 and just like that we are back in the studio back from the mountains okay took out the Nike Pegasus 35 turbos today paired with these Solomon socks it was a special day no discomfort no blisters no nothing just the turbos okay I don't like the turbos at sub 545 pace per mile they're just a little too mushy but it's six minutes a mile 6 10 6 15 and I know like those paces might not apply to you directly but just think like whatever your fast race pace is I am not feeling it in the turbos but a nice solid long run like today which I'll just dive into that right now they're feeling really really nice okay so 22 miles today I didn't realize I didn't remember this but I used to run at that location while I was a student at the University of Colorado when I was on the CU cross country team I actually made a vlog go check it out all about that road Magnolia Road we call it Magnolia Road even though I guess it's called Magnolia Drive anyway go check it out it's kind of the story behind Magnolia Road for me and how it played a part in me walking on to the CU cross country team so go check that out and today 22 miles you start off I think you're like right at 8800 feet maybe 89 it's like you're right under 9000 feet above sea level and then you actually I did some extra mileage and then you drop down to I don't know my guess is about 7800 and then you go back so it's an out-and-back run so 22 miles 6 20 per mile 35 kilometers everyone outside the United States 35 kilometers which I just calculated is about 358 basically four minutes per kilometer so really good long run tomorrow I think I'm gonna talk about or maybe the next day my marathon training update and how many more long runs I have left with basically four and a half weeks to go in this training block before Cleveland so all is well there and one last point before diving into building our mental strength if you want to call it toughness you can I prefer mental confidence that's right mental confidence that's how I approach racing and training so we're gonna get into that in a second but guess what no live stream tonight YouTube has stopped my abilities to live stream because of what happened with the Boston Marathon so that's not good I'm investigating I frankly don't really have time to figure out exactly why so this is not good so I'm not gonna live stream tonight I can't like it well I can it's it the feature has been taken away for now I'm confident it'll be back hopefully soon hopefully it's I'm basically I got a strike on the account a copyright strike so hopefully it's basically that strike will remain for three months and then they take it away I'm really hoping that the live streaming is not gone for three months but I'll keep you updated instead what I'm gonna do remember all the questions that you've sent me they are in this box plus another you know 10 to 20 questions have arrived in the last just in the last week so they will end up in this box so instead tomorrow so Wednesday when we would be doing the live streaming I'm gonna record a Q&A video upload it and you could watch that as I answer your questions from this box I apologize this is life we move on we march on I'm not giving up I'm not afraid I'm not afraid all right now we're gonna dive into mental toughness but as I already mentioned I prefer to approach it from the standpoint from the description of mental confidence okay okay let me and I'll try and be as as concise and clear as possible basically these are some rules that I've created for myself and this is it's based on 20 years of running and frankly it may not be what you want to hear but here we go you ready for this I'm just gonna read a few here fitness does not lie fitness does not lie all right so when you're getting ready for a peak race and you are you want to go win the state championship as a cross-country team or you want to win the four by 800 at the state track meet or you're you're striving for that Boston qualifier time or you are striving to set a PR in a road 10k fitness does not lie okay that's number one number two put yourself in and these are all what I'm what I'm describing right now this is to help alleviate some of the mental anxiety that you might be putting on yourself as you are approaching a peak race okay number two put yourself in uncomfortable situations in your training remember I've talked about calculated risks in your training specifically from the three and a half week mark let's just call it three week mark to six week mark leading up to your peak race so in that three to six weeks out from a peak race that is when I which is right now which is why I went to the mountains and ran 22 miles at 8800 feet above sea level and had a pretty good clip that is why I did that today I put myself in an uncomfort I was quote-unquote a smidge I'll just say it a little nervous today like okay this is gonna hurt and I did that on purpose anyway so that's number two put yourself in uncomfortable situations and number three learn and this is I've been running for 20 years maybe you've only been running for three months and that's okay and it takes time just got to be patient with it learn to enjoy and in parentheses I'm gonna put embrace the suffering the pain it takes time it really does there's no other way to say it other than you've got to be patient and consistent in your training and over time your body will learn to quote-unquote enjoy the suffering today on some of those hills from mile 14 to 20 it was it's like there's some serious hills up at Magnolia Road and I was mentally making the decision using my free will we'll get to that in a second to enjoy this suffering it's a crazy place to go it's kind of going into that pain cave as we often talk about in ultra running so I went to the pain cave and I sat there as I was still running and I was like okay I'm going to enjoy this pain my legs screaming at me my lungs I was breathing of course I was breathing I'm going to learn to enjoy this breathing and of course focus on my form that was big today we won't get into that too much but I had to make the choice today to enjoy the pain embrace the pain I'll just add one more thing there's no luck there's no luck in long distance running I'm sorry I don't believe there's luck in basketball you can make a half court shot and I think there might be a little now I realized Steph Curry is pretty good at hitting half court shots so there is some talent there but sometimes you see a half court shot you're like okay