What’s a story you tell yourself over and over that’s just not true?

The first one I can think of is that “I’m not an athlete.” Then I look through my life and see, football, baseball, wrestling, rock-climbing, mountaineering, alpine skiing, telemark skiing, ski-touring, track, marathon, ultramarathons, road races, oh, and almost forgot the years of Karate and Judo.

You can have a huge VO2max, great running economy, process lactate like no one’s business, consume a gazillion calories without an ounce of GI issues, not have a single ache, perfect weather, have a solid taper, and still have a shitty performance in an ultramarathon, not because of anything other than where your mental energy is and has been. 

Unhooking from the shoulds gets harder and harder when you get tired and fatigued, and you get tired faster when you are tense - it becomes a viscous cycle. Learning to respond and unhook from these unhelpful thoughts when you’re uncomfortable takes work…