Two athletes discuss the mental struggles that hit during long runs and race prep. They explore how negative thoughts and physical difficulty compound each other, and what athletes actually do to prepare for that mental breakdown.
Okay, so what, what would you say now? I want to go back to. I want to go back to your bad mental space. You said that you want to get them into a bad mental space. Can you at least once. Because it's gonna happen on the race. So can you describe what that means? What are some like what exactly do you mean when you say they're going to be in a bad mental space? What are some of the things that come up and then how do you prepare for it?
Yeah, like normally it's as the mileage as we're like peaking for the race is when that kind of happens. Cause you're, you're getting worn down and what it. I mean a typical example would be going out for your long run and things just feel off. The whole run feels horrible. The middle of the run, the, the demons are just there. You're like I don't need, I can't do this. Like I shouldn't be doing this. Like who am I to run this race? You know, maybe they have some gi issues cuz in long endurance races you have to eat. So maybe like they can't keep food down for a little bit and you know, it's just this spiral of like I should just quit right now. Like this is a waste of my time. Like I'm just an embarrass.
