Discussion: Mental toughness

By the sound of the torturous gym classes you go to, you must have heaps!

Seems to be different. I'm not "putting on a show" in front of others ie not stopping etc. All the time I "run" I'm making deals with myself - get to X and you can walk, run up this hill and you can have a breather etc. A mentor tells me I'm using up my mental toughness in other areas and this is my body trying to be kind to me... or else I've just plain run out and know there are far more important things happening to others.

That's the difference between running and orienteering - having a map in my hands forces me to switch off from anything which may be a source of stress.

I always thought mental toughness was just a process of lying to yourself repeatedly, making deals with yourself and slowly moving the goal posts or taking a very large goal and using maths to make it seem smaller. Ie: I run 5kms all the time. This is just like that 5 km race - just 5x8andabit more.... Lets count down the 5kms :)

Who is in control when we do any of these things?

I used to have a deal with myself - if I got this far last week then I can go this far again + 10% etc. But I seem to have lost that willingness. I might try to revive that strategy. going to a different parkrun next week as will be away.

Sometimes I have to say to myself "I'd keep going if this was a rogaine!"