Alex Bolowich is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant, founder of Elite Mental Performance, and Co-Founder of Ibex Tactics. Alex is based out of Charlotte, North Carolina, where he specializes in working with athletes and teams to help them perform in the most intense situations, building practices for sustained excellence at elite levels like the NCAA, NFL, MLS, NBA, and Olympics. If you are interested in any of his signature programs, use the link here! Enjoy the article below!

How Do I Stop Fading in the Final Miles? The Mental Game That Separates Podium Finishers from the Pack

Preview: Finishing a race strong is one of the key markers of elite endurance athletes like swimmers and runners. Their mind can often sabotage them in these moments. Learning the mental strategies that help runners excel in the toughest times is what separates wins from losses, dropping time vs. adding time, and where you place in elite-level competitions like nationals or the Olympics.

Why Do I Keep Losing Ground When It Matters Most?

Picture this: Your body is fatigued. It's been a LONG race. You didn't have your best energy level before the race started, and now you're coming up to the final stretch. Your mind starts to play games on you—starts to think about where you are in relation to your competition. That little voice creeps in: "You're probably not going to win, why even struggle or suffer? Just accept 5th place and coast."

Or maybe you have a shot at winning, and you're in 2nd, and your mind starts playing calculations: "They're so far ahead. You'd have to decrease your split by X time. That's impossible!"

Or maybe you're in first and feeling the pain and wondering, "How much can I take the gas off before someone catches me?"

Regardless of what position you're in, when it comes to the final stretch of the race, your mind races too. And if left unchecked and out of control, it's not going to work in your favor. This is where the elite separate themselves from the rest. This is where your mind determines if you finish the race proud, or disappointed.

Here's the truth: research shows that mental fatigue significantly impairs endurance performance, reducing time to exhaustion by up to 19% in some studies (Cabral et al., 2024). But here's what's even more interesting: the same research shows that specific mental strategies can completely reverse these effects. In one study, athletes who used targeted self-talk techniques not only recovered from mental fatigue but actually exceeded their baseline performance by 12% (Cabral et al., 2024).

This blog dives into the powerful mental strategies distance and endurance athletes need when the race gets brutal, backed by cutting-edge sport psychology research and real-world application.

The Trap: Why "Just Stay Positive" Doesn't Cut It

Let me give it to you straight. As an endurance athlete, most of your supporting cast—parents, coaches, and even some mental performance coaches, will tell you, "Just tell yourself you can do it" or "Just be positive." And that's often met with a massive eye roll.

The "experts" call this "motivational self-talk," but let's be honest... you're in PAIN! A little "Keep going, you got this!" is not going to offset the sheer torture you're feeling in your muscles. It just won't.

The science backs this up. Studies examining self-talk in endurance sports reveal something critical: generic positive statements show minimal performance benefits compared to personally meaningful self-talk anchored in deeper purpose (Hamilton et al., 2007). In fact, one groundbreaking study found that athletes who acknowledged their pain and challenged themselves with it ("My legs are tired, but I can push through it") significantly outperformed athletes who only used negative self-talk OR those who only used generic motivational phrases (DeWolfe et al., 2021).

You need to leverage something deeper. Something meaningful. And something personal.

I know a lot of athletes look at David Goggins and marvel at his endurance achievements. His drive comes from turning childhood trauma into relentless purpose. While that's inspiring, I'm going to assume that if you're reading this, you haven't gone through the depths of trauma that Goggins has, and you need something more applicable to your life and your journey.

So how do you finish endurance races like a champion when your body is screaming at you to stop? I got you. This is how I help endurance athletes overcome that final-stretch mental breakdown. I break it down into three phases:

Phase 1: Exploration – Go Deeper Than Your Mind

Here's where most athletes get it wrong: they stay in their head when they should be diving into their heart.

Research on motivational self-talk demonstrates that its effectiveness comes not from the words themselves, but from the motivation and meaning those words tap into (Hatzigeorgiadis et al., 2018). Think about it, when the race gets brutal, and your legs feel like concrete, a phrase only works if it connects to something that genuinely matters to you.

This phase involves exploring the purpose of why you're here in the first place. Why do you compete? Why do you sign up for pain? There's got to be a deeper reason than just "I want to win this race" or "I want to beat that person."

You have chosen to commit your life to something so physically demanding... why?

I sit down with athletes and ask them questions like:

• What does finishing this race prove about who you are?

• When you're 80 years old, what do you want this sport to have meant in your life?

• What does quitting cost you that has nothing to do with the scoreboard?

Think about Sir Roger Bannister, the first person to run a sub-4-minute mile. His drive wasn't about a trophy. He was obsessed with breaking barriers—with proving that human limitation was as much mental as physical. The scientific literature at the time said it was physiologically impossible. He didn't just want to win races; he wanted to shatter what people believed was possible. That's a why worth suffering for.

Your why doesn't have to be world-changing. But it has to be yours. And it has to be strong enough to pull you through when your body is begging you to quit.

