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Published: Nov. 25, 2020, 5 a.m.

The Real Way to Get Mentally Tough: Matt Fitzgerald

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The biggest difference between elites and the rest of us is not simply talent; it\u2019s mental resilience.

Matt Fitzgerald has been studying elites his entire career and has learned what techniques the best of the best use to get there. In his new book, The Comeback Quotient, Matt talks about a philosophy called ultrarealism and how we can all apply it to add some extra oomph to our training and push to the next level.

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Matt is a well-known endurance sports author, coach, and nutritionist. His many books include How Bad Do You Want It?, 80/20 Running, and The Endurance Diet. Matt\u2019s writing has also appeared in numerous magazines, including Outside and Runner\u2019s World, and on popular websites such as podiumrunner.com and nbcnews.com. He is a cofounder and co-head coach of 80/20 Endurance and the creator of the Diet Quality Score smartphone app. A lifelong endurance athlete, he speaks frequently at events throughout the United States and internationally.

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Matt\u2019s work has given him access to some great athletes who have shared their secrets about what it takes to truly become the best in the world, and it\u2019s not just about raw talent or genetics; it\u2019s about the mind. It\u2019s about leveraging science and psychology and philosophy into mental toughness. In The Comeback Quotient, Matt combines those elements that he\u2019s compiled from the best in sport to deliver actionable advice and techniques that any athlete can use to improve.\xa0

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If you haven\u2019t heard of David Goggins, look him up. He overcame an abusive upbringing to transform himself into a Navy Seal, Air Force Ranger, and competitive ultramarathoner, and he is undeniably one of the toughest minds out there. He\u2019s just one example from Matt\u2019s book that he and Coach Claire discuss as they talk about the qualities that athletes like David have that we can all develop in ourselves.

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Matt\u2019s new book The Comeback Quotient comes out in December 2020, and if you are as interested in training your mind to be as fit as your body, make sure you get a copy!

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Questions Matt is asked:

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6:15 You've written several books on endurance fitness that also seem to have a healthy dose of psychology woven in.\xa0 What is it about the mental side of the sport that interests you so much?

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7:49 I have two little kids, and when they run, they run as fast as they can and then completely poop out. They have no sense of pacing or anything like that, so obviously that\u2019s something that we have to learn.

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8:30 Your new book that\u2019s coming out is called The Comeback Quotient.\xa0 Can you give us a summary of what it's about and why you wanted to write it?

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9:56 One thing that you talked a lot about in your book was a philosophy called ultra-realism.\xa0 Can you explain what that is and why it's important not just for athletes, but for life?

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12:24 It sounds so simple when you say, \u201cJust make the best out of it.\u201d How simple is that? But why is it so hard?

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14:16 If our brain is so good at predicting, then what do we do when we haven\u2019t thought out a way to get around the obstacle?

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16:50 How do you override everything your brain is telling you when you\u2019re in pain?

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18:51 You did have a few examples in your book of people who like David Goggins and the Slovenian skier who won Olympic bronze after she had punctured a lung and broken a bunch of ribs. I don't want to be that mentally tough!!! That just sounds pretty stupid some of these things though. Where\u2019s that line?

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20:39 Besides just reading your book, how can athletes actively practice mental fitness?\xa0 It's pretty simple to learn how to physically run your best, but how do you mentally train? Any advice with that?

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23:59 You definitely have some stories in the book about people freaking out and things not going so well.

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26:37 You basically said to some of the athletes that you\u2019ve coached to stop BSing themselves, and sometimes that\u2019s some realism that\u2019s hard to hear too.

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28:13 One thing I definitely have done in a race myself is BSed myself in a positive way and told myself, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t hurt. It\u2019s fine. Nothing is wrong here. You can keep going,\u201d when that\u2019s not really the way I feel at all. So I don\u2019t know how that falls into it. I feel like I\u2019m lying to myself in a positive way, if that makes sense.

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31:02 Another thing that struck me is a lot of sort of\u2026 I don\u2019t know if we call this a self-help book, but a lot of books that are trying to get into the psychology of performance, they only talk about the really positive things. This is called The Comeback Quotient. We\u2019re expecting to read a whole bunch of comeback stories and have everybody get the gold medal at the end, but you included several people who didn\u2019t come back \u201csuccessfully,\u201d and I\u2019d love to hear about why you chose to do that?

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34:02 I think there\u2019s a lot of people, especially new runners, seem to struggle with accepting things that don\u2019t go as expected. Would you say that?

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36:37 Another part of the book was your personal journey to train for a triathlon using the mental training techniques that you learned from the ultra-realists.\xa0 Without giving too much away, what were some of the lessons that you applied for yourself?

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39:54 One thing I thought about when reading your race report is it\u2019s very common for people to set goals. So you\u2019ve got your A goal, shoot-the-moon goal, B goal, C goal, but most people aren\u2019t really happy with that C goal. I think that maybe being actually happy with your C goal is like a mental trick that you can do because you didn\u2019t get your A goal in your triathlon, right? And you\u2019re still super, super happy. And how is that possible? How are you not upset that you didn\u2019t get your A goal?

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41:44 When does the book come out and what's next for you?

Questions I ask everyone:

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43:22 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

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44:09 What is the greatest gift running has given you?

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45:12 Where can listeners and charities connect with you?

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Quotes by Matt:

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\u201cI\u2019m still running at 49 and I just believe that the most obtrusive barriers in endurance sports are the mental barriers.\u201d

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\u201cThe people who are able to make the very best of the very worst situations in endurance sports, they do so through a process of just facing reality.\u201d

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\u201cWhether or not you\u2019re already the most resilient person in the world, if you simply just copy what the ultra-realists are doing, you will start to develop those qualities.\u201d

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\u201cYou\u2019re not dependent on reality, kind of the stars aligning. It just doesn\u2019t matter. You can succeed in any situation simply by making the best of it even if the end result is not what you originally wanted.\u201d

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\u201cIt is about the process. Ultimately, when it comes down to it, like you have one race day for every 100 training days or whatever, so those training days you should be enjoying.\u201d

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

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Mentioned in this podcast:

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MattFitzgerald.org

Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community

RunnersConnect Facebook page

claire@runnersconnect.net

https://www.precisionhydration.com/

Follow Matt on:

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Facebook

Twitter

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