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Acceptance and commitment therapy: mental flexibility training for runners, what's more important for runners — mental flexibility or mental toughness?

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has long been used to treat anxiety, depression and other stress-related mental health issues, but athletes are increasingly turning to the strategy to improve their mental performance in competitions. While mental toughness is often regarded as being necessary for athletic performance, ACT promotes mental flexibility instead, which many experts argue is more effective on game (or race) day.

Mental toughness vs. mental flexibility

The concept of mental toughness is fairly straightforward: having a strong mind means you can push through pain and adversity to accomplish a goal. Whether you’re fighting lactic acid buildup as you sprint to the finish line in a mile race, or you’re hitting the wall at kilometer 35 of a marathon, a mentally-tough runner will be able to get through the hard parts to still cross the finish line under their goal time.

As most runners know, this often isn’t the way things go. Even a very mentally tough runner will still have a race that won’t go to plan, whether that’s caused by factors that are within or outside of their control. Runners who have a high degree of mental toughness will still, at least sometimes, fall short of their goals.

This often leaves runners frustrated, wondering why they couldn’t just “tough it out” or “push through the pain,” or even wondering if they were really as mentally tough as they thought they were. These thoughts can lead to a downward spiral of negative self-talk, potentially impacting future workouts and races.

Mental flexibility, just as it sounds, is a far less rigid way of thinking. Rather than trying to ignore your thoughts, feelings and emotions, it encourages you to stay in contact with the present moment by welcoming all sensations, both positive and negative, in order to continue to pursue your goal. These feelings, however, don’t control you. A mentally flexible runner does not allow their short-term emotions (like the negative thoughts that creep in during the last 10 kilometers of a marathon) to dictate how they choose to act.

Acceptance and commitment therapy

Mental flexibility has its roots in ACT, which encourages people to embrace their thoughts and feelings, rather than trying to fight them, ignore them or feel guilty about them. This is important for runners because let’s face it: things aren’t always going to go the way you planned.

In times of high stress or hardship (like the last mile of a 5K or the middle of a hard workout), it’s easy to believe our thoughts and emotions are facts, but they are really just a reflection of how we are feeling, not reality. By acknowledging negative thoughts and emotions during a tough workout or race, you can put yourself back in the driver’s seat, effectively removing the control they have over you.

For example, you’re part-way up a tough climb during a workout or race and you think to yourself “I’m not good at hills.” Your brain is telling you this because in the moment, running up that hill feels very hard. If you believe that thought as a fact, you’ll be more likely to stop trying or give up. ACT teaches you to address that negative thought and create some distance from it, which puts you back in control and helps you to keep going.

Stay present, and let your values guide you

So how do you improve your mental flexibility? Just like with physical training, mental training takes time, consistency and patience. For runners, there are two key ways you can use ACT to improve your mental performance:

Stay present. One of the hallmarks of race-day anxiety is the tendency to focus on the future. You’re feeling tired now, so how will you make it to the finish line later? The temperature is hotter than you expected, and what if you can’t handle the heat? Part of ACT is focusing on the moment you’re in and not worrying about what’s to come. In other words, tackle a race one kilometer at a time, instead of thinking about how much farther you have to go.

Be clear on your values. As runners, we tend to fixate heavily on our running goals, and while having goals is a good thing, they can sometimes cause us to lose focus on why we’re actually out running. Are you only on the startline because you want to run a new PB, or is it really because you want to challenge yourself, be a part of something bigger than you or have a great experience?

Your values are the foundation of your goals, but are far less rigid. Focusing on those values will help you redirect your mind when your performance goals go sideways and allow you to put your result into perspective. Doing so will not only decrease your pre-race anxiety and help you enjoy the experience more, but it will prevent one bad workout or race from affecting future performances.

The bottom line

All of us will have moments during runs, workouts and races when things get hard and negative thoughts begin to cloud our brains. Being mentally flexible will help you to acknowledge those thoughts and emotions (rather than trying to ignore them) without allowing them to take over. This will reduce your anxiety and ultimately help you perform better.