18. The Power of Momentum: Why One Decision Doesn’t Define Your Race
Are you scared that your entire race will come down to one defining moment? That you’ll be exhausted or in pain, and you’ll fall apart and quit? This fear is common among ultra runners, but it’s based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what an ultra truly is.
An ultra isn’t made up of a few big decisions. It’s the millions of micro decisions you make throughout the race. By the time you hit that dreaded aid station, you’ve already made thousands of small choices that have kept you moving forward. When the tough moments come, you're not starting from scratch. You’ve been building momentum and resilience all day long.
In this episode, we’ll explore why the "make-or-break" moment isn’t as dramatic as it seems. I’ll walk you through how your choices throughout the race build momentum and make it easier to continue than to quit. Plus, you’ll learn why extraordinary willpower isn’t necessary when you’ve already been practicing the right habits and decisions. By shifting your focus from a single decision to the thousands of successful choices you’ve already made, you’ll approach your race with more confidence and less fear of failure.
If you’re loving the show, please take a moment to follow, rate, and review wherever you listen to podcasts today!
What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
Why that scary "quit or continue" moment isn't special.
The science behind why your brain wants you to stay in the race.
How viewing your race as a pattern of continuous choices removes the power from any single decision.
Why keeping your thoughts steady throughout the race matters more than having perfect mental skills for crisis moments.
How understanding the power of momentum makes it easier to push through tough moments without burning out.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
If you’re loving the show, please take a moment to follow, rate, and review wherever you listen to podcasts today!
Full Episode Transcript:
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.
Hi, you all, and welcome to Episode 18.
Today, let's talk about that moment. The one you're worried about. You know the one I mean. Late in the race, when you're tired and you're hurting and you're sitting at an aid station. You can't focus clearly, and the aid station is either really busy or maybe it's not busy and all eyes are on you. And everything in your brain is loud, things seem uncertain, and you feel like you're at a decision point, a real fork in the trail. Do you keep going or call it quits?
That moment.
You're afraid that when this moment comes, you won't make the decision you want to make. That you'll drop and you'll stop trying. And that everything you trained for will come down to that one moment. Everything is riding on it and you'll blow it.
I hear this fear all the time. So if this is you, if you're afraid that in that moment that matters most, you'll fall apart and quit, I want to offer something today that might change the way you look at your race completely.
That moment? It's not as big as it seems. It's not even special. It's just another decision. And by the time you get there, you'll already have made millions of race decisions. Successfully.
Here's what I mean. An ultra is made of millions of micro decisions. You probably know this even if you've never thought of it this way. Every step, you've made a decision to take it. And every time you take a step, you decide, how fast do I run this section? Where do I put my foot? How far do I run up this hill before I hike it? Do I eat a gel now or wait five more minutes? Should I drink now?
And at every aid station, you make more decisions. What do I want to do first? Do I need anything from my drop bag? Do I take the broth or stick with what's working? Do I talk to that volunteer over there or just stay quiet and focused on what I'm doing? Everything you do is a decision, and every decision keeps you in the race.
We think it's those big moments that make up the race, but really, those are just the visible ones, the tip of everything, all the decisions you've already made.
Here's the analogy I like to use that's helpful. The human body, your body is made up of trillions of cells. No single cell in your body holds the key to life, but together, they do. Together, they make you alive, and a race is no different. No single big decision is the race. Together, all the decisions you make, every step, every single little step, those decisions make it happen.
And here's why it's helpful to see a race this way. One of my fabulous clients recently brought this into focus. He trains hard and he runs one or two big ultras a year. And he's had some tough experiences and dropped from big races he really wanted to finish.
So, thinking ahead to his next hundred makes him nervous. Not about the distance and not even about the training, he's nervous about that moment. The mile 70 aid station moment when everything hurts and he's not sure what's real, the moment where the whole race seems to come down to one decision. Do I keep going or do I drop?
He hopes he'll make the right decision when it counts, but he's afraid he won't. He's afraid he'll hesitate and choke under the weight of it, and that when that moment shows up, he just won't be strong enough. And this is such a common fear. He's not doubting his legs or his body. He's doubting his mind and whether he can hold his ground when that moment arrives.
The real problem here is that you turn that moment into something bigger than you. You imagine it showing up like a tsunami wave that you can't stop. And in your mind, there's no version where you stand your ground.
You convince yourself that it's not even a choice, that when that moment shows up, you're going to be powerless. Like it's just a reality that moment is going to overpower you. So you start even fearing its arrival, not just the moment, but the fact that it's out there, waiting, because deep down, you've already decided it's going to win.
So, the client and I talked this through and here's the coaching that helped. That moment, it's not separate from the rest of the race. And it's not a special, unsolvable test that you haven't trained for. It's just another decision in a long, long chain of decisions he's already made to stay in the race. By the time he gets to that point, he's built up a history. He's built up a habit of making the right decision. And this is just one more. It's just another cell in the body of the race.