Some athletes I've worked with discovered their why was:

• Proving to themselves they could do hard things when everything else in their life felt out of control

• Honoring a parent who sacrificed everything for their opportunity to compete

• Representing a community that never had someone make it to this level

• Overcoming a version of themselves that used to quit when things got hard

Dig into your heart, not your head. What lights the fire that burns hotter than the pain?

Phase 2: Roster of Representation – Who Are You Racing For?

Here's something powerful: we will physically defy odds and overcome any obstacle when we're doing it in service of someone else—especially someone who matters most to us.

This isn't just motivational fluff. This is psychology. This is why the 12th and final step of the AA program to overcome alcoholism is to help someone else with alcoholism. You have to be the hero for that person.

This isn't performance psychology. This is relational psychology.

Let me paint a picture: John is racing to win gold for himself. Adam is racing because his mom worked three jobs just to get him the opportunity to compete. When they're both suffering in that final 400 meters and their legs are on fire... sorry, John. Adam will step on you like a cockroach.

Why? Because Adam isn't just running for himself. He's running for someone he loves. Someone who sacrificed. Someone who believed in him before he believed in himself. That's a different level of fuel.

Research on endurance performance confirms this: athletes who connect their performance to meaningful relationships and values demonstrate significantly greater resilience under fatigue compared to those focused solely on personal achievement (Cabral et al., 2024; Hatzigeorgiadis et al., 2018).

So here's your assignment: Create your Roster of Representation.

Who do you race for? Not just in theory—like, really, when you're dying out there and every fiber of your being wants to quit, whose face do you see? Whose voice do you hear? Who are you making proud by emptying the tank?

It could be:

• A parent who drove you to 6 a.m. practices for years

• A coach who saw potential in you when you didn't see it in yourself

• A younger sibling who looks up to you

• Your hometown community that never had someone reach your level

• A version of your future self that you're building right now

Write down 2-3 people who represent why this matters. Then answer: How do you honor them, regardless of where you finish or what time you post?

Because here's the shift: it's not about winning for them. It's about representing them. Representing their sacrifice. Representing their belief. Representing the values they instilled in you. When you frame it that way, even a losing effort can be a winning performance.

Phase 3: Anchor – Turn It Into Words That Punch You in the Gut

Once you find that deep why and that meaningful who, you need to wrap it up into a handful of words and make that your anchor. This is what you tell yourself when it's that final stretch and you need to empty the tank beyond what your body is telling you.

The research is crystal clear on this: self-talk is most effective when it's short, personal, and emotionally charged (Hatzigeorgiadis et al., 2018). Generic phrases like "You can do it" don't hold up under extreme fatigue. But phrases rooted in your core identity and purpose? Those cut through the noise.

This is where science meets your soul. Studies show that when athletes use self-talk anchored in personal meaning, they can maintain power output even when mentally fatigued, performing 38% better than athletes using negative self-talk alone (Cabral et al., 2024). Even more fascinating: athletes who acknowledged the difficulty ("This is brutal") and immediately followed it with a challenge statement ("But I can push through it") significantly outperformed those who only used positive OR negative self-talk (DeWolfe et al., 2021).

Here are some examples from athletes I've worked with:

"For my aunt" – One runner's aunt was the only person who believed in her athletic potential when everyone else told her to focus on academics. Every time she wanted to quit, she'd repeat "For my aunt" or "To make her (aunt) proud" and visualize her aunt in the stands, cheering louder than anyone.

"Earn Your Respect" – A swimmer realized his drive came from deep-rooted self-respect. Endurance sports made him respect himself because it proved he could do hard things. When the pain hit, he'd tell himself, "Earn your respect" because quitting would violate his core identity.

"For the Boro" – A collegiate runner from Hillsborough realized he was the first person from his small town to compete at nationals. Kids back home wore his number on homemade signs. When his legs turned to lead, he'd think "For the Boro" and imagine those kids watching, believing that they could do it too someday.

"Prove Them Right" – One athlete's anchor came from the coaches and teammates who invested in him when he was a nobody. His mantra wasn't about proving doubters wrong, it was about proving his believers right. That they didn't waste their time on him. That their faith was justified.

"Honor the Work" – For some athletes, it's not about people—it's about the thousands of hours they've invested. One marathoner told me, "I didn't wake up at 5 a.m. for two years just to coast the last mile." Her anchor: "Honor the work." Every painful step was a tribute to the version of herself that showed up when nobody was watching.

Your anchor should:

• Be 2-5 words MAX

• Hit you emotionally, not logically

• Connect directly to your Phase 1 why and Phase 2 who

• Be something you can repeat rapidly when suffering

And here's the key from the research: timing matters (DeWolfe et al., 2021). Self-talk is most effective in the final stages of endurance tasks when fatigue is highest, and your mind is most vulnerable to sabotage. That's exactly when your anchor needs to be locked and loaded.

Practice saying your anchor out loud. Write it on your gear. Visualize hearing it in your head during that final push. Make it so ingrained that when your body screams "STOP," your anchor screams louder: "FOR MY AUNT." "EARN YOUR RESPECT." "FOR THE BORO."

