72. The Top 3 Distractions Stealing Time From Your Race
If you're constantly worried about cutoff, it's easy to assume you need to train harder or run faster. But you may already have more time available than you realize. The problem is that without noticing it, you could be giving that time away mile after mile to distractions that have nothing to do with getting you to the finish line.
In this episode, I share the top three distractions I see stealing runners' attention and valuable race time, and explain how each one pulls your focus away from what you need to be doing right now, whether that's maintaining your pace, fueling consistently, or simply paying attention to the trail in front of you.
Learning to focus your attention is a race skill, and it can help you gain time on cutoff without adding more miles to your training. I show you how to recognize where your mind tends to wander, bring your attention back to your own race, and use the time you already have more effectively so you can race with less cutoff stress and more confidence.
My 1:1 Mental Mastery Coaching for Ultrarunners is a six-month coaching program where we build the mental skills experienced ultrarunners use to handle difficult races well. Schedule a consult call to learn more here.
What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
Why thinking about the past can quietly slow you down in a race.
How worrying about what might happen later takes your attention away from what you can do now.
Why other runners can actually be one of the biggest distractions on race day.
How distractions can affect your pace, fueling, hydration, and race execution.
What it really means to "stay in your own race."
How focusing your attention can help you gain time on cutoff without training more miles.
Listen to the Full Episode:
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Full Episode Transcript:
If you never seem to have enough cushion on cutoff in a race to actually relax, this episode's for you. And it's not about training harder. It's about where your mind goes when you're not watching it and how to get that time back.
Welcome to Unstoppable Ultra Runner, the podcast for ultra runners who refuse to let anything hold them back. I’m your host, Susan Donnelly, veteran of over 150 100-mile races, and a coach who helps runners like you break through mental roadblocks, push past doubt, and run with confidence. Let’s go.
Welcome to episode 72. We are still in August heat as I record this, but I can feel summer drawing to a close. You know how that is? When I'm out on the trail, I see all those late summer flowers that just signal to me that it is the end of summer. And the leaves are starting to drop a little bit on the trail. And I feel the fewer daylight hours when the angle of the sun is a little bit lower. And of course, I'm starting to get advertisements for dark-colored wool hoodies now instead of pink lightweight shorts, so that's also a clue.
And I'm thinking about buying a ticket to go to Javelina 100 in October. So, all of that adds up to this impending feeling that fall race season is on the way, that excitement in the air. And it's the perfect time also to talk about an essential race skill that I teach that can save you boatloads of time on cutoff and make race season easier and more fun. And that skill is focus. Specifically, how to use the power of focusing your attention to do that, to save time on cutoff and make the race easier and more fun.
So, here's the problem you're facing. You can't stay ahead of cutoff, or at least not far enough ahead of cutoff to relax and enjoy the race. So every race is stressful, and you can never quite get enough cushion on cutoff to relax. Because if you do, and you think this is what's going to happen, if you do get enough cushion, then you promptly start losing it. If you don't stay on top of it, you promptly start losing it. So there's always that fear in the back of your head. Then you spend hours worrying if you can make the next cutoff instead of just enjoying the race and taking it all in and running your best.
And you can't escape the truth that if you're struggling to stay ahead of cutoff in this race right now, you have no business considering a harder race. So you might as well just give up on those dreams of harder races right now, because you can't even stay ahead of cutoff in this race. All right, so that's what's going on. And to fix this, what runners typically do is throw more at it. You train more miles, you add speed work, you get a crew and pacer, more people. You buy new shoes, and well, anything is a good excuse to buy new shoes.
But your plan for the race is to do aid stations faster. That's how you're going to gain time in the next race. Like a minute at each aid station is all you'll need. But even though that's your plan and you promise yourself you're going to do that, you end up in the same situation as the race before and the one before that and before that, pushing hard and still stressing about cutoff. It is so frustrating. I know. I have been there. You start to wonder if you're cut out for this sport after all.
And the answer is that you are totally cut out for this. You're just not using the time you have to its fullest. You're letting your mind get distracted by unnecessary things instead of on the task at hand. So the task at hand, which is finishing the race as fast as you can, it's not getting your full attention. It's like scrolling on social media. Think of it as scrolling on social media. You can't stop doing it, and you have no concept of how much time it takes. I mean, the moment you start scrolling, you lose track of how much attention it consumes over how much time.
Sometimes you probably find yourself looking up from your phone and realize you forgot where you even were and what you were doing before you started scrolling. And here's what happens while your mind is scrolling like that in the race: you lose track of pace. You can't remember the last time you ate or drank. You miss a turn in the trail. So what you need here is you've got to learn to direct and keep your attention on what you do want, which is getting to the finish line. That's why you're in the race.
