab 240, your ability to regulate emotions becomes as important as your training plan.  Research increasingly shows that how ultra runners manage their feelings mid-race can influence performance, recovery, and mental health. Here’s a look at the science and why an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based mindset can help.

What We Know from the Science

1. Emotional regulation predicts endurance performance.

Studies in endurance athletes show that runners who use more adaptive emotional regulation strategies like acceptance, cognitive reframing, and self-compassion - perform better and report lower perceived effort. In ultra-distance events, these strategies correlate with finishing rates and pacing stability. For example, a study of ultramarathoners competing in a 100 km race found that higher mood variability (i.e., greater swings in total mood disturbance) was significantly correlated with slower finish times (Burgum & Smith, 2021). This suggests that stable emotional states (or at least fewer extreme fluctuations) may support better pacing and endurance.

2. Suppression doesn’t work (and makes the pain feel worse.

Trying to “push emotions down” actually increases physiological stress. Research shows suppression increases heart rate and perceived exertion and can make discomfort feel more intense  (Wagstaff, 2014). In a race that lasts 10–30+ hours, that adds up. Focusing your energy on running versus wrestling with your thoughts and feelings is going to go way further in helping you reach your goals.

3. Ultrarunning triggers natural emotional variability.

Mood swings, irritability, frustration, and waves of anxiety are normal physiological responses to sleep loss, caloric deficit, stress hormones, and accumulated fatigue. The athletes who do best aren’t the ones who avoid those emotions they’re the ones who develop flexible responses to them.

4. Psychological flexibility = resilience in motion.

Multiple studies across endurance sports show that the ability to shift mental strategies, stay present, and stay connected to values even when uncomfortable predicts better performance and lower distress. That’s exactly where Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) comes in.

How Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Helps Ultrarunners Regulate Emotions (Without Trying to “Control” Them)

ACT isn’t about positive thinking or forcing calm. It’s about building skills that help you run with your mind, not against it.

1. Acceptance: Making room for discomfort instead of fighting it

In ultras, discomfort is guaranteed with fatigue, doubt, frustration, and spikes in pain. ACT teaches you to open up to these sensations instead of burning energy resisting them.

Example: Noticing “here’s a wave of panic at mile 42” without treating it as a problem to fix.

This reduces the mental load and frees up energy for actual problem-solving.

2. Defusion: Unhooking from unhelpful thoughts

Your brain will offer thoughts like:

• “I can’t finish.”

• “I’m slowing down.”

• “Everyone else is stronger.”

Getting present in the mountains of Colorado.

ACT helps you see these as passing mental events, not instructions.

When you unhook from thoughts, and gain perspective you choose your next step based on your values, not your mind’s chatter.

3. Present-moment attention

Ultras pull you into the future (“How am I going to survive the next 50 miles?”) or the past (“I shouldn’t have gone out that fast”). ACT brings you back to what matters right now: the next aid station, the next switchback, the next gel, the next sip of water.

Staying present lowers anxiety and improves pacing intuition and helps you direct you to direct your focus to what matters.

4. Values: Your why when things get dark

When the low points hit, and research shows they reliably do, values act as an internal compass:

• Growth

• Adventure

• Grit

• Community

• Self-trust

ACT helps athletes anchor into these when motivation dips.

This transforms suffering into meaningful purpose.

5. Committed action

Ultrarunning is a long series of micro-actions: step, sip, eat, breathe, repeat.
ACT helps you align those actions with your values even when your mind says “stop.”

This is where most breakthroughs happen. Looking back on a past race – this ability was key.

What This Means for Your Training

Emotional regulation isn’t about being calm all the time. It’s about building mental agility, the ability to notice what’s happening inside you, make space for it, and choose actions that get you closer to your goal.

In practice, that looks like:

• Letting frustration rise and fall without letting it control your pace

• Catching negative thoughts before they spiral

• Staying with the present moment instead of jumping ahead

• Having a values-based mantra for low moments

• Practicing acceptance during training, not just race day

Ultrarunning already trains your body to persist. ACT trains your mind to come with you.

Stay tuned – in the coming weeks I’ll be offering an early discount to my six-session training: Mental Skills for Ultrarunning, a training that is anchored in ACT and psychological flexibility.

If you’re liking what you’ve read please share with others and don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you’re here in Colorado and looking for assistance.

Cheers!

Neal

References:

Burgum, P., & Smith, D. T. (2021). Reduced mood variability is associated with enhanced performance during ultrarunning. PLoS ONE, 16(9), e0256888. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256888

Wagstaff, C. R. (2014). Emotion regulation and sport performance. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 36(4), 401–412.