Get More Confident at Ultras

When I tell runners they can be confident at the starting line, they see my number of finishes and think,

“Easy for you to say. If I’d run that many 100s, I’d be confident too.”

It’s a fundamental misunderstanding of how to become confident.

Confidence doesn’t come from finishing races.

Confidence comes from deciding to believe confident things about yourself and your chances at the race.

I wasn’t always as confident as I am.

Decades ago, I’d run some 100s but was starting to rack up a bunch of useless, totally optional DNFs - two on one of the easiest courses around at the time - Umstead 100. 

Two in a row because the first one freaked me out so badly.

The second one was a real lesson. I DNF’d again that time because going into the race, I was sure I’d have the same problem I had the first time.

And thinking that way, of course I did.

Something had to change and it was clearly my mindset.

I signed up again and this time, I knew I had to think something that would help me instead of hold me back. 

I had to manage my thinking instead of fall for the doom and gloom story my mind kept repeating. 

So instead of worrying about DNFing a third humiliating time, I looked for reasons to believe finishing was possible.

Plenty of people - people I’d run with before - have finished the race and I could too.

I’m training a little more diligently than last year.

I’ve finished harder races, and I can finish this one too.

I kept it up until could see myself leaving the start/finish aid station on those last two loops I’d never finished.

Instead of wondering whether I could finish, I decided I could. 

I was over the mind drama and it was time to get this thing done.

When race day rolled around, I still had doubts but I’d practiced believing enough that this time, I was able to I set them aside and finish the race.

You can do the same.

Nothing in my story required exceptional mental fortitude or natural running talent.

You already have all the ingredients you need: a human mind, a desire to change, and a commitment to doing it.

And the process is simple: practice believing the possibility more than you practice the doubt.

Yes, it can get easier the more races you do but not because you're finishing more races. 

It gets easier when you work on your thinking like this before every race. That’s adds up to a lot of good-quality practice.

You’ll eventually get to a point where you know your brain is going to feed you doom-and-gloom thoughts, and you know you can manage them.

When you believe you have a decent chance of finishing the race.

And you know that however it turns out, you’ll be proud of yourself. You can rely on yourself do your best, and have your own back no matter what the outcome.

So the next time you start to compare your confidence to mine or someone else’s, remember you have a choice.

Are you going to use us as an example of why you can’t?

Or as an example of what’s possible?

If you want to do this work faster and easier than the years it took me, I’m here to help.

Email or message me for a consult call to talk about working together on your goal.