49. The “Experiment of One” Mindset for Ultra Runners
A lot of runners approach races like tests, whether they realize it or not. You train, prepare, and show up feeling like everything is about to be graded. Did I do enough? Am I ready? What if I blow it? In this episode, I’m sharing a completely different way to think about races, one that takes the pressure off and makes ultra running more productive and a lot more enjoyable.
Instead of seeing a race as a test you either pass or fail, I want you to see it as an experiment. Your race plan is not a script you have to execute perfectly. It is your best current hypothesis about what will work. Then the race gives you data. What worked? What did not? What do you want to repeat, change, or refine? This shift changes everything, from how you handle doubt during a race to how you look at setbacks afterward.
I also talk about the idea of being an experiment of one, because your body, your history, your training, your life, and your goals are unique to you. That means your races are not about finding the one right answer or copying someone else’s formula. They are about learning your own. When you start treating races this way, you stop chasing a grade and start building a body of work you can be proud of over time.
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What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
Why seeing races as tests creates unnecessary pressure and anxiety.
How approaching races as experiments changes your experience of racing.
Why doubt during an ultra is normal and not a sign something is wrong.
What the phrase “experiment of one” means and why every runner’s path is unique.
How treating races as experiments helps you learn and improve race after race.
Why separating your self-worth from race outcomes makes you a stronger runner.
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Full Episode Transcript:
When you're in the weeks before a race or standing at the starting line, do you feel pressure? Like you can't afford to blow it and you're afraid you're about to? If there's one shift in how you see races that changes everything, your results, how much you enjoy ultra running, and even who you become as an ultra runner.
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 49. I am so excited about this episode. It's a way that I see ultra running that I've come to realize is very different from how most runners see ultra running, and I think it's going to make a really big difference for you.
So, before we start, here's some quick background on me that you might not know that will give you context for this episode. So, before I was a coach, I was an engineer. I have practical, scientific perspective that I am bringing to this episode. And in my work as an engineer, my favorite assignment that I ever had was becoming the site expert at the large plant I worked at on causal analysis.
Now, causal analysis, if you don't know, is just a very formal way of saying when something goes wrong, you use a structured process to figure out why it actually went wrong. Not the surface reason, the real reason, the real root cause, so you can fix that and keep the problem from happening again. That's how organizations get better over time. They fix the causes, not just the symptoms, and not by trying to do the same thing harder for sure. By understanding what's working, what's actually causing problems, and what to really change.
I have over the years, over my ultra running, taken the same approach, and the whole time I've been in it, 25 years. And in this episode, I'm sharing a root cause that I see behind a lot of anxiety and the feeling that ultra running just isn't fun anymore. So, address this one thing and it will change everything about your ultra running and how much you love it.
Here's where I want to start. How do you actually think about a race? Not whether you're excited about it or you hope to be ready or it's a race you really want to do or all the things you say to people, like underneath that. What does a race functionally mean to you?
Most runners see a race as a test of themselves, of the readiness, their training, something. Not intentionally, but just functionally, because of course, there's a goal, there's a time, a finished time. Whatever your goal is, and you either hit it or you don't. You pass or you fail, exactly like a test. So, on the surface, thinking of a race as a test seems obvious. But that also means that you're going to get graded on that test and you could fail. And you don't want to fail a test, especially one where your effort, your decisions, and your entire capability is on the line.
So, like I said, now that the race is a test, there's a grade coming, and I know you, I know my listeners, and you want the A+. So, the pressure to pass and get that A+ starts building before you even get to the starting line. And this isn't irrational. You put a lot into these races, training, money, time, logistics, and that's before we even get to the emotional component of it all, the emotional investment. So, of course, a race feels high stakes.
But then you spend time in ultra running culture and the messages that you absorb gradually can make that worse because ultra running is genuinely conflicted about failure. Like here are just some of the messages you get in ultra running. Stay in the sport long enough and you'll DNF, but you also shouldn't DNF. You're supposed to learn, but you can't fail while doing it. You're supposed to test your limits with ambitious goals, but not fail. You're supposed to enjoy the journey, but you're judged on whether you reach the finish line. And failure isn't shameful, but you should use the fear of shame to drive you. The fear of shame that doesn't exist. And here's another one, the last one. Failure is normal, but if you DNF, you need to be redeemed from it.
