Mental training- suck it up

[Climber]

I have learned that I'm fairly weak when it comes to the mental aspect in running. For the most part, training and sports have come 'relatively' easily to me and I have never had to work through some really nasty mental stuff. Well, all that changed when I started trail running. It was not 'easy' and it seemed like every big hill I encountered mocked me. For the first year of running I had never even tried running big hills. I just didn't think it was possible. I entered a few 50K's and finally learned what it meant to really suffer. Bball, football, strength training, mtn biking and climbing were all "easy" to me compared to trail running. i could get better and be slightly above average for not a lot of sweat equity with every sport except trail running. For some reason, this sport had my number.

One day, I decided to run up one particularly nasty hill and somehow I made it up without walking. Immediately, I felt a mental shift and I realized so much of the "quit" i had in me was all mental. My training and conditioning improved and I was able to start running things I thought previously impossible. Crossfit has helped similarly but I still struggle sometimes. Now, whenever i feel like slacking, I know I just need to keep moving and things will eventually get better (or I will have a heart attack and expire). Either way, the suffering will eventually end.

I'm still trying to improve; so curious as to what y'all do help with the mental aspect when suffering begins? How do you get conditioned to turn that nagging voice off that says to SIT and RELAX when things get tough.

 

[Poser]

I have this mental game that I use for pushing through, which could be anything from training to rolling out of bed at 3 AM. I'll have a mantra of some sort for the day. These are usually spontaneous and could be a part of a song such a chorus, or line or a short phrase or saying that serve as the mental "theme" of the day. The mental game is, when I repeat that mantra to myself, I am not allowed to quit, or hit snooze or whatever the task at hand is. Having a unique mantra for that reflects my mood, state of mind, motivation or lack thereof, of that given day allows me to "embrace the suck", if you will. These "mantras" are entirely spontaneous -something that pops in my head first thing that morning. It might be the Chorus of a Stooges song or a line from a John Prine song, a quote or a stupid phrase that is stuck in my head. Anything.

In Crossfit, often the intensity is too high and/or the tasks too complicated to be have that much of a thought process. In that case, I usually convince myself to get whatever the task is down to 5 reps, because I can always squeeze out 5 more reps, no matter how bad it is. So, its kind of a "5 rep" mentality.

That's how I get through it.

 

[Z Barebow]

Much like Poser, mantras or short phrases.

In big races, I use a sharpie and write on my arm "Run Like Hell!" (One of my favorite Pink Floyd songs)

"When the going gets tough,,,,, the tough get going!" Line by John Belushi in Animal House. I still laugh when I picture him trying to rally to students.

And one of my favorites. “If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do… the body is never tired if the mind is not tired.”
-General George S. Patton

I also think about the POW's who have been tortured and refused to roll over. Those guys put up with pain for days. I surely can hurt for an hour or two and not give up.