54. How Doubt Shows Up in Every Training Phase (& What to Do About It)
Doubt during training can feel like a sign that something is going wrong, especially when it keeps showing up no matter how much work you’ve put in. In this episode, I’m breaking down a pattern I see across runners at every level: building belief in training, only to have it knocked down again by doubt right when it starts to feel real.
What’s actually happening is that doubt doesn’t go away as you train, it just changes form. The same thought shows up differently in the build, peak, and taper phases, making it feel like new problems each time. When you don’t recognize that pattern, training can feel chaotic and confusing, like you’re constantly missing something or doing it wrong, even when you’re following your plan.
In this episode, you’ll discover why doubt keeps coming back throughout training and what it really means about your readiness. I’ll walk you through how doubt shows up in each phase, how to recognize the underlying pattern, and what to do so you can move through training with more clarity and show up to race day trusting the work you’ve already done.
The Ultrarunner’s Mastery Debrief Template helps you evaluate your races like experienced ultrarunners do - identifying what worked, what didn’t work, and what to do differently next time. Download yours for free here.
What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
Why doubt doesn’t go away during training and why that’s not a problem.
The underlying thought that drives doubt across every training phase.
How doubt shows up differently in build, peak, and taper phases.
What to think instead so you stop reacting to doubt.
How to move through training with more intention and confidence.
Why experiencing doubt doesn’t mean you’re not ready to race.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
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Episodes Related to a Doubt During Training Phases:
Ep #11. Why Can’t I Finish? The DNF Question That Holds You Back
Ep #47. How to Manage Fatigue Brain: Strategies for Ultra Races
Ep #52. Handling Doubt Before a Race: 3 Questions to Replace “Can I Finish?”
Full Episode Transcript:
In training, you build belief in yourself. But doubt keeps knocking that belief back down. When this keeps happening, you stop trusting that the belief will ever stick. So today, I'm going to show you one reason that happens and what to do about it.
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 54. Today, we're talking about training. And specifically, we're talking about one of the reasons you go into a race thinking that you aren't ready. Even when you've completed every bit of your training as planned. This experience is universal. I find it across clients doing all kinds of distances from marathons to 300-mile races, men and women, experienced runners and newbies, everyone.
And here's the pattern. When you're training for a race, you work to believe that you can succeed at the race, that the training is going to pay off and be worth it. But it's like the minute you start believing that, you somehow lose it and go back to doubting. But doubting even more than before. You start over, trying to believe from zero. And you go through this cycle of belief and doubt and belief and doubt back and forth. And when this keeps happening, believing in yourself feels impossible.
So by the time you're standing at that starting line, you've doubted yourself so often, you're convinced you aren't ready, no matter how much training you did. This belief doubt cycle, when you're in the middle of it, it is confusing and distracting, and it makes the experience of training feel chaotic, like you're perpetually missing something. And there's a pattern here that you want to be aware of so you can get out of this cycle of reacting blindly and letting this pattern of doubt affect your training and your race.
And today, I'm going to tell you what's going on here, how to recognize it, and how to manage it. So you move through training with intention and get to race day confident in the work you've done and looking forward to the race.
Here's what's going on. When you train, you go through phases, four phases, and for this episode, we're sticking with three of those four. We're sticking with build up, peak, and taper. The phases that actually build up to a race. Technically, there's a fourth phase called base, but I'm going to assume that you already maintain a base of mileage whether you're training for a race or not. So I'm starting where the race specific training starts.
And there's a pattern through these three phases. Each phase brings a new wave of doubt. Right about the time you've almost come to grips with the doubt you're feeling in your current phase, the thought that's running over and over in your head in that phase, you move to a new phase and start doubting all over again in a new way. The belief and confidence you were building seem to go out the window. And you think doubt shouldn't keep showing up. Like you just feel the doubt and you think it shouldn't keep showing up. You think the more miles you train, the easier it should be to believe that you can run the race.
So when the doubt does keep showing up, in spite of your mileage, it feels like a sign. Like there must be a valid reason why this doubt keeps showing up. But all this time, every time you think there's something new to doubt, it's really just the same thought. The doubt isn't actually growing. It's just changing form. There's this master thought that shape shifts across each phase. And that's this. I'm not doing it right and I won't be ready.