So, all of that is wildly contradictory. And if you absorb enough of it without questioning it, failure stops being just disappointing. It starts to mean something about whether you're a real ultra runner, like whether you belong out there with everybody else or don't. And that's when the grade becomes about more than the race. It becomes about you. A finish feels like evidence of your worth and your capability. Like you're the kind of person who does hard things. But a DNF or a missed cutoff feels like evidence of the complete opposite. And because becoming the kind of runner you admire actually matters to you, we aspire to that. You want to become someone who finishes tough challenges and who does hard things and is really good at it and is a natural at it.
So, failure starts to feel like a threat to who you are, to your identity, to where or if you even belong in the sport. So, it's no wonder races feel like so much is on the line. And here's the practical problem with all of that is if it doesn't feel bad enough already. Ultra running is full of doubt and uncertainty. Every race, nobody standing at the starting line, I've said this before, no one standing at the starting line knows if they're going to finish. No one. And there is no 100 miles where at some point you don't wonder if you're going to make it or not.
And that doubt isn't a sign that something's wrong with your mental toughness. That's just what racing long hours and long miles feels like. So, doubt in an ultra is just part of the terrain. It's normal and it's as predictable as the hills, but when you're approaching the race as a test, in your mind, unconsciously, when your identity is riding on the result, doubt isn't just uncomfortable, it's an actual threat. That's how your brain perceives it. Because it means that you might fail, which means that you might lose the thing you've been building your sense of self around.
So, instead of responding to the presence of doubt like the normal thing it is, you fight it. You spiral, you have to make it go away. You spend mental energy battling the fear of failure when you could be using it to, I don't know, run the race.
I've seen really fit, really well-prepared runners absolutely fall apart in races, and that's hard to watch. And they fall apart not because they couldn't physically do it, but because they couldn't tolerate the uncertainty and doubt and they had to make that stop. The test mindset that we just have unconsciously in the back of our minds turns normal expected doubt into an absolute crisis.
I recently coached a runner doing her first 200-mile race, and in her mind, it was a test that she had to pass. And the weight of that, I have to, nearly worked her into a panic before she even got to the starting line. She needed to know how to do everything exactly right. Once she was willing to see it the way I'm going to share with you, she could finally relax. The doubt stopped feeling like a crisis, and she ended up problem solving her way through all the hard parts, adapted beautifully when she needed to, came up with the most creative solutions. I was so proud of her, and she finished this thing. And she knew that at the end of the race, we talked, we had a debrief, and she knew it was her capability that got her there, not a cheat sheet with the right answers to the test.
So, approaching races as tests makes ultra running less fun. It really does. I mean if every race is a test that you have to pass to feel okay about yourself, that gets really old, really fast. And here's why you really want to get a handle on this. What happens when you keep going like this, race after race, same cycle, same pressure, same dread of the test? You don't get better at handling it. You just get more tired of it. And that's where a lot of runners start to quietly wonder why they're still doing this, why they're still out there doing ultras if they're not enjoying it.
So, that's where the test mindset takes you if you keep letting it run its course. So, we really want to reframe it and this is how. A race isn't a test, it's an experiment. And the definitions of test and race are going to help show the difference here, so let me give them to you. A test is designed to examine progress or determine qualification, pass or fail. An experiment, though, is a scientific procedure to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or try out something new. So, one is a verdict, the other is a process.
When you treat a race as an experiment, your race plan isn't a script that you have to execute perfectly. It's your current best hypothesis, like your best idea about what's going to work. And that best idea is based on what you know from your past races, your training, what you know about the race, your body, it's your best informed decisions going in. You're going in to test a hypothesis, not to pass a test.
So, then during the race, when you're approaching it as an experiment, you're not just executing, you're observing. What's working? How do I need to adapt? How is it going right now compared to what I expected it to do? And after the race, you debrief. What should I repeat? What worked? What do I want to change? What did this race teach me that I didn't know before? And then you build a better hypothesis that you are going to test in the next race.
So, you're not starting over every time with a new test, you're building. Race after race, you're accumulating real, like on the ground in the race, knowledge about how to run your races and how to do them better. And that is mastery. It's not just finishing races, it's actually developing expertise as you run them, which is so fun.
And here's one more layer because I think this is the piece that really locks this in and really completes this. When I started running ultras way back in the day, there weren't many of us doing this, especially in the Southeast US. Like I ran with a very small group that just happened to live in my town in Tennessee. I don't know, we were maybe eight of us, but we were the only eight ultra runners in the entire state, if you can imagine. That's way back in the day because now there's probably, who knows, thousands. So, it's a far cry from today.