And the same is true for you. By the time you get to that point in a race, you've already said yes to staying in the race thousands of times. You said yes when you kept running even though you didn't feel great at mile 15. You said yes when you walked a climb instead of blowing up. You said yes when you ate something even though it didn't sound good. And you said yes when you left an aid station, a little tired, but still moving forward. You said yes every time you took a step, every time, every step.
Let that sink in. You've already been practicing the decision to stay in the race over and over and over again. So when you hit that scary moment at mile 70 or 80 or 50 or 30 or whatever it is, you're not doing something new. You're just continuing what you've already been doing.
This isn't about willpower, this is about momentum and believe it or not, it's also about ease. Because here's the science part. Our brains really, really, really like doing what's familiar. So, if you see this next decision to stay in the race or drop, if you see that decision as a continuation of what you've already been doing the whole entire race, it's actually easier to keep going than to change direction and drop.
That's part of why quitting can feel so dramatic, because all of a sudden it's kind of jarring. It interrupts the pattern you've been reinforcing all day.
So if your pattern has been, I stay in the race, I take a next step, you don't need to create something new. You just need to keep going, doing what you've already been doing.
One point I want to add is that this is why it pays to have the mindset skills to keep your mind clean and clear and tidy the whole way, and not just have those skills to call on when the wheels fall off and you're trying to think straight.
You don't need every thought to be perfect or endlessly positive. I'm not saying that. But you do want to keep your thoughts steady, not spiraling, not self-defeating. And I'm talking about what you say to yourself, what you believe about your race so far, what you're telling yourself about how the race is going so far, what kind of pattern you're building along the way.
And this doesn't need to be complicated. You just need to keep gently steering your thoughts back to acknowledging the gains you're making, the things you're doing right and the things that are going well. Because when that big, quote-unquote, big decision moment comes, you want to look back and see your race thus far as a history of strong continuous choices, not a string of lucky escapes.
When that moment comes along, you don't have to hope you're suddenly going to rise to the challenge. You know you've already been doing that for hours and for miles. So, if you're worried about that one big moment, the one where you might drop or give up or stop caring, here's what I want you to remember.
That moment isn't the first decision you're going to make in the race. It's the millionth, if not the trillionth. And the good news? You've already been making the right call all day. You've already practiced the kind of decision you want to make with every step, every climb, every gel, every aid station, every layer you shed or add, every response to a problem or a mistake. You've already proven you can keep going.
So when the time comes, you don't have to be extraordinary. You just have to keep doing what you've already been doing. One more step, one more good decision, one more keep going.
And yes, you might be fatigued and the problems might stack up, but you don't have to question whether you're going to make the right decision when it counts in that big moment. Not if you remember you've already been doing that the whole entire race. And all you have to do is do it again.
It's not one moment that decides everything, it's the pattern you've built, decision by decision all day long, every single step. You don't have to do anything new. You just have to keep going the way you already are. That gets you to the finish. And you're already well on your way.
That's it for this week. Thanks for listening you all and share this episode with a friend who will appreciate it. I'll talk to 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.
Hi, you all, and welcome to Episode 18.
Today, let's talk about that moment. The one you're worried about. You know the one I mean. Late in the race, when you're tired and you're hurting and you're sitting at an aid station. You can't focus clearly, and the aid station is either really busy or maybe it's not busy and all eyes are on you. And everything in your brain is loud, things seem uncertain, and you feel like you're at a decision point, a real fork in the trail. Do you keep going or call it quits?
That moment.
You're afraid that when this moment comes, you won't make the decision you want to make. That you'll drop and you'll stop trying. And that everything you trained for will come down to that one moment. Everything is riding on it and you'll blow it.
I hear this fear all the time. So if this is you, if you're afraid that in that moment that matters most, you'll fall apart and quit, I want to offer something today that might change the way you look at your race completely.
That moment? It's not as big as it seems. It's not even special. It's just another decision. And by the time you get there, you'll already have made millions of race decisions. Successfully.
Here's what I mean. An ultra is made of millions of micro decisions. You probably know this even if you've never thought of it this way. Every step, you've made a decision to take it. And every time you take a step, you decide, how fast do I run this section? Where do I put my foot? How far do I run up this hill before I hike it? Do I eat a gel now or wait five more minutes? Should I drink now?
And at every aid station, you make more decisions. What do I want to do first? Do I need anything from my drop bag? Do I take the broth or stick with what's working? Do I talk to that volunteer over there or just stay quiet and focused on what I'm doing? Everything you do is a decision, and every decision keeps you in the race.
We think it's those big moments that make up the race, but really, those are just the visible ones, the tip of everything, all the decisions you've already made.