This master thought doesn't look the same each time and that's exactly why you don't catch it. It finds something new about your training to pick on, like a bully in each phase. But once you see that, it loses a lot of its power. It's no longer a new doubt or a bigger doubt that hits you out of the blue. It's just a new version of the same old thing.
So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to walk you through each phase, show you exactly how this thought shows up and tell you what to do about it instead of just reacting to it.
All right. Let's start with the first phase, build up. What this phase is is you're starting to train and you're building up your fitness. And what's going on here is that you've picked out a training plan or an approach and you're implementing it. This is the bulk of your training and it's usually months long. And the version of the master thought that shows up here is, it's not enough. You think, I'm not doing enough or I'm not doing the right things.
So what you do when you're thinking that is you pick out a super long training plan thinking more is better, or you impulsively add more mileage, speed work, hill training, cross training, whatever in an attempt to feel certain that you're doing enough. You blow off rest weeks because those seem lazy and unnecessary. And you treat runs like practice races.
And the result of this is that you confuse yourself. Like with all those changes, you get more unsure and anxious about your approach and what you think will work because you don't make changes in a reasoned way. And you get more doubtful that you're going to be ready and that it will work. And this sets the stage for unsustainable training that you can't maintain.
So what you want to do here is instead of thinking, it's not enough, you need to think something different. And here's what I want you to think. I decided to use this plan or this approach based on the information I had and I can re-decide if there's a reason. But I'm not going to change my plan out of fear.
What changes when you think that new thought is you make a decision and implement it. And you don't revisit your plan. You don't make changes to the plan unless you have new data or a good reason to change your mind about what training your body needs to be ready. And you can remind yourself of this as often as you need to that you've put thought into this training plan and it's still the best one. And you know that changing it to try to feel better is just reacting to doubt. It's not a reason to change your plan.
Now, sometimes, things can change as you go through the months of training and there may be a valid reason to adjust your training plan in the build up phase. But if that's the case, look at your training plan and either decide to keep it or change it and then stop worrying about it. Get back to implementing it. Have a well thought out reason for changing your training and make a new decision that you commit to stick with and then get on with it.
Worrying is spinning on the same thought. Re-deciding is a deliberate act with a start and an end point. And the result, when you make this change, when you start thinking instead that you go back to your plan and think about it, you recognize that I decided on this plan for a reason. And if I change this plan, it's only going to be for a good valid reason. When you think that and stop reacting to that doubt, you stop second guessing everything and you just train in peace.
The second phase is the peak phase. And what's going on here, what this is this is when you're hitting your highest mileage weeks and long runs in that training plan. And it's usually some small number of weeks long, like two or three weeks long. The peak weeks and the peak long runs are like jewels in the crown. They're the things that you most want to check off as done before you taper down to the race. It's basically your last chance to do what you think is enough training. Except when you're in the middle of the peak phase, you don't see that. You see a lot more work, a lot more hours on top of the hours and the miles you've already done for months. You see weeks of training left and still more work to do. And this is especially true if you picked a long training plan thinking longer is better.
Tired or not, right now, you just want longer to be over and to get to the race. Like enough with the training. So the version of the master thought here that you're thinking here in this phase is, I'm tired, I've done enough, I'm going to start tapering. Like what's going on here in the background is that the level of fatigue has just surprised you. You knew that the peak phase of training would be hard, but you didn't expect to feel this tired. And because it's more than expected, it feels like evidence that something is wrong or like you've done enough and you can start tapering. You're done training, you can start tapering.
So here, in this phase, you're thinking, I am so tired and I'm ready to be done with training. It's hard to push through this. Let's get it over with. I'm going to start tapering. And you want to just throw in the towel and not do anything before the race, but you're still a couple of weeks out and you still have work to do. And it's really hard to push through that.
And here's a fun fact. If there's going to be friction with family or friends about how much time you're spending on training, this is where that also usually peaks, which can just add pressure to throw in the towel even more. So what you tend to do when you're thinking about how tired you are in this phase, you cut a long run short with an excuse about fatigue or about the potential for injury. Or you feel that urge to throw in the towel and not do anything and you dwell on how tired you feel and you worry about it and you want to not feel tired to feel better. You wallow in the tiredness and really focus on it.