But there was a similar group, not far away from us in Huntsville, Alabama, who we regularly saw at the very few ultras that were in the Southeast. And one of the fast guys from that crew, DeWayne Satterfield, wrote a monthly column in UltraRunning Magazine for a long time named after his philosophy, and this is his philosophy: "We are all an experiment of one." I loved that saying from the moment I heard it because it captures something about ultra running that I think is priceless.
This isn't just a sport, it's getting to know yourself, building a relationship with yourself, and becoming who you aspire to be. It's the ultimate self-discovery practice, and it's the perfect addition here because even if you embrace the experiment mindset, there's still a potential trap out there waiting for you, and that trap is comparison.
Let's say you run a race and you do your post-race debrief, figure out what worked and what needs to change, and then, instead of coming up with your own ideas and tinkering with them on long runs to see what happens and what's actually going to be the best solution, which is what experimenting is actually about, you look at what's working for someone else because they already have it figured out. So, it must be right. So, you should train how they train, eat what they eat, copy their race plan, and that's where you stop experimenting and revert back to the old, "I've got to find the right answer" approach.
So, what DeWayne said adds one important word. A race isn't just an experiment, it's your experiment. Think about it. Your experiment is unique, everybody's is. Not just different, but like genuinely unique to you. Your physiology, your life experience, your injury history, your beliefs, your schedule, your age, your health, the life you live outside ultra running, what you do for work, family commitments, all of it. No one else on the planet has that specific combination of variables.
And then add the racing variables on top of those. Some runners have stomach issues that appear at a certain point in every race, and some don't ever have them at all. Some runners love loops, some come alive in the mountains. The only one who can interpret your results correctly is you. The only one who can determine what needs to change also and how to change it, also, you're an experiment of one, which also means that you are the expert on you. And the more deeply you get to know your experimental subject, which is yourself, the better and faster you get at this.
So, that's the theory, approach it as an experiment. And that's easy to embrace in theory, so here is what it actually takes in practice. And I'm going to be honest about what this asks of you, because it's not nothing. It's really easy to just copy everybody else and approach each race as a test and try and survive it. So, to approach it as an experiment, you have to be willing to fail. Like genuinely willing, not just as a thing that you say, but as a real possibility that you might have to experience. Sometimes a reality, something you've actually made peace with. Like a race not going the way you wanted isn't the end of the story then, it's just valuable data when you're thinking of it as an experiment.
You also have to be willing to look at what happened honestly, not defensively and not with drama, but clearly and in detail. Post-race debrief only works if you're willing to see the uncomfortable parts in detail without beating yourself up. You also have to stop using other runners' experiments to measure your own. Their variables aren't your variables. They're at a different age with different training, different goals, different life, different values, different so many things. So, their results don't tell you anything about what your results mean.
And you also have to separate your self-worth from the outcome. That is just a no-win game right there. And I know that's easier said than done, but it's the thing that makes all the rest of this possible. And believe me, that does get easier the more you're willing to just do it and practice it.
Now, you don't have to have all of this stuff figured out before your next race or to think about your next race as an experiment. You just have to start and keep experimenting and refining. So, it might sound like a lot in reality, but this is all way easier. Think about it, than facing race after race as a test of your worth and ability. Like I said, that gets old really fast. So, this is all very much worth doing.
So, let me help here a little bit more by putting these two approaches to races side by side because I think this is where it really lands. Races as a test versus races as experiments. When you see races as tests, you limit yourself because you're going to gravitate towards safe races, the ones you're pretty sure you can pass. There's fear and doubt though going into the race. And when you do go after a race that you really, really, really want to run, it immediately becomes something that you have to, have to get. The pressure's on from the moment you register for that race.
In the race, you're likely to make impulsive decisions just out of fear or freeze when you hit a problem because solving a problem is a test, a mini test within the test of a race, and you're terrified of getting it wrong too, of not solving the problem right. You spend the whole race seeking the relief of the finish line like, "I want to be done." You can only see though as far as the end of one race, and that's the extent of your vision. Like, let me just get through this one. Let me just survive this one. So, you keep repeating this cycle over and over again, no matter how not fun that is.
