Boredom Training

Determinants of success in ultrarunning are vast including skillful management of the anticipated discomfort of scaling more rigorous miles than you’d even fathom driving. A study with ultra-endurance runners who competed in a 4487 km foot race that lasted 64 days reported that the ultra-endurance athletes displayed a higher pain tolerance in a cold pressor test than controls (Freund et al., 2013).

Beyond the capacity of coping with the physical challenge is the mental test of staying on task despite hardships. While pain tolerance is an obvious litmus test, the ability to endure boredom seems less crucial. Whether endurance athletes are more robust against boredom is unknown. Interestingly a study freshly published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found boredom does occur in highly active athletes and it is a significant predictor of encountering a ‘crisis’ during a race. The authors suggest incorporating ‘boredom training’ into race preparations (Weich, Schuler and Wolff, 2022). While the thought of such a recommendation may seem painfully boring, these study findings elucidate yet another angle to consider in your critically important mental racing strategy.