Bouncing Soles Ultrarunning blog on running... Running very very far.

Want to be better at ultrarunning? I don’t have a tip for you—I have a MINDSET! That’s right, a way to shift your thinking that covers multiple aspects of performance.

What are my principles of a 24/7 athlete? It’s the small daily actions that supplement the running—not JUST the running—that make you a more durable athlete. The small 1 or 2% improvements in daily actions lead to huge progress OVER TIME. Sorry, this isn’t an overnight success story. It’s one filled with long, slow progress that you slowly start to love, are OK with some backslides, and are OK with being uncomfortable the entire way.

These are, in no particular order:

Strong, Flexible, Fast, Endure, Mouth, Mind, Recover—or “Super Fit Folks Excel Mentally, Move Rapidly” to remember it better.

If you want your ability to endure at its highest level. Let’s start with the first one and how you can incorporate it into day-to-day living:

STRONG

Why are people afraid of strength training? Because they think it has to be a full dedicated day or gym session. This can just be a daily push-up or pull-up challenge. You know what’s cheap to purchase? A pull-up bar. You know what’s great to get you in shape? Bodyweight exercises. Have you ever tried rucking? It’s just walking with weights on your back! This is NOT hard, people. Stop telling yourself you don’t DO strength. LIES! It just needs to be EASY. Do 10 push-ups every hour during your entire workday when nobody’s looking. Do some pull-ups or sit-ups while watching TV, but have a set goal you will do every day. Check in with someone. You don’t need a gym membership or a personal trainer. You just need to be consistent.

FLEXIBLE

Do you know why you get injured? Because you’re tight. Do you know why you’re tight? Because you prioritize the chair or sitting more than movement. You know how you fight that? Standing, or only sitting for set periods. I set a very high priority on sitting cross-legged. Yoga once or twice a week. Is it hard to find classes? Guess what?!?! You can do them in the privacy of your home with sites like https://www.doyogawithme.com/ or stretch while you watch TV. Check out YouTube. You have no excuse, but you will keep getting more inflexible as time goes on and you age.

FAST

If you want to be fast, you gotta run fast. There’s no PR fairy that just magically waves her wand over you. If you want to run faster than ever, you need to run FASTER THAN YOU NORMALLY DO! SPEED BURSTS, strides, hill repeats—it’s not that hard. Stop going out on a run at the same pace you’ve done for 15 years. HIT THE GAS once in a while!

The PR fairy is paying you a visit in your race.

ENDURE

You gotta be able to go long to run ultras. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts. Your endurance block will, odds are, be your most important. Back-to-back long runs are critical. Spending lots of time on your feet helps. Adaptations that happen when you are on your feet for 4-5 hours are unique to the challenges on race day.

MOUTH

Eat real stuff—like things that are alive or as close to living as possible. Take that any way you want, but it shouldn’t “live” on a shelf. You can’t perform at a high level if you fuel with crap. PERIOD. Take your crap foods on your long runs—that’s the only time they WON’T spike blood sugar and cause you to store it as fat. Save your junk foods for your long runs.

One more thing: there’s no amount of alcohol that’s good for you. This year, I plan to take it off the list. As much as I love it and enjoy having it at social events, I’m done with it and looking for a healthy alternative. Tea or maybe kombucha as a tasty substitute? There’s a whole bunch of non-alcoholic beers coming out.

MIND

Read, meditate, and get quiet. Get inside your mind. Don’t consume crappy content. Read, take walks, and SIT IN SILENCE! It’s a superpower, and it’s one you need at mile 87 when you have to quiet your mind. Do you listen to every voice you hear, or can you quiet them? Box breathing is a thing! Try to focus on breathing instead of toxic thoughts. The mind loves to think, but sometimes it has to STFU.

RECOVER

“I only need like 5 hours of sleep.” Sure you DON’T! That’s horrible, and you’re either eating late at night, watching TV late, or having a terrible sleep routine. FIX THAT! You can’t work out hard without a hard recovery. Workouts are traumas to the body. If you never recover properly, it’s a matter of time before you are sidelined by injury.

To recap, you want to be strong, flexible, fast, endure, and watch what you put in your mind and mouth while focusing on recovery. I am not saying any of these are EASY, but they are needed 24/7. A 24/7 athlete is mindful of how often they do vs. don’t do these things. That’s it. That’s my goal for 2025. If I screw up, I will be letting myself down, and I can’t let that happen.

