Training the mind for greater endurance

From summiting peaks to living with chronic illness, five intrepid individuals share mental strategies that help them push past their limits

- Jayanthi Madhukar

For those of us who aspire to push our physical limits to reach a personal summit, the “secret” to success is having a mindset that will help us power through.

No matter what the aspiration isfrom swimming fifty laps in the pool, running a marathon to mastering salsa dance or learning yoga-the mind often sets the terms of what the body can do. To understand how people confront those moments when the body wants to give up, Mint asked five individuals including a mountaineer, a snowboarder and a Parkinson's advocate on what helps them in the face of challenging physical conditions. Each revealed the small yet stubborn mental shifts that help them keep going when conditions turn unforgiving.

WHO: Karl Egloff, a Swiss-Ecuadorian mountaineer, mountain guide, and endurance athlete best known for speed ascents of major mountains such as Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania; Cotopaxi, Ecuador, and Makalu on the China-Nepal border.

Mental training before a climb is what allows me to stay clearheaded when things go wrong. Before I start any climb, I ask myself two important questions: “Why am I here?” and “Am I truly prepared?” I need to know that I am doing this because I love it and not because I feel I have to. My mental preparation starts months before I ever set foot on the mountain. I spend a lot of time visualizing the entire route; imagining how I will feel, how I will move, and what challenges will come, especially in the death zone. I have learned that physiology, training, and altitude adaptation are only half the ticket; the other half is mental readiness. Mental readiness, to me, means “being prepared to suffer”. Tools such as breath work, cold exposure training, and long endurance sessions where I push my body into exhaustion help simulate the kind of discomfort I will face up high.