The Everyday Ultra Newsletter

Ultra training tips to help you be a better endurance athlete, every day
by Joe Corcione

#ENDUREBETTER 🐺 

How to Train Your Mind for Mile 80 (and Beyond)

Training your mind is just as (if not, more) important than training your legs for an ultra.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t run anymore”

I looked down at my watch and the mileage number made my heart sink: “81 miles”.

Not only had I gone 81 miles; I still had 19 more to go. And this was my first 100 mile race ever.

It was dark. Cold. My legs were in seething pain. And the thought of running seemed unbearable.

So, I did what my brain was telling me to do: walk. And, so I walked for miles and miles and miles.

After a long bit of walking, around mile 97, a fellow runner and his pacer came flying by me. The pacer looked back and said, joyfully, “come run with us!”.

I felt like I wasn’t in the mood for his shenanigans. But, why the heck not. I had 3 miles left. So, I started running.

And to my surprise, I kept going. And going. And going. Until I had crossed the finish line in my first 100 mile race.

Of course, I was so proud. But something kept popping up in my mind: “If I kept telling myself I couldn’t run at mile 81, then how was I able to keep running for those last 3 miles”.

The answer was hard to swallow, but was necessary for me to face: I simply let my mind talk me into it.

But once I realized that, and began to train my brain more, when I lined up for my second 100 mile race later that year:

I didn’t walk ONCE. Not at all. And I hit a PR in my 100 mile time by over 7 hours.

And I credit a large part of that to training my brain deeper after that first 100 miler.

Here’s how you can train yours.

Why is our brain such a jerk?

Before we even get into training the brain, it’s always important to understand what we’re going against.

And we’re going against biology here.

We all know that dirtbag voice in our heads that shout the meanest things to us when we are in the middle of doing something hard.

“You can’t do this”
“You’re weak”
“Why are you even trying?”

We’ve all been there. But that’s the important thing to note. We have ALL been there.

I went to a self-help seminar once in an arena filled with 20,000 people. The speaker asked the audience: “How many of you have had the thought, ‘I’m not good enough’?”. Everyone raised their hands.

The speaker then said: “If you all have had that same thought, then how can that be YOUR thought?”.

The point he was making is that every single human being on the planet has that same thought. So it’s not actually us being mean to ourselves. It’s our brain doing what it’s supposed to do: keep us safe.

Back in the ol’ Ice Age, that voice would keep us out of trouble from getting mauled by a Wooly Mammoth or eaten by a Sabertooth Tiger. It served a huge purpose. When we are in danger, our brain does whatever it takes to get us the hell out of there.

Now, fast forward to now: when you’re in an ultramarathon, you put your body through a lot of pain. Dehydration, caloric deficit, legs have been beaten to smithereens. It’s a lot on the body. Now, our good ol’ brain thinks it’s helping us here. Because it sees all the chaos that is going on and thinks, “oh crap, they’re going to die if they don’t stop”.

So, it does what it does best: it tries to throw everything it can at us to get us to stop (hence why it sounds like a great big meanie every time).

Now here is the catch: once you understand that the thoughts that you have only have control over you if you ACT on them, then you can be in control of how you respond to those thoughts. And once you realize it’s just your brain trying to keep you safe, you realize those mean words aren’t yours, and you can actually choose the way you want to talk to yourself.

But, just like training to crush the mountains, you gotta train your mind to get good at this. And this is how to do it.

The process to become a mental ninja and push through that negative voice.

Follow this process in your training, life, and long runs, and you’ll find that you’ll become stronger over your mind.

1. Start to become aware of the thoughts that are going through your head. You may not even realize your mind is throwing a bunch of mean crap your way, or exactly what it is saying. Observe the thoughts, but not with judgment; but with neutral observation. Meditation is a great tool for this as it teaches you to observe (and not react) your thoughts. Or, if you can’t sit still for 5 seconds like me, just be aware of the things that pop in your head in the middle of a long run, speed workout, or an uncomfortable situation.

2. When you hear those thoughts again, don’t react right away. Observe it. And then, don’t try to ignore it. Acknowledge it. If you try to ignore the negative thought, your brain is going to try and push that thought louder and louder until you do hear it. And it’s going to be loud. Know the thought is there.

3. Once the negative thought is observed, come up with something that either proves the thought wrong OR is an empowering alternative to that thought. For example, if your brain says “you can’t climb this hill”. You look back at it and be like “uh, but I crushed many hills like this in the past, so I got this!”. Remember: negative thoughts only have power over us if we believe them to be true. So, if we prove them wrong, they have less power over us.

