You’re into a hard workout, a race or an LSD run, and you are getting tired. Your left brain is telling you that you can’t reach your goal today. The little voices have plenty of excuses:

• “Just slow down a little, there are other days when you can push it harder.”
• “You didn’t get much sleep last night, slow down – take it easy.”
• “Stop and walk, go on – you’ll feel much better.”
• “You’ve run enough today, why are you doing this?”
• “Who are you kidding? You’ll never be a real runner anyway.”

And the list goes on. You start thinking that you can feel a twinge here and a niggle there. It doesn’t take much talking to before you feel like giving up. But, luckily, it’s pretty easy to talk over the top of the “little voices” to keep on running through the tough times.

Strategies for fighting fatigue

First, is there a real medical reason why you can’t run as projected? Be honest with yourself. Is it a niggle coming from your left brain? Or is it something more serious that you shouldn’t ignore?

Second, are there external factors coming into play? For example, if the race was delayed the temperature may be much hotter than you expected. Strip down any extra layers of clothing you have on and slow down accordingly.

Once you’ve evaluated the situation and it boils down to that you are not willing to push through the discomfort, here are some effective strategies to get tough mentally.

Make a commitment

Mental toughness starts by not giving up. Just keep going and you will gradually push back your limits. In speed training programs this is done naturally by gradually increasing the number of repetitions. In distance training, this is done by gradually adding to the length of your long run. With these increases your body and the mind work together to keep you going when you are challenged.

Make sure your training program is suitable for you and your goals. Commit to your training plan. In a race, if you’ve trained adequately, then it’s a case of hang on and keep going. You know you can do it.

Make a deal with yourself

It’s all about negotiating with your left brain. It can be quite easy to trick your left brain and you are probably doing some of these deals with yourself already.

• Tell yourself “Just one more lap” or “Just one more kilometre” even though you know there might be four more laps or nine more kilometres. By breaking up the workout or race, focusing on one bite-sized piece at a time, you’ve run the whole thing before you know it.
• Start counting steps. Count to one hundred and then do a couple of easy steps before starting counting again. Or you might just repeat to yourself “One more step” over and over and over – you’ll get there.
• Break the run down into parts you can see. Say “To the end of this street” or “Just around the curve” or “To the next water station”. When you are nearly there pick another goal and work towards that.
• Make a deal – after, say, two minutes you can shuffle for a few strides. Then repeat. You’ll find, with practice, that a few strides of shuffling can reduce the tension on your leg muscles and feet without slowing you down much at all.

Use your magic words

A simple, but very effective, brainwashing technique, using your magic words can help you not only reach the finish line but overcome those challenges that may pop up in your training and racing. It might be that you tense up when you are getting tired and worried about not being able to finish the run. The more you worry the more you tense up which affects your running style to make you worry some more. Magic words can break this cycle and the more you use them successfully the more successful, and powerful, they become.

Think back to past training runs and races. Think of the challenges you have had. Pull out the instances when you started to lose motivation but finished and overcame the challenges. Develop your magic words from these instances. So, in the example above, the magic words may be “Relax …… And fly!”. When the runner feels the tension building up, they repeat their magic words over and over. The repetition has a calming effect alone. The runner focuses on staying relaxed and keeping good running form and being able to “fly” along the track or trail. The magic words have an empowering effect in that it invokes the memory of successfully overcoming this problem before and also in the adjustments made in this run to keep moving ahead and finishing successfully.

Play tricks on yourself

These tricks are quick fixes that distract the left brain for a while. They may be crazy but when you counter a left brain message with a creative idea, you often confuse the left brain and stop the flow of negative messages – at least for a while.

• Example 1: Taken from the world of public speaking – imagine everyone you see is naked. Runners certainly come in all shapes and sizes and if it works long enough to get you down the road or track another 300 metres or more then it’s done its job.
• Example 2: Imagine you have a giant elastic band that you can loop around a runner in front of you. Focus on the strong elastic band that pulls you along as the runner in front is pushing ahead. This may keep you amused for a minute or two to get through a tough patch.
• Example 3: Think of the one memory or TV show that always makes you laugh. Laugh out loud. Laughing activates the creative right side of the brain. This usually generates several more entertaining ideas and may even keep you entertained the rest of the way.