And the result here is that when you cut long run short or you take shortcuts, you have this immediate regret and then more worry about cutting your training plan short or not completing it or not completing it with the energy you planned on completing it with. And now it's too late to go back and do it. So now, at the end of the peak cycle, you're seriously worried about the race.
What you want to do here is think about it in a new way. Instead of thinking about how tired you are and how you just want to throw in the towel, think this. It's normal to feel tired. I've been working hard. Good job me, getting all those runs in even when it was hard and I didn't want to. I'm proud of you. Like I have literally said this to myself and you can borrow that too.
You've up the volume through the build phase to the peak phase and all the way through the peak phase and you forget that you should be tired. It's a sign that you've been working at your training. And that's why training plans have back off or rest weeks built in. What you can think here is that I'm putting in my last meaningful mileage.
And one thing to remember in this phase is that it's temporary. When you're dwelling on how tired you are, it seems like it's going to go on forever or that you can't do anymore. But one thing to remember is and another thought to think here instead is that this is temporary and I'm putting in my last meaningful training and I want to make it count.
Now, when you think in this new way, you know what being tired means. It's expected here. And you don't dwell on the feeling of being tired or turn it into a problem when it's not. You don't react to being tired or change things on a whim. You either very carefully re-decide your mileage or long runs for very good reasons, kind of like you did in the build up phase, or complete them as planned even if they're messy, not fast, and you're tired. This doesn't have to look perfect. This isn't the race. And you don't give into your brain tempting you to take it easy either.
Getting your training done these weeks unless you are truly physically over training is important for your confidence because this isn't just about mileage here. This phase is a dress rehearsal for showing up and getting it done when it's hard and you'd rather not in the race. So when you put in your training here as you planned, even though it's messy and you're tired, don't just move on to the next thing. Stop and tell yourself what an awesome thing that was that you got that run in because it is. Log the miles, be okay doing it tired, not excited. It's still going to set you up for a good race, which is what you want. And this is the last push in training.
When you do this, when you recognize that being tired here is expected because you're at the peak of your training, it's so much easier to actually do the training. Like it's so much easier to do the training than to fight it because you're tired. And you can also see from here that it's so much easier to actually do the training tired and face the race having done that training, even if you were tired, then to face the race worried because you didn't follow through with your training and you left something out.
Because here's what following through actually gives you. If you follow through here, when you're tired, you're way more likely to be able to do that in the race because you've practiced it. And you can feel sure about your capability and proud of yourself for doing the hard part in training.
Let's move on to the third and final phase, taper. And what this is you're putting the final touches on your training by significantly stepping down your training volume to eliminate the physical and mental fatigue that you felt in the peak phase while you maintain intensity to keep muscles sharp for race day. This phase is short, anywhere from one to three weeks. And the version of the master thought here is, I'm losing my fitness. You think, I'm not strong enough. I'm slow. See, look at my watch times. Or closer to the end of the taper, you think, I've lost too much fitness. I'm not ready. I did all that training and now I'm not going to hit my goal.
In the peak phase, things were too hard. And now, in the taper phase, it's not hard enough. You feel like you're losing fitness and you need to race now before you lose any more. But you have to wait for the race. It can be a truly uncomfortable limbo to be in. Your body doesn't feel quite like it did, what you got used to in training, so that seems different and wrong. And your schedule has freed up some time, but that also seems unsettlingly different and somehow wrong, like you should be spending that time doing something like training. To your brain, all this change seems to signal that there's something wrong.
So what you do here is the waiting is uncomfortable. Your fitness feels like it's slipping away and the race isn't here yet and there is nothing you can do about either of those two things, so you react. Some people stress the whole time. They obsess about how the race will feel, the weather, check the weather a million times. They obsess about the outcome, they overpack, they unpack, they repack, they lose sleep, they worry on top of worry, and just bang around like a BB in a Coke can.
Some people cram in last minute training to relieve the anxiety. They start lifting heavier, they start yoga, they add strength work in the taper phase, asking themselves, do I have enough time to make a difference? This is what I call cramming for the exam. Two different reactions, same discomfort. They're both reacting to that doubt. And it's called taper tantrums for a reason.
