It’s been almost 4 months since I won my first ultramarathon. It was a 24-hour trail race on a motocross track.
No one expected me to do so well, let alone win. No one, including myself.
After all, I had started running again only 3 years prior, grew up with the belief that I was utterly unathletic, had trained way less than I wanted, and was in a dark place mentally due to a recent breakup.
And yet. I finally became who I wanted to be when I laced up my new running shoes and went for my first jog on a cold January morning in 2021.
A champion ultrarunner.
Why I failed to become an ultrarunner many years ago.
2021 wasn’t the first time I dreamed about being an ultrarunner. In fact, my obsession with running started 15 years earlier. As a forestry student living in South Africa for 6 months.
Under the South African morning sun, I took my first steps running through the plantations, surrounded by pine trees and the mysterious sounds of birds that were foreign to me.
My primary motivation at first was to lose fat.
I had gained 5 kg since I arrived on the black continent, and I blamed my weight gain on my lack of movement.
As a student in a small town in my home country, Germany, I would cycle and walk everywhere. Now, in South Africa, I was going around by car.
However, my desire to lose weight quickly replaced my desire to feel the calm and peace of mind that those morning runs provided.
Over the following months, I became more fascinated by the sport and started dreaming about running a marathon one day. And when I returned home, I kept on dreaming. I read running magazines, bought running books, and somehow discovered the strange world of ultrarunning.
Back then, it was even more fringe than it is nowadays. I was fascinated. I dreamed about running the Berlin Wall Race one day – a hundred-mile race along the former borders of the Berlin Wall.
I dreamed and dreamed…and yet…while I kept running and lived an active lifestyle, I never ran consistently enough or followed a training plan to achieve my goals.
Why? Simple. I saw myself as a student who ran. Not as a runner. And especially not as an ultrarunner.
From wanting to be an ultrarunner to deciding to be one.
When I started running again in 2021, I did so with the desire to run ultramarathons. Even though I hadn’t run a single step in over 8 years, I convinced myself that I was an ultrarunner now.
I succeeded in running my first two ultramarathons in the same year, with a place on the podium in both.
Since then, I have completed 24-hour races (and podiumed in both, including a 1st place), a hundred-mile race, and a few other ultras.
What has changed? My self-image. I went from wanting to be an ultrarunner to deciding to be an ultrarunner.
And with that decision, I implemented daily habits and thought experiments that strengthened my identity as an ultrarunner.
Affirm and confirm to step into your desired running self.
When I decided to transform myself from a non-runner to an ultrarunner, I knew it would take effort and discipline to stay the course and avoid relegating running again to something I would do on the side.
To reprogram my mind, I used affirmations and confirmations to convince my subconscious mind that I was an ultrarunner now. If I could program my subconscious to believe I was an ultrarunner, implementing daily routines and habits that proved I was, one would be much easier.
So I wrote the word “pro-ultrarunner” on an index card and placed it on my desk. I also added this word to my computer’s vision board as a desktop background.
I was constantly reminded of my big goal since I saw the word several times throughout the day. This led me to make decisions based on that goal.
For example, whenever I felt like I didn’t want to go for a morning run because of terrible weather or staying in bed was a more comfortable thought, I would ask myself, “If you were a champion ultrarunner, would you skip this run today?”
But this doesn’t mean I needed to run daily or train as much as possible.
To the contrary.
I knew that I needed to keep my body healthy to achieve my dream, and I paid close attention to any niggles or feelings of burnout.
I took an extra rest day when I felt I needed it. I incorporated mobility work and stretching into my routine, even though I hate it.
Through acting as if I was already a successful ultrarunner, I gave my subconscious the confirmation that I was one.
Commit to races and talk about them.
Nothing screams “I’m an ultrarunner” more than committing to a race and talking about it.
I signed up for my first ultramarathon long before I was ready. I had only started running a few weeks prior and was a long way from being able to run even a half-marathon.
And yet, I signed up for my first race – a 61km trail ultramarathon.
I knew that if I didn’t commit to a race soon, I would again lose my drive, and running would again fall by the wayside as soon as life got a bit more hectic or the initial spark wore off. I told my coworkers and friends that I had signed up for this race to ensure I wouldn’t chicken out at the last minute.
To my surprise, some of my work colleagues were super interested and kept asking me about my training in general and for the race specifically. The conversations around my goal kept me going. After all, I couldn’t possibly tell them I decided to not do the race because I lost interest or didn’t train well.
No! Since almost everyone I knew now knew about my plan, I had to keep going and at least try to finish this race.
Design your environment to reflect your new identity.
Once I committed to being an ultrarunner, I changed my home to reinforce my beliefs. I dug out old race medals from half-marathons I did in my younger years and placed old running books so that I could see them while working from my desk.
I also bought various new running shoes and let them sit in my hallway instead of storing them in a shoe cabinet. And I also purchased a running backpack.
Not because I necessarily needed one for my first relatively short ultramarathon but because ultrarunners wear backpacks. That’s what I thought, and that’s what I did.
The final change to reinforce my new identity was a change in the content I consumed. Before I decided to become an ultrarunner, I would listen to personal development content before falling asleep.
I listened to books on meditation, spirituality, and becoming more aware and conscious. After deciding to change my identity, I listened to audiobooks about running and ultra-endurance.
Every area of my life was starting to get influenced by running.
Making the shift requires self-awareness.
If you have been trying to implement a running routine into your lifestyle but haven’t succeeded, I hope my example will give you a few new insights.
So often, people fail to achieve their goals, not because they lack willpower or self-discipline, but because they are unaware of the limiting beliefs that are holding them back, because they fail to design their environment for success, or because they lack a support system consisting of people that hold them accountable.
Achieving any lifestyle change requires changing our preconceived ideas of who we are just as much as changing our habits.
Remind yourself daily of the person you want to be and implement daily habits to strengthen your new identity.
If you consistently do both – reprogram your subconscious mind and act in alignment with your new identity, you will soon shift into your new identity and maybe even achieve those running goals you once thought were impossible.