And that's what makes this mindset so costly over time. It wears away your confidence instead of building it. You race less because who wants to voluntarily sign up for more unpleasant tests? You compare yourself to everybody else too, instead of learning from your own results. And eventually, if you keep doing it this way long enough, you keep seeing races as tests long enough, ultra running just isn't fun anymore. And you wonder why you're still doing it, like I said.
So, now, let's flip it over. When you see races as experiments, everything opens up. You race what excites you, even things that go beyond, well beyond what you've done before. There's genuine curiosity going in, like, how is this race going to be? What's the experience going to be like? You wonder how it's going to go, what adventure you're about to have.
In the race, you make intentional decisions under pressure instead of reactive ones, thought-out decisions. You problem solve more creatively because you're also not looking for the right answer. You're looking for a good answer given what you're working with right now, because you know you might have another problem a couple miles down the trail. And you're very present, you're immersed. You don't get to do this every day. So, you're actually in it, experiencing it, savoring it instead of wishing yourself to the finish line.
And then after the race, the results fascinate you. You can't wait to get into what you learned and use it for the next race. And even if you do fail, yes, it's disappointing, but it doesn't occur to you to see yourself as the failure. Failure isn't a dead end, it's just a different stepping stone on the way forward. You're still moving ahead and you grow anyway. This hypothesis just didn't work this time. But now you have more information about how to approach the next race better.
And in the next race, you don't start over. You level up instead. You have too much on the line in terms of growth to be derailed by some fear of failing in one race. You're in it for the more rewarding long game now. And that just keeps building. Every race you're willing to look at honestly makes you one more sharper. And a bad race doesn't take the wind out of your sails anymore. The confidence that comes from approaching it this way is real because it's built on actual experience, not just some nice positive self-talk.
So, when you approach a race as an experiment, racing gets easier and ultra running gets more fun. So, before I wrap this up, I'm going to leave you with a question to think about, just one, and I actually want you to sit with it or even better, take it on a run. And here it is. What would change in your training, your races, and your results if you approached races as experiments?
Think about each one of those things separately, training. How would you train differently? How would you test things more? Worry less about crossing off the prescribed workout? Or races, how would you show up at the starting line differently? How would it feel? How would you handle a rough patch at like mile 60 of 100? And results, how would you look at them differently? How would you look at a DNF if you got one differently? What would you do with your results?
For me, I knew I wanted to do something better than the "run hard and death march it to the finish" approach that my friends were taking. It was funny, and we laughed. But I knew I could do better and I wanted to. I wanted to take it more seriously and see what I could really do. So, I figured out how and I started approaching them as experiments.
There's no wrong answer to the question of what would change. But I bet your answers will tell you something. So, that's the experiment of one in practice. Not just surviving one race at a time, a career, a long, cumulative experiment where each race is a chapter that builds on the last.
This is how I think of my own ultra running career, as a body of work built over time, using what I learned in one race to get better at the next, even if what I was doing didn't look anything like what anyone else was doing. It didn't matter because it was my own experiment of one. And it all starts with one decision you can make today. Are you racing to pass a never-ending series of tests or to experiment and build a body of work that you can look back on with pride?
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 49. I am so excited about this episode. It's a way that I see ultra running that I've come to realize is very different from how most runners see ultra running, and I think it's going to make a really big difference for you.
So, before we start, here's some quick background on me that you might not know that will give you context for this episode. So, before I was a coach, I was an engineer. I have practical, scientific perspective that I am bringing to this episode. And in my work as an engineer, my favorite assignment that I ever had was becoming the site expert at the large plant I worked at on causal analysis.
Now, causal analysis, if you don't know, is just a very formal way of saying when something goes wrong, you use a structured process to figure out why it actually went wrong. Not the surface reason, the real reason, the real root cause, so you can fix that and keep the problem from happening again. That's how organizations get better over time. They fix the causes, not just the symptoms, and not by trying to do the same thing harder for sure. By understanding what's working, what's actually causing problems, and what to really change.
I have over the years, over my ultra running, taken the same approach, and the whole time I've been in it, 25 years. And in this episode, I'm sharing a root cause that I see behind a lot of anxiety and the feeling that ultra running just isn't fun anymore. So, address this one thing and it will change everything about your ultra running and how much you love it.
Here's where I want to start. How do you actually think about a race? Not whether you're excited about it or you hope to be ready or it's a race you really want to do or all the things you say to people, like underneath that. What does a race functionally mean to you?