And you have to learn to do that and not give your attention to distractions just because they demand it and just because they're there. Your goal is to get from point A, start of the race, to point B, the finish of the race, at or ahead of your goal. So distractions are irrelevant to that. Think about it. You're in the middle of a race, like right here, in this mile, stepping over this rock and that root, navigating this turn in the trail. This is no time for your mind to just wander off somewhere else.
So instead of scrolling on, you've got to learn how to put down the metaphorical phone and put your attention on what you're doing. Now, in this moment, like this rock, that root. So, let's have some fun here because mastering the mental side of the sport is serious fun. And here's where I start with my clients on this. I ask them what they think are distractions in a race. So, what I want you to do here is take a moment and come up with your answer. What do you think are the top distractions in the race? List the top three.
Just grab the top three that come to your mind right now. What do you think are the top three distractions at a race? I'll give you a moment. Okay. Now, let's compare your top three to mine. So here are my top three compiled from personal experience, years of personal experience, and tons of client answers. The first is the past. Anything in the past. Past races, past training, past work conversations, past life events, past childhood memories, anything in the past.
Ruminating over it, memories, things you wish you'd done differently or could do over, in running or in life. And if you've run this race or this distance before, like it's a familiar race or it's a familiar distance, also what is in the past is where memories happened at different points in the race, like where you dropped, the mileage you dropped at, or you dropped at this aid station once. Like where you usually turn your headlamp off and on compared to today. That's one of my favorites. These are milestones that you can't help but recognize from the past.
So what I'm talking about here is basically anything in your life that's in the rearview mirror. And what you're not doing while all of this past stuff is running through your head? What you're not doing is focusing attention on the things you need to do to finish, like staying on pace, fueling, eating. All of those things, those necessary things, get pushed to the side in your head. So while your mind is off in the past, your running ends up slowing down.
The next one of my three is the future. Think of this as forecasting ahead, thinking ahead to the next aid station, the next big climb coming up, and especially to the finish line. And especially on the negative side of all of that. We don't always realize we're doing this either. You visualize not making cutoff, telling somebody you're dropping and getting into the car to get taken back to the start-finish, or imagining getting pulled and what you're going to say to the volunteer that pulls you and friends seeing you get driven to the finish line instead of crossing the finish line.
One of my clients said this: "Writing the social media post in your head to explain your DNF before you even get it." When none of this has even happened yet, you're thinking ahead of time, and the clock is ticking, and you suddenly realize that you've been thinking way ahead at the finish line or at the next aid station, and you're walking, and you're not even power hiking. You're just strolling. And how long have you been doing that?
And while you're mentally rehearsing that DNF that hasn't even happened yet or writing that social media post to explain it, you're not fueling, you're not checking your pace, and you're not doing the things that would actually prevent that DNF. So that's my second distraction. My third of the three, if I had to pick a number one, it would be this: other people. Runners, volunteers, crew and pacers, even spectators in big races. I know we're not a spectator sport, but sometimes there are spectators.
Anything they're doing, what they're saying to each other, what they're saying to you, how fast they're going, how good they look compared to how you feel, whether they're passing you or you're passing them, are they going to pass you on this side or that side? Like everything they're doing and saying in aid stations, or what you think they're thinking. You talking to them, you running or walking with them, you even dropping with them. We want other people.
I'm not saying we don't want other people in races, so they're not a bad thing, but they are also at the same time one of the biggest distractions out there. And it takes practice to stay focused on what you need to be doing with all these other people doing all these other things and saying all these other things around you. So, this is what I think of when I hear a runner say, "Stay in your own race." What I think is that it doesn't just mean sticking to your own pace.
It means staying focused on what you need to do to finish instead of losing track of it because you're chatting to someone else to make the miles go by. And every mile you're thinking about other people is a mile you're ignoring your own race. So, that was fun. How did your three distractions line up with mine? If they did line up, if they lined up perfectly, you know where to save time in the next race. And if yours didn't line up perfectly, which is probably what happened, if they didn't somehow line up, don't worry.
Because there is an almost endless list of distractions, and yours are most certainly on that list. And now that you've named them as what they are, you won't fall for them in the next race. Think of each of them, yours and mine, as the feeds on social media that keep you glued to the screen without even realizing it while your life goes on around you. Because when you know all the distractions that can steal time from you in a race and you know how to deal with them and you know how to stay focused, you gain all that time back without having to add any more training miles.
You save a bunch of time when you focus attention on what you're doing, and you keep bringing your attention back to what you need to be doing to get to point B. And when you do that, you're less likely to fail. You don't forget things in aid stations. You stay on pace. You stay consistently fueled and hydrated and electrolyted, which sets you up to run better and faster and finish more reliably. You stop beating yourself up about what you used to be able to do or what you don't think you can do ahead, you know, past and future, or how you stack up against everyone else around you.
