By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

It wasn’t too long ago when completing a 20-mile-long run, overheated, dehydrated, destroyed, and borderline injured was considered a badge of honor. The “no pain, no gain” mentality taken to the extreme. This outdated machismo has cost many careers and even lives. Thank God that science and collective thought have evolved, leading to an updated concept that is not only more humanitarian but also safer.

I don’t know how it works in other sports, but runners, please adjust to the new way of thinking.

We’ve all heard the stories of football players collapsing with heat strokes under the misguided direction of coaches teaching toughness. We’ve heard of runners ending up in an emergency room rather than at the finish line of a race because they refused to “show weakness.” The story of an athlete ending up overtrained or injured because they refused to take a day off is all too common. Surprisingly, most of this could have been avoided by understanding what mental toughness is not.

In a recent podcast interview, I heard Dr. Justin Ross state that mental toughness could mean different things to different people, making it difficult to define. Dr. Ross is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in health, wellness, and human performance psychology. He has spent the bulk of his career in mental health and wellness initiatives for those performing in stressful, high-demanding environments, including athletics.

Ross defined what mental toughness is not: “Mental toughness is not running when you are injured. It is not running when you are sick. It is not ignoring your body because your mind wants to reach a certain volume for the week, thinking that missing a workout would hinder your success. That’s not what we understand mental toughness to be.”

I look back at the training of great runners like Emil Zatopek, who is known to have done 50×400 workouts several times per week. Sure, he won five golds and a silver in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics and set a bunch of world records, but the peak of his career was compressed into those five years. These days, runners like Eliud Kipchoge have a peak lasting 15 years. For us mere recreational runners, if we want to run until we meet our maker, we should regulate our intensity and make sure we see the big picture while we train.

Listening to your body is a mental exercise where you must overcome the optimism that hip pain will magically go away if you keep running. Or that completing this last mile repeat, despite running on empty, is the difference between a personal record and a mediocre race. If you fail to recognize the warning signs, most likely you will end up overtrained or, even worse, injured.

“Optimism holds a place in the mental toughness conversation,” says Dr. Ross. “What doesn’t hold a place is irrational optimism.”

Coach Steve Magness has a great quote that I often cite to my trained athletes when they refuse to take a day off: “It is better to take three days off now than three weeks off three days from now.”

You can apply mental toughness by being overcautious and playing it smart rather than pushing through when we know it is not advisable. Doing the right thing takes massive amounts of willpower, especially when you really don’t want to. A running friend once walked to the starting line of an important 10K when he realized the tightness in his calf was going to be an issue. So, he turned around, sat it out, watched all his friends finish, and lived to run another day. A few weeks later, he beat me in a half-marathon. Now, this is mental toughness.

Don’t confuse this updated concept with complacency or laziness. Uncomfortable and/or painful moments are inevitable in running. And normal. We must learn to recognize and overcome them. At the same time, we need to be aware of what is expected and what is our brain turning on the engine check light and signaling that there is a problem to be addressed.

Ross defines mental toughness as: “a psychological set of resources and skills that you can apply when you are challenged.” The more challenges and uncomfortable situations you face and overcome, the more mental toughness you’ll build. Just as in mastering a second language or solving the Rubik’s Cube. It takes time and dedication to build up, just like a long run.

“While mental toughness is often equated with perseverance,” says Coach Jason Fitzgerald, “it also requires you to be in tune with your body. Pushing through illness or injury is not mental toughness. But challenging yourself in a workout, or not giving up on a tough long run, walk the fine line of being able to dig deep while finding the internal resources to do difficult things. You may not want to lace up because it’s early, dark, cold, you are tired, or you didn’t sleep well. Yet, you overcome that obstacle and go anyway. That is developing mental toughness.”

I hope you find these insights helpful as you navigate the concept of mental toughness in running. Remember, it’s essential to listen to your body, recognize the signs of overtraining or injury, and find the balance between pushing yourself and knowing when to rest and recover. Mental toughness is about applying psychological resources and skills to face challenges, and it grows stronger through perseverance and self-awareness.

Keep running strong, and may your journey be filled with both physical and mental resilience.