Most runners see a race as a test of themselves, of the readiness, their training, something. Not intentionally, but just functionally, because of course, there's a goal, there's a time, a finished time. Whatever your goal is, and you either hit it or you don't. You pass or you fail, exactly like a test. So, on the surface, thinking of a race as a test seems obvious. But that also means that you're going to get graded on that test and you could fail. And you don't want to fail a test, especially one where your effort, your decisions, and your entire capability is on the line.
So, like I said, now that the race is a test, there's a grade coming, and I know you, I know my listeners, and you want the A+. So, the pressure to pass and get that A+ starts building before you even get to the starting line. And this isn't irrational. You put a lot into these races, training, money, time, logistics, and that's before we even get to the emotional component of it all, the emotional investment. So, of course, a race feels high stakes.
But then you spend time in ultra running culture and the messages that you absorb gradually can make that worse because ultra running is genuinely conflicted about failure. Like here are just some of the messages you get in ultra running. Stay in the sport long enough and you'll DNF, but you also shouldn't DNF. You're supposed to learn, but you can't fail while doing it. You're supposed to test your limits with ambitious goals, but not fail. You're supposed to enjoy the journey, but you're judged on whether you reach the finish line. And failure isn't shameful, but you should use the fear of shame to drive you. The fear of shame that doesn't exist. And here's another one, the last one. Failure is normal, but if you DNF, you need to be redeemed from it.
So, all of that is wildly contradictory. And if you absorb enough of it without questioning it, failure stops being just disappointing. It starts to mean something about whether you're a real ultra runner, like whether you belong out there with everybody else or don't. And that's when the grade becomes about more than the race. It becomes about you. A finish feels like evidence of your worth and your capability. Like you're the kind of person who does hard things. But a DNF or a missed cutoff feels like evidence of the complete opposite. And because becoming the kind of runner you admire actually matters to you, we aspire to that. You want to become someone who finishes tough challenges and who does hard things and is really good at it and is a natural at it.
So, failure starts to feel like a threat to who you are, to your identity, to where or if you even belong in the sport. So, it's no wonder races feel like so much is on the line. And here's the practical problem with all of that is if it doesn't feel bad enough already. Ultra running is full of doubt and uncertainty. Every race, nobody standing at the starting line, I've said this before, no one standing at the starting line knows if they're going to finish. No one. And there is no 100 miles where at some point you don't wonder if you're going to make it or not.
And that doubt isn't a sign that something's wrong with your mental toughness. That's just what racing long hours and long miles feels like. So, doubt in an ultra is just part of the terrain. It's normal and it's as predictable as the hills, but when you're approaching the race as a test, in your mind, unconsciously, when your identity is riding on the result, doubt isn't just uncomfortable, it's an actual threat. That's how your brain perceives it. Because it means that you might fail, which means that you might lose the thing you've been building your sense of self around.
So, instead of responding to the presence of doubt like the normal thing it is, you fight it. You spiral, you have to make it go away. You spend mental energy battling the fear of failure when you could be using it to, I don't know, run the race.
I've seen really fit, really well-prepared runners absolutely fall apart in races, and that's hard to watch. And they fall apart not because they couldn't physically do it, but because they couldn't tolerate the uncertainty and doubt and they had to make that stop. The test mindset that we just have unconsciously in the back of our minds turns normal expected doubt into an absolute crisis.
I recently coached a runner doing her first 200-mile race, and in her mind, it was a test that she had to pass. And the weight of that, I have to, nearly worked her into a panic before she even got to the starting line. She needed to know how to do everything exactly right. Once she was willing to see it the way I'm going to share with you, she could finally relax. The doubt stopped feeling like a crisis, and she ended up problem solving her way through all the hard parts, adapted beautifully when she needed to, came up with the most creative solutions. I was so proud of her, and she finished this thing. And she knew that at the end of the race, we talked, we had a debrief, and she knew it was her capability that got her there, not a cheat sheet with the right answers to the test.
So, approaching races as tests makes ultra running less fun. It really does. I mean if every race is a test that you have to pass to feel okay about yourself, that gets really old, really fast. And here's why you really want to get a handle on this. What happens when you keep going like this, race after race, same cycle, same pressure, same dread of the test? You don't get better at handling it. You just get more tired of it. And that's where a lot of runners start to quietly wonder why they're still doing this, why they're still out there doing ultras if they're not enjoying it.