And the time you bank on cutoff when you stay focused lets you enjoy the race more. One simple mind skill, like paying attention to where your attention is, can turn your running completely around. It can ease that cutoff stress. So, that is one of the race skills I teach, how to focus your attention. Imagine what learning all five race skills, this one included, in-depth would be like. And all the mental foundations I do teach and all the time you could save on cutoff, you would be unstoppable. All right, you all. That's this week's episode. Thanks for listening. If you know someone who could use this, share it with them. It might be exactly what they need to hear. See you next week. Bye.
Thanks for listening to Unstoppable Ultra Runner. If you want more ultra talk, mindset tools, and strategies for running with confidence, visit www.susanidonnelly.com. This podcast receives production support from the team at Digital Freedom Productions. That’s it for today’s episode. See you next week.
Welcome to Unstoppable Ultra Runner, the podcast for ultra runners who refuse to let anything hold them back. I’m your host, Susan Donnelly, veteran of over 150 100-mile races, and a coach who helps runners like you break through mental roadblocks, push past doubt, and run with confidence. Let’s go.
Welcome to episode 72. We are still in August heat as I record this, but I can feel summer drawing to a close. You know how that is? When I'm out on the trail, I see all those late summer flowers that just signal to me that it is the end of summer. And the leaves are starting to drop a little bit on the trail. And I feel the fewer daylight hours when the angle of the sun is a little bit lower. And of course, I'm starting to get advertisements for dark-colored wool hoodies now instead of pink lightweight shorts, so that's also a clue.
And I'm thinking about buying a ticket to go to Javelina 100 in October. So, all of that adds up to this impending feeling that fall race season is on the way, that excitement in the air. And it's the perfect time also to talk about an essential race skill that I teach that can save you boatloads of time on cutoff and make race season easier and more fun. And that skill is focus. Specifically, how to use the power of focusing your attention to do that, to save time on cutoff and make the race easier and more fun.
So, here's the problem you're facing. You can't stay ahead of cutoff, or at least not far enough ahead of cutoff to relax and enjoy the race. So every race is stressful, and you can never quite get enough cushion on cutoff to relax. Because if you do, and you think this is what's going to happen, if you do get enough cushion, then you promptly start losing it. If you don't stay on top of it, you promptly start losing it. So there's always that fear in the back of your head. Then you spend hours worrying if you can make the next cutoff instead of just enjoying the race and taking it all in and running your best.
And you can't escape the truth that if you're struggling to stay ahead of cutoff in this race right now, you have no business considering a harder race. So you might as well just give up on those dreams of harder races right now, because you can't even stay ahead of cutoff in this race. All right, so that's what's going on. And to fix this, what runners typically do is throw more at it. You train more miles, you add speed work, you get a crew and pacer, more people. You buy new shoes, and well, anything is a good excuse to buy new shoes.
But your plan for the race is to do aid stations faster. That's how you're going to gain time in the next race. Like a minute at each aid station is all you'll need. But even though that's your plan and you promise yourself you're going to do that, you end up in the same situation as the race before and the one before that and before that, pushing hard and still stressing about cutoff. It is so frustrating. I know. I have been there. You start to wonder if you're cut out for this sport after all.
And the answer is that you are totally cut out for this. You're just not using the time you have to its fullest. You're letting your mind get distracted by unnecessary things instead of on the task at hand. So the task at hand, which is finishing the race as fast as you can, it's not getting your full attention. It's like scrolling on social media. Think of it as scrolling on social media. You can't stop doing it, and you have no concept of how much time it takes. I mean, the moment you start scrolling, you lose track of how much attention it consumes over how much time.
Sometimes you probably find yourself looking up from your phone and realize you forgot where you even were and what you were doing before you started scrolling. And here's what happens while your mind is scrolling like that in the race: you lose track of pace. You can't remember the last time you ate or drank. You miss a turn in the trail. So what you need here is you've got to learn to direct and keep your attention on what you do want, which is getting to the finish line. That's why you're in the race.
And you have to learn to do that and not give your attention to distractions just because they demand it and just because they're there. Your goal is to get from point A, start of the race, to point B, the finish of the race, at or ahead of your goal. So distractions are irrelevant to that. Think about it. You're in the middle of a race, like right here, in this mile, stepping over this rock and that root, navigating this turn in the trail. This is no time for your mind to just wander off somewhere else.
So instead of scrolling on, you've got to learn how to put down the metaphorical phone and put your attention on what you're doing. Now, in this moment, like this rock, that root. So, let's have some fun here because mastering the mental side of the sport is serious fun. And here's where I start with my clients on this. I ask them what they think are distractions in a race. So, what I want you to do here is take a moment and come up with your answer. What do you think are the top distractions in the race? List the top three.