The result here is that if you just react one way or the other, you either stress or you cram in last minute stuff, either way, you end up kind of burned out mentally and emotionally and worn out on race day. You have no energy left for pushing in the race or finding a way past the really tough moments. Like to you, the race now needs to be easy because now it seems like the only thing you can do is survive it. That's the best you can do. If you crammed in some last minute mileage or started lifting heavier or whatever, your body is more tired than it should be. And if you stress through the whole taper, your mind is more tired than it should be. Either way, you're running on empty energy wise before the starting gun goes off.
Here is what to do instead. Go into the taper thinking, my job here from here to race day is to polish all my hard work off so it shines. I've done enough because it's what I've done and that part is over. The race is when I get to see how this training works. And I want you to listen to that last sentence. How this training works, not if it works, how it works. It's a very important distinction. You're going to see how it works. And if there's some leftover worry, here's how to reset it. Ask yourself, okay, if I'd done more, if I'd done more training, would I know I'm ready or would I still doubt myself? Answer, you'd doubt yourself either way. So relax, knowing that more mileage wouldn't solve your doubt here, you're going to feel doubt no matter what you do here. And all that's left for you to do, all you have to do here is to make the most of the training you've done. That's all you got to do on race day.
Think about the experiment you're running in the race and what you're excited to test. What you'll learn and how what you have done in training is exactly the right preparation. And I mean that last part seriously, like list out how what you've done in training is exactly the right preparation.
When you go into the taper thinking, my only job here is to polish what I've already accomplished, you can enjoy the extra time. You make sure that your remaining training is quality. You run with intention and you don't just tick off the miles like junk miles. You take care of race gear and logistics and packing with anticipation and you get some rest. And the real result is you get to the starting line having already faced this thought, this master thought, I'm not going to be ready three times, and you've come out the other side.
In the build up phase, you trusted your plan when you were tempted to change it. In the peak phase, you followed through on your plan even when you were tired. And now, in the taper phase, you let your body rest when every instinct says something is wrong. That's not nothing. That is evidence, months of evidence that you're in control instead of just reacting to doubt. So when the doubt shows up on race day, because it will, it doesn't throw you. You've seen this doubt before all through training and you know what to do.
So here's what's actually been happening every time you've trained for a race. You build a little belief, a new phase hits, doubt shows up and knocks it back down again. And after enough rounds of getting your belief knocked down, you stop trusting that the belief will ever stick. Now you know why. It's not a sign something is wrong with you or your training. It's one predictable thought changing its disguise through three phases, that thought of, I'm not doing it right and I'm not going to be ready.
When you can see how to handle the doubt in these three phases, training stops feeling chaotic. You start recognizing the doubt instead of reacting to it. You anticipate it. You know what to expect. You know what doubt is coming in each phase and you know what to do about it. Three phases of training, three versions of that same thought and you handled all three. In the build up phase, you went from, it's not enough, to, I decided on this plan and I can re-decide if there's a reason. In the peak phase, you went from, I'm too tired to finish this, to, I'm supposed to be tired and I can do this. And in the taper phase, you went from, I've lost my fitness, to, my only job right now is to polish off all the hard work I've already done so it shines.
When you get to that starting line, you're not the same runner who started your training. The doubt isn't going away, but now you can see it for what it is. It's the same old thing you've already handled and you're ready to race.
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 all 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 54. Today, we're talking about training. And specifically, we're talking about one of the reasons you go into a race thinking that you aren't ready. Even when you've completed every bit of your training as planned. This experience is universal. I find it across clients doing all kinds of distances from marathons to 300-mile races, men and women, experienced runners and newbies, everyone.
And here's the pattern. When you're training for a race, you work to believe that you can succeed at the race, that the training is going to pay off and be worth it. But it's like the minute you start believing that, you somehow lose it and go back to doubting. But doubting even more than before. You start over, trying to believe from zero. And you go through this cycle of belief and doubt and belief and doubt back and forth. And when this keeps happening, believing in yourself feels impossible.
So by the time you're standing at that starting line, you've doubted yourself so often, you're convinced you aren't ready, no matter how much training you did. This belief doubt cycle, when you're in the middle of it, it is confusing and distracting, and it makes the experience of training feel chaotic, like you're perpetually missing something. And there's a pattern here that you want to be aware of so you can get out of this cycle of reacting blindly and letting this pattern of doubt affect your training and your race.
And today, I'm going to tell you what's going on here, how to recognize it, and how to manage it. So you move through training with intention and get to race day confident in the work you've done and looking forward to the race.
