You've been training for your mountain for four months, and today is your last training hike.

You're thinking of this as your last test before the main event.

And suddenly it turns into a total shit show.

Your butt is totally burning on the hills. Your pack is hurting your back. And a few hours in, you get terrible diarrhea and have to stop.

Now you're convinced that all your training was for nothing, and you have no business climbing that mountain.

Friends, if this is you, I'm here to talk you off the ledge.

The truth is, bad training days happen to all of us.

And you know what they mean? Honestly not much.

In today's episode, I'm going to show you how to manage your mind around bad days and keep your eyes on the goal.

Ready? Let's do this.

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Episode Sneak Peek

• [4:50] Bad training days are part of endurance training. Here’s why they’re the norm — not the exception — and will never go away. The importance of preparing ahead of time for bad days. Our choices after an unfinished or missed workout.

• [6:10] Letting go of stories about bad training days. Why our minds go to the worst case scenario. Separating facts from thoughts. Why you can’t believe all your thoughts.

• [11:45] Putting bad days in perspective. Why a bad day is not a “nothing” day. Honoring good and bad days.

• [15:30] Thinking about training as a cumulative effort. Why one bad workout is really a drop in the training season bucket. Interesting controversies around the “long run” model.

• [19:15] When to worry about bad training days. The importance of keeping a training journal. Two methods for identifying training issues, and what to do when you catch them.