Preparing for the UTMB® requires both physical training and mental preparation. Mental resilience is crucial to push through hardships and maintain the drive needed to hit your targets. Here are the key areas to focus on.
Setting goals
Setting clear goals is essential to keep you grounded. This might be "finishing no matter the time" or targeting a specific finish time. In every case, your goal must be concrete and realistic relative to your fitness level, staying front of mind throughout training and the race.
A tip from experienced runners: set tiered goals rather than a single target. An ideal goal, a realistic goal, and a baseline finish goal. If the first slips away during the race, you switch to the next instead of falling apart.
Visualisation techniques
It is important to build mental pictures of yourself in various race scenarios: starting the race, crossing the finish line, passing specific checkpoints, facing difficulties, and feeling strong. These visualisations will help you demystify the race and serve as mental anchors to draw on during the event.
Visualise the tough moments too, not just the triumphant finish. A runner who has already mentally rehearsed the cold night, an unsettled stomach, or a seemingly endless climb will view them as normal challenges on race day.
Breaking the race into sections
On a distance like the UTMB®, thinking about the finish right from the start can be overwhelming. Most seasoned runners break the route down into sections, from one aid station to the next, staying focused purely on the immediate leg rather than the full 174 km. This approach prevents hitting a mental wall and keeps motivation steady throughout the event.
Planning a Plan B and Plan C
In an ultra, unexpected challenges are part of the game: bad weather, stomach issues, unexpected pain, or falling behind cut-off times. Thinking through these scenarios beforehand and planning practical responses (slowing down, walking, adjusting your target time to focus solely on finishing) allows you to handle them calmly rather than panicking.
Managing negative thoughts
During training as well as racing, you will inevitably have negative thoughts: it is too hard, I want to stop, I cannot keep going. This is completely normal, and even elite runners experience it.
A key insight: trying to force away negative thoughts rarely works. The more you fight a thought, the stronger it returns. Current sports psychology instead recommends acknowledging it without feeding it, then refocusing on an immediate, concrete action: your stride, your breathing, the next turn, the next aid station, taking a sip of water.
Practise this response during tough training runs, not on race day. The goal is not to stay relentlessly positive—which is unsustainable over forty hours—but to prevent negative thoughts from dictating your choices.
Frequently asked questions
How to prepare mentally for an ultra-trail?
By combining several strategies: setting tiered and realistic goals, visualising key race milestones including the tough moments, breaking the route into sections to avoid mental fatigue, preparing contingency plans for the unexpected, and training yourself to refocus your attention when negative thoughts surface.
Why does breaking the race into sections help mentally?
Focusing on the next checkpoint rather than the total distance makes the effort more manageable mentally and keeps you from feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the challenge.
Should you fight negative thoughts during the race?
No, fighting a thought tends to reinforce it. It is far more effective to let it pass without dwelling on it, then redirect your focus toward an immediate, actionable step.
Find out more
- Building mental toughness for trail running
- Managing sleep deprivation during the race
- Training for the UTMB®
- Nutrition strategy
Photo credits: Clément Dumas, Delphine Daniélou.
