“Endurance Sports are About Not Quitting”

“Endurance Sports are about Not Quitting”

By Kathleen Lisson

I was reading 'Mastering the Marathon, Time Efficient Training Secrets for the 40 – plus Athlete' by Don Fink and the following sentence captured my interest – “Endurance sports are about not quitting.” Fink has written an excellent chapter on mental training for endurance sports titled ‘Racing Strategies and Mental Approaches.’ He shares that a famous athlete once told him that if a runner doesn’t think about quitting at least three times during a race, they are not running hard enough. Fink also explains his “humble happy warrior” approach, the “relaxation – focus – competitive” approach and tips on using the posting of goals to increase confidence.

My goal isn’t to achieve a certain time, it is to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro, so I am using this poster as a way to ‘post my goals.’

Though I will not be using the strategy of running at different paces during my hike and will have to accommodate the change in altitude, I will definitely use Fink’s top strategy of not going out too fast. I will be excited on the first day of the hike, and will have to remember to hike slowly so I am able to hike, over a series of days, all the way to the top.