Just grab the top three that come to your mind right now. What do you think are the top three distractions at a race? I'll give you a moment. Okay. Now, let's compare your top three to mine. So here are my top three compiled from personal experience, years of personal experience, and tons of client answers. The first is the past. Anything in the past. Past races, past training, past work conversations, past life events, past childhood memories, anything in the past.
Ruminating over it, memories, things you wish you'd done differently or could do over, in running or in life. And if you've run this race or this distance before, like it's a familiar race or it's a familiar distance, also what is in the past is where memories happened at different points in the race, like where you dropped, the mileage you dropped at, or you dropped at this aid station once. Like where you usually turn your headlamp off and on compared to today. That's one of my favorites. These are milestones that you can't help but recognize from the past.
So what I'm talking about here is basically anything in your life that's in the rearview mirror. And what you're not doing while all of this past stuff is running through your head? What you're not doing is focusing attention on the things you need to do to finish, like staying on pace, fueling, eating. All of those things, those necessary things, get pushed to the side in your head. So while your mind is off in the past, your running ends up slowing down.
The next one of my three is the future. Think of this as forecasting ahead, thinking ahead to the next aid station, the next big climb coming up, and especially to the finish line. And especially on the negative side of all of that. We don't always realize we're doing this either. You visualize not making cutoff, telling somebody you're dropping and getting into the car to get taken back to the start-finish, or imagining getting pulled and what you're going to say to the volunteer that pulls you and friends seeing you get driven to the finish line instead of crossing the finish line.
One of my clients said this: "Writing the social media post in your head to explain your DNF before you even get it." When none of this has even happened yet, you're thinking ahead of time, and the clock is ticking, and you suddenly realize that you've been thinking way ahead at the finish line or at the next aid station, and you're walking, and you're not even power hiking. You're just strolling. And how long have you been doing that?
And while you're mentally rehearsing that DNF that hasn't even happened yet or writing that social media post to explain it, you're not fueling, you're not checking your pace, and you're not doing the things that would actually prevent that DNF. So that's my second distraction. My third of the three, if I had to pick a number one, it would be this: other people. Runners, volunteers, crew and pacers, even spectators in big races. I know we're not a spectator sport, but sometimes there are spectators.
Anything they're doing, what they're saying to each other, what they're saying to you, how fast they're going, how good they look compared to how you feel, whether they're passing you or you're passing them, are they going to pass you on this side or that side? Like everything they're doing and saying in aid stations, or what you think they're thinking. You talking to them, you running or walking with them, you even dropping with them. We want other people.
I'm not saying we don't want other people in races, so they're not a bad thing, but they are also at the same time one of the biggest distractions out there. And it takes practice to stay focused on what you need to be doing with all these other people doing all these other things and saying all these other things around you. So, this is what I think of when I hear a runner say, "Stay in your own race." What I think is that it doesn't just mean sticking to your own pace.
It means staying focused on what you need to do to finish instead of losing track of it because you're chatting to someone else to make the miles go by. And every mile you're thinking about other people is a mile you're ignoring your own race. So, that was fun. How did your three distractions line up with mine? If they did line up, if they lined up perfectly, you know where to save time in the next race. And if yours didn't line up perfectly, which is probably what happened, if they didn't somehow line up, don't worry.
Because there is an almost endless list of distractions, and yours are most certainly on that list. And now that you've named them as what they are, you won't fall for them in the next race. Think of each of them, yours and mine, as the feeds on social media that keep you glued to the screen without even realizing it while your life goes on around you. Because when you know all the distractions that can steal time from you in a race and you know how to deal with them and you know how to stay focused, you gain all that time back without having to add any more training miles.
You save a bunch of time when you focus attention on what you're doing, and you keep bringing your attention back to what you need to be doing to get to point B. And when you do that, you're less likely to fail. You don't forget things in aid stations. You stay on pace. You stay consistently fueled and hydrated and electrolyted, which sets you up to run better and faster and finish more reliably. You stop beating yourself up about what you used to be able to do or what you don't think you can do ahead, you know, past and future, or how you stack up against everyone else around you.
And the time you bank on cutoff when you stay focused lets you enjoy the race more. One simple mind skill, like paying attention to where your attention is, can turn your running completely around. It can ease that cutoff stress. So, that is one of the race skills I teach, how to focus your attention. Imagine what learning all five race skills, this one included, in-depth would be like. And all the mental foundations I do teach and all the time you could save on cutoff, you would be unstoppable. All right, you all. That's this week's episode. Thanks for listening. If you know someone who could use this, share it with them. It might be exactly what they need to hear. See you next week. Bye.
Thanks for listening to Unstoppable Ultra Runner. If you want more ultra talk, mindset tools, and strategies for running with confidence, visit www.susanidonnelly.com. This podcast receives production support from the team at Digital Freedom Productions. That’s it for today’s episode. See you next week.
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