How to Get Back to a Marathon Mentality

IT WAS HOUR 36 of our 37-hour-and-25- minute run from Santa Monica, California, to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. I was participating in The Speed Project’s relay event, and my team had 309 grueling miles behind us and approximately 11 to go.

- JESS MOVOLD

I felt physically and mentally beat up, and I wasn’t sure what more I had left to give. I managed to sleep a total of 75 minutes, sliced up into a few quick naps, and according to my gadgets, my recovery was deeply in the red at 6 percent. How could I possibly keep charging forward?

In moments like this, you have to dig deep. And while The Speed Project and a marathon are very different experiences in theory, the required discipline, mental strength, and physical readiness are the same. Here are three tactics I learned from my experience that I’ll use for upcoming marathons. Give them a try for your next 26.2.

Reframe your thinking

Committing to a marathon is not something to take lightly—it’s a major milestone in running and should be respected as such. In terms of honoring that commitment, your training carries even more weight than showing up for race day does. It’s important to reframe your thinking when it comes to getting your training runs in, so that the real question you have each day is not if you’ll get the training done, but rather when you’ll get the training done.