A quick way to improve mental strength

Mental strength plays a massive part in running. Whether it’s a training run, your first 5k or an ultra marathon you will at some point need to face up to the fact that you won’t always cruise and you’ll have to dig deep and carry on when you’re not at your best.

Without pushing yourself to the absolute limit you can actually recreate a bit of the feeling you get when you’re switching off / winding down simply by carrying on a little bit further.

Next time you want to jolt your legs into a last half mile or mile, don’t turn up your path to the house or to the office, carry on a little more. Not enough to ruin your schedule or plan, there’s no need to go another 10 miles or anything crazy but I do find quite often that my legs and mind start to get comfortable when I’m a few hundred meters from finishing and it’s good to occasionally tell them they might need to give more.

This only really works when you run past your finishing destination so don’t just plan an extra mile on your run. Actually do your normal run/loop and go straight past your front door instead of stopping. It’s harder than you think.