The Endurance Athlete's Guide to Getting Out of Your Own Way
Picture this: you have a hard run workout planned with your friend at the local park, but you wake up to a text message saying they have cancelled. You start to question whether you should still do the planned 8x1km workout by yourself. You toss up other options in your head to make it more manageable: 6x1km? 12x500m? A Mona Fartlek?
Then you question whether you should even drive to the park, or just run from home. Hard workout or easy jog? Then it starts bucketing down with rain, and you're debating outside versus the treadmill. You decide on the treadmill, but now you can't pick a playlist!
You become annoyed and stressed—there are simply too many decisions racing through your mind. You end up sitting on the floor, scrolling through Instagram or Strava. You aren't actually trying to come to the best decision about your run anymore; you are using your phone as an avoidance mechanism to self-soothe. Your brain is overwhelmed by the "fight or flight" stress of the decision, so it reaches for a screen to get a cheap, easy hit of dopamine to calm down.
Does this mental gymnastics sound familiar? It is a classic case of decision fatigue, leading straight to the dreaded 'analysis paralysis'.
Why do we overthink?
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Chasing the perfect outcome
Overthinking is incredibly common in Type A athletes or perfectionists. We put a lot of pressure on a single workout because we want to feel ready for a race. We may chase 'perfect Strava splits' to look flawless to our followers, or simply because we want to feel proud of our effort. We often treat these good sessions like a safety net, convinced that if we produce the "perfect" workout data, we’ve guaranteed our success on race day.
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Fear of failure and anticipated pain
We fixate on how hard the effort will be and whether we have the grit to push through it. We worry about what happens if we miss our prescribed paces. This anticipation magnifies the upcoming discomfort, creating a heavy mental barrier that leaves us hesitant to take the first step.
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Reactivity to stressors
Outside factors—like a friend cancelling, bad weather, or poor sleep—can ruin our original plans. These interruptions make us second-guess whether we should even bother continuing with the workout. We let these external, uncontrollable variables dictate our internal drive, quickly turning a minor adjustment into a reason to pivot or spiral.
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Brain chemistry and life stress
A bad night of sleep hampers our ability to think clearly. A stressful day at work, an argument with a loved one, or even too much caffeine can leave our thoughts feeling scattered and overwhelmed. This physiological state drastically reduces our cognitive bandwidth, making even the simplest decisions feel like impossible hurdles to overcome.
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Clinging to control
We overthink as a desperate attempt to predict exactly how the workout will go. We crave this control because stepping into the unknown of a hard physical effort is intimidating, and if we can control the variables, we trick ourselves into believing we can control the outcome.
How to manage the overthinking:
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Detach from the outcome
When we remove the pressure of having the "perfect" workout or race, we free ourselves to simply do our best. If your only goal is to give what you have on the day, that is a victory in itself. Letting go of strict expectations instantly limits the overthinking.
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Lean on your routine
A solid routine eliminates second-guessing. You wake up at a set time, you know what you are eating, what you are wearing, and what the session is. Commit to that plan. Uncontrollable factors will occasionally force you to pivot, but sticking to your baseline routine prevents you from spiralling into indecision.
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Arm yourself with mental strategies
Stewing over how hard a session will be creates fear and doubt. Before the session, when doubts creep in, remind yourself: I am CAPABLE and FIERCE. During the workout, use grounding words like SMOOTH and STRONG to centre your mind. Overthinking disrupts your physical rhythm, so even repetitively counting to 10 is a great way to block out frustrating thoughts. Elite runner Brett Robinson uses the mantra “face, breathing, arms” or visualises a pink flamingo to keep his mind locked in the present moment.
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Stay in the present
Cognitive fatigue happens when we project too far into the future. Instead of thinking about the entire 10 x 1km set or the full marathon distance—which easily overwhelms the brain—break it down. Focus strictly on the next step: wake up, eat, dress, do the warm-up, run the first rep. Don't let your mind drift past the mile you are in.
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Stop caring so much!!
This is a key note I keep on my treadmill to look at during hard sessions. Yes, we need to be passionate, but caring so deeply that we become obsessed with perfection is toxic. We’ve all seen athletes step off the track just because their race wasn’t going to plan. They quit because an all-or-nothing mindset made any outcome besides "gold" unacceptable. When perfection is the only option, the inherent love for the sport gets lost, and the journey becomes a source of chronic stress rather than fulfillment. Care about your sport, but never at the detriment of your mental health. After all, sport should be fun—not a source of anxiety.
To conclude, perfect does not exist, so stop trying to chase it. An imperfect workout or race is always better than the one that never happened because you were trapped in your own head. Be stern with yourself, cut the crap, and simplify what you are doing—at the end of the day, it is simply running. Put the phone down, trust yourself, and don't let your mind defeat you before your legs even get a chance to try. Remember, the most important thing is to simply show up and give your best—no matter how the outcome looks on paper.