It always seems easier to listen to the negative voices, especially when you’re tired or finding the going tough. But building mental toughness is a vital ingredient in running and it starts by not giving up. Just ignore the negative messages and stay focused to the finish of your run.

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

Franklin D Roosevelt

1. “The human spirit is indomitable. No one can ever say you must not run faster than this or jump higher than that. There will never be a time when the human spirit will not be able to better existing records.” Sir Roger Bannister On 6 May 1954, Roger Bannister ran the first timed sub-four-minute mile in history. A medical student at Oxford University at the time, Bannister ran the mile in 3:59:4 at a local meet at Oxford’s Iffley Road track. Always an amateur athlete, he retired from competitive running later that year and went on to become a prominent neurologist. His autobiography, First Four Minutes (later reprinted as Four Minute Mile), was published in 1955. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975.
2. “If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don’t spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it.” Priscilla Welch Priscilla Welch qualified for the British Olympic team in 1984 by running the London Marathon in 2:30:06 and is most remembered for three incredible marathon feats she performed over the age of 40: In 1987, Welch set a world record for masters women with a 2:26:51 at the London Marathon. At the 1987 New York City Marathon, at the age of 42, Welch won the overall women’s title, the oldest woman ever to claim that honor at New York. In 1988, Welch placed fourth at the Boston Marathon in 2:30:48, a masters record which held until 2002.
3. “If you want to run, then run a mile. If you want to experience another life, run a marathon.” Emil Zátopek One of the greatest runners of the 20th Century, Emil Zátopek achieved legendary status when he won the 5,000, the 10,000 and the marathon at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. He was the first to run a 10K under 29 minutes and the first to run 20K in one hour. Emil is credited with revolutionising running and training. He developed intense interval workouts that have become the standard today.
4. “I’m not trying to prove anybody wrong, I’m just trying to prove something to myself.” Mike PiazzaMike Piazza is an All-Star catcher and power hitter and the National League rookie of the year for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1993. In 1999 he signed a groundbreaking 7-year, $91 million contract with the New York Mets and the next year he helped the Mets into the World Series.
5. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood…” Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the twenty-sixth President of the United States. Following the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, he became the youngest President in the Nation’s history.
6. “Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.” Marilyn vos SavantMarilyn vos Savant (born Marilyn Mach on August 11, 1946) is an American magazine columnist, author, lecturer and playwright who rose to fame through her listing in the Guinness Book of World Records under “Highest IQ”.
7. “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” Henry FordHenry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the American founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. He produced an affordable car, paid high wages and helped create a middle class.
8. “Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, ‘Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?’” Peter MaherPeter Maher (born March 30, 1960 in Ottawa, Ontario) was a Canadian marathon runner who competed mainly in the 1990s. He was credited for a brief period with the record time for a half marathon. Maher represented Canada in the Olympic men’s marathons in Seoul, 1988 and Barcelona, 1992 and was a sub-2:12 marathoner.
9. “I prefer to remain in blissful ignorance of the opposition. That way I’m not frightened by anyone’s reputation.” Ian ThompsonWhen asked to make up the numbers for his club in his first race beyond 10 miles, Ian Thompson suddenly broke through to world class as a marathon runner with a time of 2:12:40, at the time the fastest ever debut at the distance and with which he qualified for the Commonwealth Games. In the Christchurch Commonwealth Games (1974) Ian Thompson (Great Britain) ran the then second fastest marathon of all time.
10. “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.” Bill BowermanWilliam J. “Bill” Bowerman (February 19, 1911 – December 24, 1999) was an American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc. He was a very successful track and field coach, training 31 Olympic athletes, 51 All-Americans, 12 American record-holders, 24 NCAA champions, and 16 sub-4 minute milers. During his 24 years as coach at the University of Oregon, the track and field team had a winning season every season but one, attained 4 NCAA titles, and finished in the top 10 in the nation 16 times.

Hope you found these as inspirational as I do. Now, let’s get out there and run!