Here's what's going on. When you train, you go through phases, four phases, and for this episode, we're sticking with three of those four. We're sticking with build up, peak, and taper. The phases that actually build up to a race. Technically, there's a fourth phase called base, but I'm going to assume that you already maintain a base of mileage whether you're training for a race or not. So I'm starting where the race specific training starts.
And there's a pattern through these three phases. Each phase brings a new wave of doubt. Right about the time you've almost come to grips with the doubt you're feeling in your current phase, the thought that's running over and over in your head in that phase, you move to a new phase and start doubting all over again in a new way. The belief and confidence you were building seem to go out the window. And you think doubt shouldn't keep showing up. Like you just feel the doubt and you think it shouldn't keep showing up. You think the more miles you train, the easier it should be to believe that you can run the race.
So when the doubt does keep showing up, in spite of your mileage, it feels like a sign. Like there must be a valid reason why this doubt keeps showing up. But all this time, every time you think there's something new to doubt, it's really just the same thought. The doubt isn't actually growing. It's just changing form. There's this master thought that shape shifts across each phase. And that's this. I'm not doing it right and I won't be ready.
This master thought doesn't look the same each time and that's exactly why you don't catch it. It finds something new about your training to pick on, like a bully in each phase. But once you see that, it loses a lot of its power. It's no longer a new doubt or a bigger doubt that hits you out of the blue. It's just a new version of the same old thing.
So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to walk you through each phase, show you exactly how this thought shows up and tell you what to do about it instead of just reacting to it.
All right. Let's start with the first phase, build up. What this phase is is you're starting to train and you're building up your fitness. And what's going on here is that you've picked out a training plan or an approach and you're implementing it. This is the bulk of your training and it's usually months long. And the version of the master thought that shows up here is, it's not enough. You think, I'm not doing enough or I'm not doing the right things.
So what you do when you're thinking that is you pick out a super long training plan thinking more is better, or you impulsively add more mileage, speed work, hill training, cross training, whatever in an attempt to feel certain that you're doing enough. You blow off rest weeks because those seem lazy and unnecessary. And you treat runs like practice races.
And the result of this is that you confuse yourself. Like with all those changes, you get more unsure and anxious about your approach and what you think will work because you don't make changes in a reasoned way. And you get more doubtful that you're going to be ready and that it will work. And this sets the stage for unsustainable training that you can't maintain.
So what you want to do here is instead of thinking, it's not enough, you need to think something different. And here's what I want you to think. I decided to use this plan or this approach based on the information I had and I can re-decide if there's a reason. But I'm not going to change my plan out of fear.
What changes when you think that new thought is you make a decision and implement it. And you don't revisit your plan. You don't make changes to the plan unless you have new data or a good reason to change your mind about what training your body needs to be ready. And you can remind yourself of this as often as you need to that you've put thought into this training plan and it's still the best one. And you know that changing it to try to feel better is just reacting to doubt. It's not a reason to change your plan.
Now, sometimes, things can change as you go through the months of training and there may be a valid reason to adjust your training plan in the build up phase. But if that's the case, look at your training plan and either decide to keep it or change it and then stop worrying about it. Get back to implementing it. Have a well thought out reason for changing your training and make a new decision that you commit to stick with and then get on with it.
Worrying is spinning on the same thought. Re-deciding is a deliberate act with a start and an end point. And the result, when you make this change, when you start thinking instead that you go back to your plan and think about it, you recognize that I decided on this plan for a reason. And if I change this plan, it's only going to be for a good valid reason. When you think that and stop reacting to that doubt, you stop second guessing everything and you just train in peace.
The second phase is the peak phase. And what's going on here, what this is this is when you're hitting your highest mileage weeks and long runs in that training plan. And it's usually some small number of weeks long, like two or three weeks long. The peak weeks and the peak long runs are like jewels in the crown. They're the things that you most want to check off as done before you taper down to the race. It's basically your last chance to do what you think is enough training. Except when you're in the middle of the peak phase, you don't see that. You see a lot more work, a lot more hours on top of the hours and the miles you've already done for months. You see weeks of training left and still more work to do. And this is especially true if you picked a long training plan thinking longer is better.