So, that's where the test mindset takes you if you keep letting it run its course. So, we really want to reframe it and this is how. A race isn't a test, it's an experiment. And the definitions of test and race are going to help show the difference here, so let me give them to you. A test is designed to examine progress or determine qualification, pass or fail. An experiment, though, is a scientific procedure to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or try out something new. So, one is a verdict, the other is a process.
When you treat a race as an experiment, your race plan isn't a script that you have to execute perfectly. It's your current best hypothesis, like your best idea about what's going to work. And that best idea is based on what you know from your past races, your training, what you know about the race, your body, it's your best informed decisions going in. You're going in to test a hypothesis, not to pass a test.
So, then during the race, when you're approaching it as an experiment, you're not just executing, you're observing. What's working? How do I need to adapt? How is it going right now compared to what I expected it to do? And after the race, you debrief. What should I repeat? What worked? What do I want to change? What did this race teach me that I didn't know before? And then you build a better hypothesis that you are going to test in the next race.
So, you're not starting over every time with a new test, you're building. Race after race, you're accumulating real, like on the ground in the race, knowledge about how to run your races and how to do them better. And that is mastery. It's not just finishing races, it's actually developing expertise as you run them, which is so fun.
And here's one more layer because I think this is the piece that really locks this in and really completes this. When I started running ultras way back in the day, there weren't many of us doing this, especially in the Southeast US. Like I ran with a very small group that just happened to live in my town in Tennessee. I don't know, we were maybe eight of us, but we were the only eight ultra runners in the entire state, if you can imagine. That's way back in the day because now there's probably, who knows, thousands. So, it's a far cry from today.
But there was a similar group, not far away from us in Huntsville, Alabama, who we regularly saw at the very few ultras that were in the Southeast. And one of the fast guys from that crew, DeWayne Satterfield, wrote a monthly column in UltraRunning Magazine for a long time named after his philosophy, and this is his philosophy: "We are all an experiment of one." I loved that saying from the moment I heard it because it captures something about ultra running that I think is priceless.
This isn't just a sport, it's getting to know yourself, building a relationship with yourself, and becoming who you aspire to be. It's the ultimate self-discovery practice, and it's the perfect addition here because even if you embrace the experiment mindset, there's still a potential trap out there waiting for you, and that trap is comparison.
Let's say you run a race and you do your post-race debrief, figure out what worked and what needs to change, and then, instead of coming up with your own ideas and tinkering with them on long runs to see what happens and what's actually going to be the best solution, which is what experimenting is actually about, you look at what's working for someone else because they already have it figured out. So, it must be right. So, you should train how they train, eat what they eat, copy their race plan, and that's where you stop experimenting and revert back to the old, "I've got to find the right answer" approach.
So, what DeWayne said adds one important word. A race isn't just an experiment, it's your experiment. Think about it. Your experiment is unique, everybody's is. Not just different, but like genuinely unique to you. Your physiology, your life experience, your injury history, your beliefs, your schedule, your age, your health, the life you live outside ultra running, what you do for work, family commitments, all of it. No one else on the planet has that specific combination of variables.
And then add the racing variables on top of those. Some runners have stomach issues that appear at a certain point in every race, and some don't ever have them at all. Some runners love loops, some come alive in the mountains. The only one who can interpret your results correctly is you. The only one who can determine what needs to change also and how to change it, also, you're an experiment of one, which also means that you are the expert on you. And the more deeply you get to know your experimental subject, which is yourself, the better and faster you get at this.
So, that's the theory, approach it as an experiment. And that's easy to embrace in theory, so here is what it actually takes in practice. And I'm going to be honest about what this asks of you, because it's not nothing. It's really easy to just copy everybody else and approach each race as a test and try and survive it. So, to approach it as an experiment, you have to be willing to fail. Like genuinely willing, not just as a thing that you say, but as a real possibility that you might have to experience. Sometimes a reality, something you've actually made peace with. Like a race not going the way you wanted isn't the end of the story then, it's just valuable data when you're thinking of it as an experiment.
You also have to be willing to look at what happened honestly, not defensively and not with drama, but clearly and in detail. Post-race debrief only works if you're willing to see the uncomfortable parts in detail without beating yourself up. You also have to stop using other runners' experiments to measure your own. Their variables aren't your variables. They're at a different age with different training, different goals, different life, different values, different so many things. So, their results don't tell you anything about what your results mean.
And you also have to separate your self-worth from the outcome. That is just a no-win game right there. And I know that's easier said than done, but it's the thing that makes all the rest of this possible. And believe me, that does get easier the more you're willing to just do it and practice it.