4. ACT in a positive way that supports that new, positive thought or affirmation. Crush that damn climb. Put a smile on your face. Whatever you need to do, do something in the real world that shows that you are reacting in a way that is empowering as a result of that thought.

5. Keep repeating this for each thought that you have.

The more you do this, the better you get at it.

And here’s the magic: the more you do it, the more automatic it becomes in our brain.

Our brain loves repetition. That is why when you do something day after day after day, it becomes a habit.

And just like acting out to negative thoughts can become a habit, acting positively in response to negative thoughts can also become a habit.

So, the more you do it, the more automatic it becomes.

And the more you’re able to get through the hard things stronger.

Practice this in your long runs, speed workouts, tough challenges at work; wherever you are in a situation facing adversity.

Because when you harness this skill, nothing will ever be able to stop you in a race.

P.S. whenever I overcome a negative thought, I like to keep track of that in TrainingPeaks because it reminds me of key phrases or things I can remember to take with me in my races. You can give TrainingPeaks a try by going to this link here!

What I’m loving in my current training

BIG MILEAGE AND BIG RECOVERY

As I train for Western States 100 and Badwater 135, one of my biggest goals this training block is to put in more volume than I’ve ever put in before.

But, with great volume, comes great responsibility (that’s how the quote goes, right?).

And by responsibility, I mean recovery. Because if you’re going to put in more work, you have to put in more recovery.

This is important because you not only have to make sure you stay away from injury. But you actually need to recover to let your body soak in the gains you are looking to get in your training.

Because the gains actually happen in the recovery.

It’s like when you are lifting weights, you are tearing the muscle. And when the muscle repairs itself when you are NOT lifting, that is when it gets stronger. The same is true with running gains.

So if you train more and recover less, you’re not only risking injury; but also, risking not making as much progress.

I’ve made my recovery a huge priority for me this block, and here are the things that have helped me the most (which I suggest you give a try if you’re looking to boost your recovery):

1. Make sleep a non-negotiable. I don’t cut my sleep short for training. And if I can get in the extra hours, I will. I even bumped my average sleep time to an hour extra per night during this block. Now, I know that not everyone can add an extra hour, BUT, I do believe everyone can improve their sleep quality. Because if you get a higher quality of sleep at the same hours, you’ll recover better. This includes getting a high quality pillow (seriously), blacking out your room with no light when you sleep, turning the temperature cooler in your bedroom, trying to avoid screens before bed. This is the biggest thing you can do for recovery.

2. Higher amounts of protein. While I love to shove massive amounts of carbs in my face, I upped my protein big time. I try to get in at LEAST 1 pound per bodyweight of protein per day. Sometimes 1.2 on harder days. Your muscles will thank you.

3. Taking supplements to help with overall health. I take CurraNZ Black Currant Extract, Fish Oil, Vitamin D3, Magnesium, creatine, and a daily multivitamin every day to help with my overall health. Although supplements won’t fix your health and recovery magically, they can still help big time.

4. Daily mobility for 10 minutes. Trust me: I freakin hate mobility. But my body likes it. And it’s only 10 minutes. I just put on mobility routines on YouTube and do the routine in my office. Your body will thank you.

Put in the miles, but also put in the recovery. Trust me. It’s worth it!

Discount codes for amazing running brands

Someone asked me if we can share all of the discount codes for our amazing partners, so I figured I’d put them all in here!

• For nutrition, get 15% off HYPERLYTE Liquid Performance with code EVERYDAYULTRA

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• For pain relief, get 20% off PlayOn Pain Relief with code EVERYDAYULTRA

• For training data analysis and planning, get 20% off one year of premium of TrainingPeaks with code EVERYDAYULTRA

• For running shoes, get 10% off Mount to Coast shoes with code EVERYDAYULTRA

• For recovery and performance supplements, get 15% off CurraNZ with code EVERYDAYULTRA

• For wipes, get 15% off Bear Butt Wipes with code EVERYDAYULTRA

🚨 Also, here’s a surprise discount for you! As a thank you for being a subscriber of this newsletter, you can get 30% off your first month of ultramarathon coaching with me and my team here at Everyday Ultra! Book a call below with our team to see if it’s a good fit, and if you’re in, mention you saw this discount in the newsletter and we’ll hook you up!

Have questions about running, training, or anything else? Respond to this email and I’ll be happy to help.

Remember, endure better, every day.

- Joe 🐺