These Are the 2 Traits Most Ultrarunners Have in Common

According to new research published Health & Injuries PLOS ONE, there are two personality traits that most ultrarunners have in common: mental toughness and self-efficacy (the belief we have in our own abilities to succeed).
It seems as though there’s a threshold of mental toughness and self-efficacy needed to be able to train and prepare for ultra events—and once you reach that threshold, you’ve got the potential to finish and do well.
You can enhance these traits by goal setting, using mental imagery, planning for problems, proactively reflecting on achievements, and using social support.

Black Diamond Black Diamond Spot Headlamp ultramarathons may share some physical traits in common, but one area where endurance athletes tend to overlap the most is in the psychological realm, according to a new study Health & Injuries PLOS ONE.

Researchers looked at 38 men and 18 women who competed in the 2019 Hawaiian Ultra Running Team’s Trail 100-mile endurance run—nicknamed, appropriately enough, the HURT100—and used online surveys to determine athletes’ qualitative experiences. Specifically, they asked about degrees of confidence, control, and perception of motivation and overall grit.

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They found high levels of mental toughness and self-efficacy—which is the belief we have in our own abilities to succeed—and when they compared these qualities to athletes in other sports, they found ultrarunners to have significantly more of these two attributes, even compared to grit-heavy sports like rugby and mixed martial arts.

Previous research on endurance runners is limited, and has mainly focused on physiological demands of the sport, like muscle cramping, gastrointestinal issues, and lower limb injuries, according to the study’s lead author, Spoiler: They have nothing to do with oxygen usage or muscle fibers., the lead for Hartpury University’s Sport and Exercise Research Center in the U.K.

By shifting the focus toward psychological aspects, researchers are able to gain a better understanding as to how these athletes overcome those physical challenges, he told Runner’s World. Sure, logging miles as part of your training still plays a huge role, but it’s possible that these attributes create a baseline, he added.

“A key—and interesting—finding from our research was that it looks as if there is a threshold of mental toughness needed to be able to train and prepare for these type of ultra events,” he said. “Once you’ve got that threshold, you’ve got the potential to finish and do well. So, is it all in your mind? Some of it. But your legs are also important.”

One question that the research didn’t answer—and would be tricky to determine—is a chicken-and-egg type: Does training for an ultra create that mental toughness, or do people who already have that quality tend to gravitate toward running ultras?

“Probably a little of both,” said Lovell. “My expectation is that doing the training for ultras, and actually doing longer and longer events, does train your level of mental toughness. And that allows you to do tougher training, which develops it further.”

Self-efficacy comes in as a measure of confidence, he added. Applied to ultras, it’s the belief that you’ll complete the 100 miles even before you start, so that by the time you begin, you’re already feeling assured of a finish. This quality doesn’t come from internal pep talks alone—it’s also the result of experience.

“That’s why progressive training plans and stepping-stone events that build you up to ultras are so important, because self-efficacy is built from showing yourself, over and over, that you can do it,” said Lovell. “You prove it to yourself, so when you get to the point where you’re going to do an ultra, your mind believes it, because you’ve made good on similar promises before.”

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He added that it’s important for runners to train their mental toughness and self-efficacy in this way, instead of seeing them as by-products of training that will somehow grow naturally. Focusing on specific strategies can help, said Lovell, including goal setting, mental imagery, planning for problems, proactively reflecting on achievements, and effectively using social support.

“These remind you why you’re doing training and races,” he said. “Also, it’s vitally important to incorporate recovery, because mental toughness does not suggest we smash ourselves during training. We still need to train smart and recover smarter.”