Here's the analogy I like to use that's helpful. The human body, your body is made up of trillions of cells. No single cell in your body holds the key to life, but together, they do. Together, they make you alive, and a race is no different. No single big decision is the race. Together, all the decisions you make, every step, every single little step, those decisions make it happen.
And here's why it's helpful to see a race this way. One of my fabulous clients recently brought this into focus. He trains hard and he runs one or two big ultras a year. And he's had some tough experiences and dropped from big races he really wanted to finish.
So, thinking ahead to his next hundred makes him nervous. Not about the distance and not even about the training, he's nervous about that moment. The mile 70 aid station moment when everything hurts and he's not sure what's real, the moment where the whole race seems to come down to one decision. Do I keep going or do I drop?
He hopes he'll make the right decision when it counts, but he's afraid he won't. He's afraid he'll hesitate and choke under the weight of it, and that when that moment shows up, he just won't be strong enough. And this is such a common fear. He's not doubting his legs or his body. He's doubting his mind and whether he can hold his ground when that moment arrives.
The real problem here is that you turn that moment into something bigger than you. You imagine it showing up like a tsunami wave that you can't stop. And in your mind, there's no version where you stand your ground.
You convince yourself that it's not even a choice, that when that moment shows up, you're going to be powerless. Like it's just a reality that moment is going to overpower you. So you start even fearing its arrival, not just the moment, but the fact that it's out there, waiting, because deep down, you've already decided it's going to win.
So, the client and I talked this through and here's the coaching that helped. That moment, it's not separate from the rest of the race. And it's not a special, unsolvable test that you haven't trained for. It's just another decision in a long, long chain of decisions he's already made to stay in the race. By the time he gets to that point, he's built up a history. He's built up a habit of making the right decision. And this is just one more. It's just another cell in the body of the race.
And the same is true for you. By the time you get to that point in a race, you've already said yes to staying in the race thousands of times. You said yes when you kept running even though you didn't feel great at mile 15. You said yes when you walked a climb instead of blowing up. You said yes when you ate something even though it didn't sound good. And you said yes when you left an aid station, a little tired, but still moving forward. You said yes every time you took a step, every time, every step.
Let that sink in. You've already been practicing the decision to stay in the race over and over and over again. So when you hit that scary moment at mile 70 or 80 or 50 or 30 or whatever it is, you're not doing something new. You're just continuing what you've already been doing.
This isn't about willpower, this is about momentum and believe it or not, it's also about ease. Because here's the science part. Our brains really, really, really like doing what's familiar. So, if you see this next decision to stay in the race or drop, if you see that decision as a continuation of what you've already been doing the whole entire race, it's actually easier to keep going than to change direction and drop.
That's part of why quitting can feel so dramatic, because all of a sudden it's kind of jarring. It interrupts the pattern you've been reinforcing all day.
So if your pattern has been, I stay in the race, I take a next step, you don't need to create something new. You just need to keep going, doing what you've already been doing.
One point I want to add is that this is why it pays to have the mindset skills to keep your mind clean and clear and tidy the whole way, and not just have those skills to call on when the wheels fall off and you're trying to think straight.
You don't need every thought to be perfect or endlessly positive. I'm not saying that. But you do want to keep your thoughts steady, not spiraling, not self-defeating. And I'm talking about what you say to yourself, what you believe about your race so far, what you're telling yourself about how the race is going so far, what kind of pattern you're building along the way.
And this doesn't need to be complicated. You just need to keep gently steering your thoughts back to acknowledging the gains you're making, the things you're doing right and the things that are going well. Because when that big, quote-unquote, big decision moment comes, you want to look back and see your race thus far as a history of strong continuous choices, not a string of lucky escapes.
When that moment comes along, you don't have to hope you're suddenly going to rise to the challenge. You know you've already been doing that for hours and for miles. So, if you're worried about that one big moment, the one where you might drop or give up or stop caring, here's what I want you to remember.
That moment isn't the first decision you're going to make in the race. It's the millionth, if not the trillionth. And the good news? You've already been making the right call all day. You've already practiced the kind of decision you want to make with every step, every climb, every gel, every aid station, every layer you shed or add, every response to a problem or a mistake. You've already proven you can keep going.
So when the time comes, you don't have to be extraordinary. You just have to keep doing what you've already been doing. One more step, one more good decision, one more keep going.
And yes, you might be fatigued and the problems might stack up, but you don't have to question whether you're going to make the right decision when it counts in that big moment. Not if you remember you've already been doing that the whole entire race. And all you have to do is do it again.
It's not one moment that decides everything, it's the pattern you've built, decision by decision all day long, every single step. You don't have to do anything new. You just have to keep going the way you already are. That gets you to the finish. And you're already well on your way.
That's it for this week. Thanks for listening you all and share this episode with a friend who will appreciate it. I'll talk to 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.
Enjoy the Show?
Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you listen to podcasts!