Tired or not, right now, you just want longer to be over and to get to the race. Like enough with the training. So the version of the master thought here that you're thinking here in this phase is, I'm tired, I've done enough, I'm going to start tapering. Like what's going on here in the background is that the level of fatigue has just surprised you. You knew that the peak phase of training would be hard, but you didn't expect to feel this tired. And because it's more than expected, it feels like evidence that something is wrong or like you've done enough and you can start tapering. You're done training, you can start tapering.
So here, in this phase, you're thinking, I am so tired and I'm ready to be done with training. It's hard to push through this. Let's get it over with. I'm going to start tapering. And you want to just throw in the towel and not do anything before the race, but you're still a couple of weeks out and you still have work to do. And it's really hard to push through that.
And here's a fun fact. If there's going to be friction with family or friends about how much time you're spending on training, this is where that also usually peaks, which can just add pressure to throw in the towel even more. So what you tend to do when you're thinking about how tired you are in this phase, you cut a long run short with an excuse about fatigue or about the potential for injury. Or you feel that urge to throw in the towel and not do anything and you dwell on how tired you feel and you worry about it and you want to not feel tired to feel better. You wallow in the tiredness and really focus on it.
And the result here is that when you cut long run short or you take shortcuts, you have this immediate regret and then more worry about cutting your training plan short or not completing it or not completing it with the energy you planned on completing it with. And now it's too late to go back and do it. So now, at the end of the peak cycle, you're seriously worried about the race.
What you want to do here is think about it in a new way. Instead of thinking about how tired you are and how you just want to throw in the towel, think this. It's normal to feel tired. I've been working hard. Good job me, getting all those runs in even when it was hard and I didn't want to. I'm proud of you. Like I have literally said this to myself and you can borrow that too.
You've up the volume through the build phase to the peak phase and all the way through the peak phase and you forget that you should be tired. It's a sign that you've been working at your training. And that's why training plans have back off or rest weeks built in. What you can think here is that I'm putting in my last meaningful mileage.
And one thing to remember in this phase is that it's temporary. When you're dwelling on how tired you are, it seems like it's going to go on forever or that you can't do anymore. But one thing to remember is and another thought to think here instead is that this is temporary and I'm putting in my last meaningful training and I want to make it count.
Now, when you think in this new way, you know what being tired means. It's expected here. And you don't dwell on the feeling of being tired or turn it into a problem when it's not. You don't react to being tired or change things on a whim. You either very carefully re-decide your mileage or long runs for very good reasons, kind of like you did in the build up phase, or complete them as planned even if they're messy, not fast, and you're tired. This doesn't have to look perfect. This isn't the race. And you don't give into your brain tempting you to take it easy either.
Getting your training done these weeks unless you are truly physically over training is important for your confidence because this isn't just about mileage here. This phase is a dress rehearsal for showing up and getting it done when it's hard and you'd rather not in the race. So when you put in your training here as you planned, even though it's messy and you're tired, don't just move on to the next thing. Stop and tell yourself what an awesome thing that was that you got that run in because it is. Log the miles, be okay doing it tired, not excited. It's still going to set you up for a good race, which is what you want. And this is the last push in training.
When you do this, when you recognize that being tired here is expected because you're at the peak of your training, it's so much easier to actually do the training. Like it's so much easier to do the training than to fight it because you're tired. And you can also see from here that it's so much easier to actually do the training tired and face the race having done that training, even if you were tired, then to face the race worried because you didn't follow through with your training and you left something out.
Because here's what following through actually gives you. If you follow through here, when you're tired, you're way more likely to be able to do that in the race because you've practiced it. And you can feel sure about your capability and proud of yourself for doing the hard part in training.
Let's move on to the third and final phase, taper. And what this is you're putting the final touches on your training by significantly stepping down your training volume to eliminate the physical and mental fatigue that you felt in the peak phase while you maintain intensity to keep muscles sharp for race day. This phase is short, anywhere from one to three weeks. And the version of the master thought here is, I'm losing my fitness. You think, I'm not strong enough. I'm slow. See, look at my watch times. Or closer to the end of the taper, you think, I've lost too much fitness. I'm not ready. I did all that training and now I'm not going to hit my goal.