that was a little bit of luck there all right in long distance running again fitness does not lie there's no I just don't believe that there's luck in long distance running you put in the work and you make it happen so again for me it's not about mental toughness it's about mental confidence why your body's gonna win if you go out too hard in a marathon and you blow up at mile eight nine ten you're in for a long day it it doesn't matter I in my opinion it doesn't matter how mentally tough you are up here your legs are gonna win the day I'm sorry it's just like this is biology this is anatomy this is how we are built like we can push hard and I think you need to set high high goals but that's different from being so like mentally geared up for a race that you think that you're gonna go out and do something that you haven't trained for again fitness does not lie okay strategy number one so those are kind of my rules that I've laid out for myself the three rules strategy number one so that you are mentally confident going into a peak race know thyself I've said this many times number one know thyself why I'm not gonna break I'm not gonna break 205 in a marathon I'm not built for that I'm not gonna break 13 30 in a 5k okay it's just it's it's beyond me so why set yourself up for disappointment by setting goals that are just ludicrous but but on the flip side I was a 1627 guy in high school for the 5k and I walked on to the CU cross-country team so it's a balance I'm not saying don't dream but know thyself how hard are you willing to work all right up here in your heart like are you willing to put in the work because that will give you the mental confidence to go out and achieve your goals and your dreams but one more example I just saw a documentary on marathon running and this lady it took her 18 marathons to qualify for the Boston marathon to get the BQ it took her 18 times so I'm not saying don't dream but just make sure your goals have a reality check okay oh man I could talk about that all night strategy number two for developing mental confidence all right what's the other option the other option for me is sitting on the couch who wants to sit on the couch now some people want to sit on the couch and play I don't know NBA 2k or FIFA or I don't know what get Fortnite is that a game these days like I don't do that but like some people enjoy that for me I would rather be out running okay and I'm sure many of you would as well so think about if you are having ziety approaching a peak race anxiety approaching a a big workout getting ready for a peak race like today like I was a smidge anxious I'll be totally transparent but then I was like as I was driving to the location I was just thinking to myself what's the other option the other option is to be sitting on my rump at the house and typing at the computer like of course I would much rather be challenging myself striving for this particular workout goal and hopefully building up my fitness for the peak race so again strategy number two think about the other option think about the flip side or if you've had injuries and you're sitting on your couch in a boot because you've got a stress fracture that's happened to me nine times in my life nine times I've sat on a couch with a boot on my foot because of stress fractures okay so I've been there I've lived it and I think if you are a person of good health when it comes to long distance running relish it just live in that goodness and enjoy it and put it put it toward more motivation for good solid training all right so that's strategy number two and now the third and final strategy for building up your mental confidence in long distance running here we go strength by inches now maybe you've heard death by inches that's a I've heard that in football but I prefer the other I prefer strength by inches that's right what's between our ears that's right our brain listen to this I had no clue I look this up today double-checked it here we go our brains our brains have a hundred trillion not billion a hundred trillion connections in our brains how crazy is that and we've got 87 billion cells in our brains what we call neurons 87 billion just like doing what they do up there talking creating memories creating emotions giving us our personalities and and yes giving us the free will and now listen some of my philosophy professors at the University of Colorado would argue that we don't have any free will I would go against that in my humble opinion it is our free will as long-distance runners to get out there and choose the suffering choose the workout choose for me the track remember I don't I don't really love going to the track so I have to use my will to say okay I know I need the track I need that speed work I'm going to the track today all right so anyway that is strategy number three strength by inches we do have the capability right up here to make the choice when it's dark and cold out when it's hot and it's coming here in the northern hemisphere it's gonna get hot out it's harder to run in the heat where we have to make the choice to say okay this is it if I don't do this workout if I don't hit these times I'm gonna have to run slower in my next race it's just that simple in my humble opinion again fitness does not lie so that is my strategy number three I always remember it's my choice it's my free will I'm out here inflicting pain upon myself and I've learned to enjoy that to embrace it and frankly to love it all right mental keyword is mental question of the day what is your biggest mental challenge when it comes to long-distance running and is it getting more difficult for you or are you overcoming it slowly so what that's it's a tough one you're gonna have to hit pause and think about it like okay yeah what is my mental challenge or maybe you have maybe you've overcome a mental challenge in and running through your own strategy so let us know down in the comments that would be amazing thank you for being here I know that was a lot and again like I'm not afraid to label these things mental toughness but I prefer mental confidence I just think it's a it's a nice way if you can be mentally confident it's I and it comes it comes it comes through work it comes through work that's it all right we will call it there seek beauty work hard and love each other thank you for being here I know that was a lot that was fun though I'm glad we could talk about that together I hope it helps just a little bit just a little bit