How to Build Mental Toughness (according to a PhD and World Champion)

I invited Simon Marshall, PhD and his wife Lesley Patterson to talk about practical strategies for building confidence, reducing pre-race anxiety, and managing fears.

Their new book The Brave Athlete is a handbook for the athlete's brain, showing you how to:

• Resist the urge to quit
• Embrace difficulty
• Respond positively to setbacks
• Build confidence and self-belief
• Cope better with stress and anxiety

This husband and wife team is quite the duo. Simon is former professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of San Diego and a professor of sport and exercise psychology at San Diego State University.

Currently, he's the performance psychologist for BMC Racing - a World Tour professional cycling team.

His wife Lesley Patterson is a dominant triathlete, having won three world off-road triathlon champions and an Ironman Triathlon. A professional mountain biker, she's also a former national champion in cross country.

And I think all of us get how important our brain is to our running.

How many times have you been halfway through a long run and dreaded every step?

How many races have you wished in hindsight that you had sucked it up and ran harder instead of settling?

It's happened to me more times than I can count. And it happens to world-class athletes (like Lesley, which we talk about) all the time, too.

This podcast will show you how to turn your brain into an asset, rather than a liability.