Why Does This Work When "Stay Positive" Doesn't?

Let's get into the science for a second, because this isn't woo-woo motivation, this is evidence-based performance psychology.

Studies examining self-talk in demanding conditions (extreme heat, mental fatigue, physical exhaustion) reveal a consistent finding: self-talk works by influencing your perception of effort, not by reducing actual fatigue (Hatzigeorgiadis et al., 2018; Cabral et al., 2024). Your muscles are still screaming. Your lungs are still burning. But meaningful self-talk changes what your brain does with that information.

Generic positive self-talk ("You're doing great!") fails because it doesn't address the reality of suffering. Your brain knows you're NOT doing great, you're in agony. So it dismisses the statement as noise.

But when you use an anchor rooted in deep purpose? Your brain can't dismiss it. Because it's not trying to lie to you about the pain. It's reminding you why the pain is worth it. It reframes suffering from "pointless torture" to "meaningful sacrifice."

One study found that athletes who used self-talk connected to personal values maintained significantly higher performance outputs during the final stages of exhaustive exercise compared to control groups, and they reported similar levels of perceived exertion, meaning they worked harder for the same "cost" (Hatzigeorgiadis et al., 2018).

Another study examining "challenging self-talk" (acknowledging the difficulty while asserting capability) found athletes using this approach outperformed negative self-talk groups by over 15% in the final five minutes of a 20-minute cycling task—the exact moment when most athletes mentally break (DeWolfe et al., 2021).

Bottom line: Your anchor doesn't reduce the pain. It makes you willing to endure it.

The Power of a Conversation: How This All Comes Together

Here's why you should never deny the power of a conversation with the right person.

You sit down with someone who asks you the right questions—questions that make you think differently, that challenge you to see yourself, your sport, and your world differently. And suddenly, you unlock something that's been buried in the depths of your motivational well. Something that's always been there, but you've never put words to.

That's what these three phases do:

1. Exploration uncovers the why that makes suffering meaningful

2. Roster of Representation identifies the who makes quitting unacceptable

3. Anchor creates the words that pull you through when your body begs to stop

When an athlete comes to me struggling with late-race fade, we don't start with breathing techniques or race-day routines (though those matter). We start with questions that cut to the core:

Why does this matter?
Who are you doing this for?
What does finishing strong prove about who you are?

And when they find those answers—really find them, not just surface-level "I want to PR" answers—everything changes.

Because now, when they're in that final 800 meters and their brain is screaming at them to shut it down, they don't hear "You can do it!" echoing uselessly in their head.

They hear: "For my Aunt."
They hear: "Earn your respect."
They hear: "For the Boro."

And those words carry weight. They carry years of meaning. They carry the faces of people who believed in them. They carry the identity they've built through thousands of hours of suffering.

That's the difference between an athlete who fades and an athlete who finishes strong.

Your Next Move: Stop Losing Races in Your Head

If you're an endurance athlete who's tired of fading when it matters most—if you're sick of watching the competition pull away in the final stretch while your mind sabotages your body—then it's time to have that conversation.

It's time to build your anchor.

The science is clear: meaningful self-talk rooted in purpose and relationships significantly improves endurance performance, particularly during the most challenging phases of competition (Cabral et al., 2024; DeWolfe et al., 2021; Hatzigeorgiadis et al., 2018). But you can't just copy someone else's anchor. You have to find yours.

That's where mental performance coaching comes in. Not the "rah-rah, you got this!" kind. The kind that asks hard questions. The kind that digs deep. The kind that helps you discover what you're really made of—and then gives you the tools to prove it when the race is on the line.

Connect with us to see if we're a good fit to help you podium and end every race with pride and meaning, not just another finish where you wonder what could have been.

Because champions aren't born in the first mile. They're forged in the final stretch, when their bodies scream to stop and their minds scream louder: "Not today. Not for them. Not for this."

Resources

Cabral, L. L., da Silva, C. K., Delisle-Rodriguez, D., Lima-Silva, A. E., Galanis, E., Bertollo, M., Hatzigeorgiadis, A., Villarejo-Mayor, J. J., & Pereira, G. (2024). Motivational self-talk mitigates the harmful impact of mental fatigue on endurance performance. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 36(2), 257–275. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2023.2208643

DeWolfe, C. E. J., Scott, D., & Seaman, K. A. (2021). Embrace the challenge: Acknowledging a challenge following negative self-talk improves performance. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 33(5), 527–540. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2020.1795951

Hamilton, R. A., Scott, D., & MacDougall, M. P. (2007). Assessing the effectiveness of self-talk interventions on endurance performance. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 19(2), 226–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200701230613

Hatzigeorgiadis, A., Bartura, K., Argiropoulos, C., Comoutos, N., Galanis, E., & Flouris, A. D. (2018). Beat the heat: Effects of a motivational self-talk intervention on endurance performance. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 30(4), 388–401. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2017.1395930