In the peak phase, things were too hard. And now, in the taper phase, it's not hard enough. You feel like you're losing fitness and you need to race now before you lose any more. But you have to wait for the race. It can be a truly uncomfortable limbo to be in. Your body doesn't feel quite like it did, what you got used to in training, so that seems different and wrong. And your schedule has freed up some time, but that also seems unsettlingly different and somehow wrong, like you should be spending that time doing something like training. To your brain, all this change seems to signal that there's something wrong.
So what you do here is the waiting is uncomfortable. Your fitness feels like it's slipping away and the race isn't here yet and there is nothing you can do about either of those two things, so you react. Some people stress the whole time. They obsess about how the race will feel, the weather, check the weather a million times. They obsess about the outcome, they overpack, they unpack, they repack, they lose sleep, they worry on top of worry, and just bang around like a BB in a Coke can.
Some people cram in last minute training to relieve the anxiety. They start lifting heavier, they start yoga, they add strength work in the taper phase, asking themselves, do I have enough time to make a difference? This is what I call cramming for the exam. Two different reactions, same discomfort. They're both reacting to that doubt. And it's called taper tantrums for a reason.
The result here is that if you just react one way or the other, you either stress or you cram in last minute stuff, either way, you end up kind of burned out mentally and emotionally and worn out on race day. You have no energy left for pushing in the race or finding a way past the really tough moments. Like to you, the race now needs to be easy because now it seems like the only thing you can do is survive it. That's the best you can do. If you crammed in some last minute mileage or started lifting heavier or whatever, your body is more tired than it should be. And if you stress through the whole taper, your mind is more tired than it should be. Either way, you're running on empty energy wise before the starting gun goes off.
Here is what to do instead. Go into the taper thinking, my job here from here to race day is to polish all my hard work off so it shines. I've done enough because it's what I've done and that part is over. The race is when I get to see how this training works. And I want you to listen to that last sentence. How this training works, not if it works, how it works. It's a very important distinction. You're going to see how it works. And if there's some leftover worry, here's how to reset it. Ask yourself, okay, if I'd done more, if I'd done more training, would I know I'm ready or would I still doubt myself? Answer, you'd doubt yourself either way. So relax, knowing that more mileage wouldn't solve your doubt here, you're going to feel doubt no matter what you do here. And all that's left for you to do, all you have to do here is to make the most of the training you've done. That's all you got to do on race day.
Think about the experiment you're running in the race and what you're excited to test. What you'll learn and how what you have done in training is exactly the right preparation. And I mean that last part seriously, like list out how what you've done in training is exactly the right preparation.
When you go into the taper thinking, my only job here is to polish what I've already accomplished, you can enjoy the extra time. You make sure that your remaining training is quality. You run with intention and you don't just tick off the miles like junk miles. You take care of race gear and logistics and packing with anticipation and you get some rest. And the real result is you get to the starting line having already faced this thought, this master thought, I'm not going to be ready three times, and you've come out the other side.
In the build up phase, you trusted your plan when you were tempted to change it. In the peak phase, you followed through on your plan even when you were tired. And now, in the taper phase, you let your body rest when every instinct says something is wrong. That's not nothing. That is evidence, months of evidence that you're in control instead of just reacting to doubt. So when the doubt shows up on race day, because it will, it doesn't throw you. You've seen this doubt before all through training and you know what to do.
So here's what's actually been happening every time you've trained for a race. You build a little belief, a new phase hits, doubt shows up and knocks it back down again. And after enough rounds of getting your belief knocked down, you stop trusting that the belief will ever stick. Now you know why. It's not a sign something is wrong with you or your training. It's one predictable thought changing its disguise through three phases, that thought of, I'm not doing it right and I'm not going to be ready.
When you can see how to handle the doubt in these three phases, training stops feeling chaotic. You start recognizing the doubt instead of reacting to it. You anticipate it. You know what to expect. You know what doubt is coming in each phase and you know what to do about it. Three phases of training, three versions of that same thought and you handled all three. In the build up phase, you went from, it's not enough, to, I decided on this plan and I can re-decide if there's a reason. In the peak phase, you went from, I'm too tired to finish this, to, I'm supposed to be tired and I can do this. And in the taper phase, you went from, I've lost my fitness, to, my only job right now is to polish off all the hard work I've already done so it shines.
When you get to that starting line, you're not the same runner who started your training. The doubt isn't going away, but now you can see it for what it is. It's the same old thing you've already handled and you're ready to race.
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 all 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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