Now, you don't have to have all of this stuff figured out before your next race or to think about your next race as an experiment. You just have to start and keep experimenting and refining. So, it might sound like a lot in reality, but this is all way easier. Think about it, than facing race after race as a test of your worth and ability. Like I said, that gets old really fast. So, this is all very much worth doing.
So, let me help here a little bit more by putting these two approaches to races side by side because I think this is where it really lands. Races as a test versus races as experiments. When you see races as tests, you limit yourself because you're going to gravitate towards safe races, the ones you're pretty sure you can pass. There's fear and doubt though going into the race. And when you do go after a race that you really, really, really want to run, it immediately becomes something that you have to, have to get. The pressure's on from the moment you register for that race.
In the race, you're likely to make impulsive decisions just out of fear or freeze when you hit a problem because solving a problem is a test, a mini test within the test of a race, and you're terrified of getting it wrong too, of not solving the problem right. You spend the whole race seeking the relief of the finish line like, "I want to be done." You can only see though as far as the end of one race, and that's the extent of your vision. Like, let me just get through this one. Let me just survive this one. So, you keep repeating this cycle over and over again, no matter how not fun that is.
And that's what makes this mindset so costly over time. It wears away your confidence instead of building it. You race less because who wants to voluntarily sign up for more unpleasant tests? You compare yourself to everybody else too, instead of learning from your own results. And eventually, if you keep doing it this way long enough, you keep seeing races as tests long enough, ultra running just isn't fun anymore. And you wonder why you're still doing it, like I said.
So, now, let's flip it over. When you see races as experiments, everything opens up. You race what excites you, even things that go beyond, well beyond what you've done before. There's genuine curiosity going in, like, how is this race going to be? What's the experience going to be like? You wonder how it's going to go, what adventure you're about to have.
In the race, you make intentional decisions under pressure instead of reactive ones, thought-out decisions. You problem solve more creatively because you're also not looking for the right answer. You're looking for a good answer given what you're working with right now, because you know you might have another problem a couple miles down the trail. And you're very present, you're immersed. You don't get to do this every day. So, you're actually in it, experiencing it, savoring it instead of wishing yourself to the finish line.
And then after the race, the results fascinate you. You can't wait to get into what you learned and use it for the next race. And even if you do fail, yes, it's disappointing, but it doesn't occur to you to see yourself as the failure. Failure isn't a dead end, it's just a different stepping stone on the way forward. You're still moving ahead and you grow anyway. This hypothesis just didn't work this time. But now you have more information about how to approach the next race better.
And in the next race, you don't start over. You level up instead. You have too much on the line in terms of growth to be derailed by some fear of failing in one race. You're in it for the more rewarding long game now. And that just keeps building. Every race you're willing to look at honestly makes you one more sharper. And a bad race doesn't take the wind out of your sails anymore. The confidence that comes from approaching it this way is real because it's built on actual experience, not just some nice positive self-talk.
So, when you approach a race as an experiment, racing gets easier and ultra running gets more fun. So, before I wrap this up, I'm going to leave you with a question to think about, just one, and I actually want you to sit with it or even better, take it on a run. And here it is. What would change in your training, your races, and your results if you approached races as experiments?
Think about each one of those things separately, training. How would you train differently? How would you test things more? Worry less about crossing off the prescribed workout? Or races, how would you show up at the starting line differently? How would it feel? How would you handle a rough patch at like mile 60 of 100? And results, how would you look at them differently? How would you look at a DNF if you got one differently? What would you do with your results?
For me, I knew I wanted to do something better than the "run hard and death march it to the finish" approach that my friends were taking. It was funny, and we laughed. But I knew I could do better and I wanted to. I wanted to take it more seriously and see what I could really do. So, I figured out how and I started approaching them as experiments.
There's no wrong answer to the question of what would change. But I bet your answers will tell you something. So, that's the experiment of one in practice. Not just surviving one race at a time, a career, a long, cumulative experiment where each race is a chapter that builds on the last.
This is how I think of my own ultra running career, as a body of work built over time, using what I learned in one race to get better at the next, even if what I was doing didn't look anything like what anyone else was doing. It didn't matter because it was my own experiment of one. And it all starts with one decision you can make today. Are you racing to pass a never-ending series of tests or to experiment and build a body of work that you can look back on with pride?
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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