Mental Skills for Ultrarunning

Part I – Mental Well-Being & Psychological Safety

Mental performance starts with Mental Well-being & Psychological Safety

You can’t train mental performance skills without first having a foundation of mental well-being and psychological safety. It’s the same mistake as trying to do speed work without an aerobic base.

Topics we’re going to cover here are self-awareness, managing stress, knowing your capacity, self-compassion, how to passionately chase your vision without losing harmony. Dealing with comparisons and feeling like an imposter. Building a supportive team.

Part II – Present Moment Focus

We’ll move from the inner core to the outer-shell, what holds every piece together is the ability to be present and direct your attention to what matters.

Topics will include getting grounded when your mind is pushing your around, using mindfulness as a daily practice, and learning to focus without wasting energy.

Part III – Motivation

Why the heck did you sign up for a 250-mile race!?

Motivation is ever changing. Have you noticed that the ‘why’ you started with isn’t the one that’s working right now. Getting out of bed when it’s dark and zero degrees feels almost impossible. How do you stay motivated at two o’clock in the morning when your calves are destroyed, your throwing up, it’s raining cat’s and dog’s, and your crew is nowhere in site?

Topics will include diving into having a vision, personal values and turning them into action, goal setting that takes into consideration the obstacles our minds throw at us as well as moving ahead without the mojo (motivation is overrated).

Part IV & V – Emotional Regulation

According to research emotional regulation has been determined to be one of the most critical skills to have as an ultra-endurance athlete. Would you rather spend your energy on moving forward as fast as you can or wasting it on distractions and unhelpful thoughts and feelings? You have a choice- and this class will help you get there.

Topics covered will include learning to defuse from unhelpful thoughts and feelings. Accepting difficult emotions and sensations ( living deep in the pain cave), self-talk strategies and imagery.

Part VI – Execution

You’ve come this far – let’s put it all together. What are your fears that we haven’t addressed for the big day? How can you break down those miles into little chunks, stay focused when the shit hits the fan. How can you decrease the mental load in the days prior to the race so you have the mental endurance during race day?

Topics – Race Day strategies, mental preparation, pre-performance routine, mental endurance.

Is this course just for ultrarunners?

No, any endurance or mountain sport athlete is welcome to join! Having people from different sports is really helpful and can add perspective to the discussion.

I can’t attend the entire series -can I still sign up?

The short answer is yes you can - but this course will not be recorded!

You’re welcome to sign-up but there will be no refunds.

I will allow you to attend another course - in fact people who have attended this course are welcome to come back again and again for free!