Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

by Alex Hutchinson

This is why the psychology and physiology of endurance are inextricably linked: any task lasting longer than a dozen or so seconds requires decisions, whether conscious or unconscious, on how hard to push and when.

“A runner is a miser, spending the pennies of his energy with great stinginess, constantly wanting to know how much he has spent and how much longer he will be expected to pay. He wants to be broke at precisely the moment he no longer needs his coin.”

simple mind over muscle.

Knowing (or believing) that your ultimate limits are all in your head doesn’t make them any less real in the heat of a race. And it doesn’t mean you can simply decide to change them.

hyponatremia, a result of drinking too much, rather

First, the limits we encounter during exercise aren’t a consequence of failing muscles; they’re imposed in advance by the brain to ensure that we never reach true failure. And second, the brain imposes these limits by controlling how much muscle is recruited at a given effort level (an idea we’ll explore in detail in Chapter 6).

Fatigue, in other words, ultimately resides in the brain—an insight as relevant to motorcyclists as to marathoners.

Recognize, Refuse, Relax, Reframe, Resume.

It has long been a cliché that the best athletes are defined as much by their superior minds as by their muscle.