You’ve spent months gathering mileage and building strength. But Comrades is an endurance race and 85.777 km is going to get tough. When that happens it is your subconscious mind that determines how you respond which ultimately shapes your performance.
To train your mind you need to understand how it works.
Under pressure, your mind defaults to what is familiar
Research by psychologist Wendy Wood, author of Good Habits, Bad Habits, explains that much of our behaviour is driven by automatic patterns, rather than conscious decisions. Furthermore, under stress and fatigue the brain relies even more heavily on habit-based systems.
Which means that when Comrades gets hard, your behaviour and reactions are shaped largely by the responses your mind has regularly practised
So, if you repeatedly train yourself to relax your shoulders, take a deep breath, realign yourself and stay strong, this is where your mind returns to when the race gets tough.
Your brain is wired for safety
The brain’s threat-detection systems, linked to areas like the amygdala, constantly scan for discomfort, danger and risk. Their job is to keep you safe and conserve energy.
Furthermore, research in endurance performance shows that perceived effort influences performance just as strongly as physical ability. So when your mind perceives the race as threatening, overwhelming or beyond your capacity, your system naturally pulls you back. But when effort feels manageable, you keep moving forward.
In the words of Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t you’re right.”
Your subconscious responds to repetition – real or imagined
Brain imaging research shows that the brain responds to imagined experiences in surprisingly similar ways to real ones. Think of biting into a lemon. Even without a real lemon present, your mouth waters and your body responds automatically.
So when you repeatedly ‘rehearse’ yourself running strong and crossing the finish line at your goal time, your subconscious mind begins to accept those experiences as familiar.
And what feels familiar feels more achievable.
Instead of running as someone hoping they can finish Comrades… you begin running as someone who already sees themselves as capable of it.
Your brain is constantly predicting and preparing for what happens next
Your brain is not passively reacting to the race as it happens. It is constantly trying to predict and prepare for what comes next. These predictions are based on past experience, beliefs and familiar patterns. So if your internal narrative becomes “Fields Hill kills me,” or “I always fall apart on Pollys” …your system prepares for that outcome. Those expectations influence your pace, your mental focus and your willingness to keep going.
So the race you experience is shaped not only by your fitness… but by what your mind already expects is coming.
Train The Response That Determines Your Race
When you understand how the subconscious mind works, it becomes clear why hypnosis can be such a powerful tool for endurance athletes.
Hypnosis allows you to access that deeper part of the mind more directly. This is where automatic responses, emotional associations, beliefs and familiar patterns are stored.
So rather than simply hoping you stay strong on race day, you begin intentionally cultivating the race you desire.
