Perspective Training Tips to Help you Break Barriers and Run Longer

What’s the furthest you’ve ever run? Is it 10 miles? 20 miles? 100 miles?

Do you remember what it felt like and what you thought about during the longest run of your life? I do. I remember thinking that I wanted to quit when I was 22 miles into it. I remember the moment that I felt a toenail come off in my shoe with several more miles left in the race. I also remember thinking at the finish of the race, “damn, that was hard.” Notice the lack of exclamation. I was too tired to think enthusiastically at that point. It was a thought weathered by miles of running and uttered in exhaustion. The period was fitting.

A few days after the race I sat back to reflect on it and the training I had done leading up to it. I remembered thinking similar thoughts during my first 15 mile run. I was 12 miles into it and could only think about how tight my knees felt and the throbbing in my feet. I kept thinking I should stop and take a pain killer. But those thoughts didn’t enter my mind at mile 12 of the longest run of my life. Those negative thoughts came 10 miles later than previously.

Training obviously contributed to my ability to run longer. Physically I had improved. Yet it was the mental improvements that were most striking. An alteration of perspective occurs EVERY TIME you extend your personal limits. Now, when I wake up to go on a 10 mile run I don’t think the same negative thoughts. Yes, my knees and feet will probably ache a bit. Mentally, however, not a single negative thought will enter my mind because of the perspective change I’ve gone through.

To put it simply, once you’ve run 20 miles a 10 mile training run sounds easy because you believe it’s easy given the mental context of the 20 mile run you’ve previously done.

mental fatigue

If you’ve ever participating in any competitive sport or at least listened to someone talk about sports in a competitive manner then you’ve likely heard the saying, “practice hard and the game will be easy.” A variation of that saying which I’ve heard other runners use is “train hard, race easy.” The point is you can change your perspective by training hard, training smart, and training in such a way that you’ve not only physically prepared, but mentally prepared as well.

What can you do to mentally prepare yourself to run longer and stronger

Much of the design considerations behind my training regimens include a specific focus on perspective building. There are several ways that I train myself to better cope with the mental stresses of endurance running. Some of these are my own while others have been adopted from runners I’ve met and trained with. Here are a few recommendations to improve your mental strength and perspective on distance running:

1. Train on hills – mixing in at least 1 day a week doing hill repeats or a steady hill run makes running on flat surfaces seem easy. If you have a race coming up that has a relatively flat elevation profile, throw in some intense hill work during training so that you can hit the flat surfaces running (pun intended).

2. Elevation – Ryan Hall is considered one of the best American distance runners today. Interestingly enough he grew up in Big Bear, California. As a child he ran at an altitude between 6,000 and 8,000 feet with plenty of hills to ascend and descend. His perspective on flat courses at standard elevation is likely much different than most runners.

3. Heat – Ironman triathletes preparing for the volcano fields of Hawaii have trained in metal-working shops rich with welding fumes. Ultra runners getting ready for Badwater have created “heat sheds” in their back yards, equipped with a treadmill and heat lamps in an enclosed vessel in an attempt to recreate the conditions they will face during the race. Training in heat (although this should be done carefully and with plenty of fluids) is a great way to build mental strength.

4. Incremental distance gains – nothing builds perspective better than pushing through barriers. There comes a time when you’re tired and in pain but must go on. If you cannot convince yourself to go further you’ll never push back your mental threshold. Don’t make a quantum leap though. Over several weeks and months you can incrementally extend your peak endurance. Week 4 of marathon training may have you peak at an 8 mile run. Week 16 of marathon training will likely have you peak around 20 – 24 miles. You’ll be surprised at how easy that 8 mile run seems once you’ve knocked off 20.

There are several other ways you can build mental strength to help you become a better runner. For some it involves training with people who are faster and with more endurance than they have. The competition drives them to be better since it adjusts their perspective and makes them realize how much better they can be. Regardless of the methodology though you should seek ways to enhance your mental ability to handle long runs. Several runners do not perform at the level they hoped to because their mental fatigue sets in before their physical fatigue does. Try some of the above methods and find a few of your own to become a stronger, more mentally fit runner.