I wanted to share something I’ve been struggling with. I’m not a natural athlete—just a regular guy who hit his early 30s feeling lost and carrying over 70 kg of extra weight. I decided to make a change, and along the way, I discovered a love for endurance sports. Over the past two years, I’ve been training consistently, with the last year guided by a coach.
Here’s where I need help: I struggle with digging deep. I tend to give up too quickly, even though I know I have more to give. It’s not something I struggle with in other areas of life, but when it comes to training, I seem to hit a mental wall long before my body gives out.
For example, during a recent FTP test, I scored 234 watts (around 2.2 w/kg since I’m on the heavier side). As soon as I stopped and took a short 2-minute break, I realized I probably could’ve pushed harder. This happens a lot, especially during intense workouts—I stop, but deep down, I know I could’ve kept going.
Do any of you have tips, strategies, or mental tricks for building the resilience to dig deeper and push past that mental barrier? I’d love to hear what’s worked for you!
I don’t think it matters for training. Coaches say that you should be leaving an interval in the tank. Finish a set thinking “I could have done one more”.
You want to dig deep, go do a race with other people. When it’s either dig deep until pack lets up or get spat out the back, you’ll dig deep.
FTP tests are duration tests. It doesn’t matter if your batteries felt recharged after a 2 minute rest. Also if this was a shorter test, I’d postulate that it doesn’t measure FTP very well. FTP is about a 7 or 8 out 10 effort. You should be able to hold it for 30-70 minutes. It should feel rather easy for the first 10 or 15 minutes. If you did a short duration test, then all bets are off on how accurate it portrays your 30 to 70 minute sustainable power.
I like the suggestion of some really inspiring music, there’s a post about it somewhere.
And if it helps, I always felt disappointed that I didn’t push through for another few seconds. And after 2 minutes recovery I reckon I could go again the next day!
Have you tried a mantra? I use “this too shall pass” which is a Sufi adage, and “do it for her” which is of course from The Simpsons. I have also used counting for particularly hard but short intervals - just count to ten, then repeat.
This ^.
Even if it’s a fast group ride you will push hard even when exhausted.
As far as workouts, this has worked for me. I use the “I will stop in 5 more minutes”. Then maybe 5 more min. Ok I see I only have 10 more min to go, I can just blindly do this.
Now days I say to myself: you will not get faster or keep up with the fast guys if you do not finish this workout. So suck it up and keep pedaling.
When it comes to that breaking point where you don’t think you can do more while in a test - be in the moment and tell yourself, “just 10 more seconds, just 30 more seconds - I can do this.” And then do it. Afterall, everything up to that point of failure was the effort it took to get there.
It takes practice too, the more you learn to push yourself when you are in the uncomfortable place, the better you will be at it. That’s it. Good job recognizing you can try and do more.
Another vote for loud and motivating music. I’m a metal guy, but pick whatever works best for you. Also, when it comes to FTP tests, save it for when you know you’re running out of time. If you try to play Slayer on 10 for thirty minutes, it won’t help you in the last minute or two. If you put it on when things start to get difficult, it’s very motivating. Focus on the lyrics or the music, sing along in your head or even out loud if you need it, this will help you to focus on the fight, and not on the wanting to quit. This works well for max effort VO2 work too. Play something mellow in between intervals, and then crank it up hard and heavy when it’s time to pound it out.
Mental toughness in my experience has a genetic component (some kids are just tougher & have a more competitive personality than others) as well as environmental influences (life experience).
So how do you “learn” to dig deep? Gotta +1 what @Stevie_Dee said…
Remember, building mental toughness is a gradual process, just like physical training. Keep challenging yourself, stay patient, and celebrate your progress along the way.
You’ve already shown incredible dedication by losing weight and committing to endurance sports. The mental resilience will come with time and practice.
I believe someone mentioned listening to music during indoor training…“crank it up!”
I’ll share A few things that help motivate me when I’m feeling unmotivated or not ready to dig deep.
I watch some David Goggins videos before the ride, put on music that goes hard and keep saying mantras like” I’m going to crush this “explicit” today”.
As you know physical fitness isn’t directly related to your ability to ‘dig deep’. It’s entirely mental. 100%. That’s why military SF selection tests a littered with otherwise ‘super fit’ people failing in large numbers. It’s because everyone hits their wall at sometime and then they need to dig into their well to keep going.
Whether racing, fast group rides or ramp tests this wall can appear at any time. My tips are pretty simple. When the ‘i want to quit’ voice appears in your head do the following:
Smile - there is science behind this being effective
Say NO - I’ll keep going for 5 secs more thanks - say it aloud or in your mind whatever you prefer.
Try some breathing techniques designed to calm your anxiety - I do the two big breaths in, one big breath out technique (sorry I can’t remember the name). This works to reduce my HR down by 5-20bpm (observed over many intervals) which gives me that 5 secs above
Keep smiling and keep at it. You build resilience over time. Just like fitness it’s something that takes work. You need to find where your wall is and face it down time and time again until it goes away.
Then your new wall will appear - rinse and repeat.
As they say -it never get’s easier you just get faster.
Sounds dumb. Force yourself to smile. Body automatically thinks this is a positive. Also, it’s hard to do when the going is hard. This again tricks your body, it’s busy focusing on forcing a smile. Takes your mind off the pain. Give it a try.
+1 on the music here. Whatever intense music floats your boat here. Hip hop, reggaeton and electro here.
+1 on the smiling
+1 on the breathing. Practice deep breathing through your stomach, big exhales. This gets hr down, lowers anxiety, and relaxes you and sort of tempers/stabilizes the pain. As soon as you feel you lose control of your breathing get back on track. If you focus properly it feels like despite the pain everything is stable and you get a sense of control.
Relax. Along with breathing, try to release tension despite the pain.
In small doses, when the pain is really acute (for instance in my case, the first 5-10 seconds of the “under” parts of hard over-unders), a loud grunt, scream, cuss word, or some other loud expression of suffering, followed by a loud “whoo” and a big smile gets the adrenaline going. When possible of course … if you can’t breathe during vo2max this may be hard to place. I use this as an “emergency” because this loses its effectiveness if you do it too often, not too mention much screws with breathing. But sometimes you need a kick.
“You can either suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.”
I’ve been weight lifting for 20 years. Ran for 5 and cycling about a year. If there’s one thing I’ve learned is that nothing will make me feel sh***ier than cutting a workout short because I lacked the discipline or mental fortitude. No worse way to go through a day knowing you cut corners or gave up in a workout. Doesn’t matter if it’s a rep, a set, or an interval. Once you start quitting, it quickly becomes a habit.
Lastly, this video and similar have allowed me to really dig deep when I’ve needed to:
Focus on music and watch the song timer instead of the interval timer.
Set small goals within the interval. I.e. maintain certain watts for another amount of time (30s, 1m, etc), don’t let my watts go below certain number, etc
Focus on controlled breathing
When it gets really ugly I start counting the pedal stroke for one of my legs and repeat when I get to 10 to get my mind off the pain.