The PR fairy is coming to a race for you this year!

What keeps a running career going? There are two key elements: motivation and validation. Successful runners will have both. There’s showing up, but getting recognized for your performance is key. How do you motivate yourself? Is it internal or external? Initially, your motivation comes from external sources. Maybe you want to lose weight or improve your appearance. But what keeps you lacing up your shoes once you reach your goal?

Racing provides both external motivation and validation. Races pressure you to perform at a high level, a commitment to train for an event. They provide a sense of validation when you perform well, and hit PRs for new distances or times. External validation like social media is a double-edged sword. While it can be inspiring, did you ever ask yourself, how much would I train if nobody was watching?

I eat a decent amount of candy in ultras

I started running in my 20s in college. There was a lot of external validation. I was comparing myself to others with how I placed in races. It was outward-facing, and not as internal. You see this in youth sports. They give participation awards or candy for showing up, it’s immediate feedback. My daughter would get a lollipop after soccer or swim practice. It’s external; I can’t expect internal motivation at the age of 5. Adults are the same way, some run just to eat donuts and not feel guilty.

The rewards from running take time to cultivate before a sense of internal accomplishment exists. External rewards come easily and are plentiful, but not very nutrient-dense like a donut. If you continue to rely on them, they put your motivation in the control of others. The worst aspect of using social media for validation is you are now dependent on who sees your post. There’s no end to how much external validation you will consume. Like empty calories of the donuts “likes”, “kudos”, or “views” will never give you a sense of contentment. Why don’t my runs get validation? It’s out of your control. Running starts with external validation but shifts to an internal sense of reward. This is not an easy task. The dopamine from external validation feels good, but it’s a trap. You will always crave more.

I want a lollipop a the finish of my next ultra

Ultras provide external motivators similar to the lollipop. You get a belt buckle or finisher medal. The trap is when that’s the only reason you race. Another checkbox to fill, another notch on my belt. It’s one of the traps of racing, where you only fixate on the reward vs the journey. Focused on the finish vs that next aid station. When pain is great, “finish fixation” is all you think about. When is my suffering going to end? Too distracted with the lollipop vs. enjoying the privilege to race. The trick is to bring it back to the present, back to the task at hand.

Where do you put your confidence? In what you do, or telling others what you do? Put it on yourself. Learn to feel the confidence in performing the act in and of itself. It’s not about social media. Keep it for yourself. If that’s what you need to get you out the door, there is nothing wrong with that. Just don’t let that take precedence over the internal. The external is the lollipop; the internal pulls you forward at mile 75 when everything hurts, and you want to drop out of the race.

The ultimate mental endurance event would be to register and complete a 100-mile race and tell nobody! Similar to a tree falling in the forest, if a runner runs in the woods, does it happen if he doesn’t post it on Strava? 🤣 Would you still run if nobody knew? If nobody was at the finish line? Would you do these events if you removed the social media aspect? Some say yes, others say no. Again, showing others you can do hard things is not bad. You never know who you are inspiring. Parenting involves setting an example for your children who are ALWAYS watching and listening. Are “followers” or “subscribers” then your children? 😁😁

Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.

Find that internal inspiration. Do something you have never done before. It doesn’t matter what others think, don’t worry about how it looks to others. Take two weeks of not posting any run on social media, or even taking your watch on a run. Leave the metrics at home and run by feel, run with no attachments, no expectations. Sadness is caused when reality doesn’t align with our expectations.

To develop your skills and talents in life you need motivation and validation. If it’s to post on social media, then keep doing it. Motivation is motivation, no matter what form it comes in, but self-motivation burns brighter than the external motivation of how others perceive you. It’s OK to have both, but don’t let one take precedence over the other. You don’t need validation for anything you do, because everyone is their own worst critic. Run as a form of service to yourself. Do it for the memories, the adventure, and the friendships. Don’t do it for the likes. Do it as an act of kindness to your future self, because you’re the only one who benefits. This is about a love of self, vs love of how you are seen. Nobody is thinking about you, nobody cares!

Final thought: It’s almost like humans were wired with a need for validation in our actions. Is it a feature or a bug? What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

I say the worst things about myself… Fueled by self-hatred 🤣🤣

The devil looks like he’s a distance runner… 😱😱