Beyond the “Hit”: Reconceptualising Perseverance in Ultra-Running by Dr Julian Ayres
“It’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.”
This iconic quote from the 2006 film Rocky Balboa has long served as a mantra for endurance athletes. In the world of ultra-marathon running, where distances exceed the standard 26.2 miles and terrain often borders on the hostile, this sentiment is frequently equated with “grit.”
However, a critical examination of psychological theory and recent research suggests that this “take the hit” ideology is a misunderstood and potentially detrimental approach to the sport. While grit is often lauded as the ultimate indicator of success, it is frequently a reactive, stoic approach that can derail long-term achievement. True excellence in ultra-running requires a shift from the reactive perseverance of grit to the proactive, adaptive mechanism of resilience.
The Grit Trap: Reactive Stoicism
Grit is conceptualised as sustained, goal-directed perseverance, defined by Duckworth (2016) as a combination of passion and effort maintained over years despite failure, adversity, or plateaus. In the context of an ultra-marathon, grit is often viewed as the “internal, future-oriented drive” that keeps a runner moving when their body screams to stop (Ayres, 2024). It is the dogged determination to finish at all costs, characterized by the “perseverance of effort” and “consistency of interest” (Duckworth et al., 2007). On the surface, this appears to be the perfect psychological profile for someone attempting to run 100 miles through mountains.
However, relying solely on grit can be a dangerous trap. Grit is inherently reactive; it is about enduring the “hit” without necessarily questioning how to mitigate the next one or whether the hit is causing terminal damage. This stoic attitude, the refusal to be “discouraged by failures and setbacks,” can lead to a narrow focus that ignores critical physical and psychological signals (Kannangara et al., 2018). In ultra-running, this “grit alone” mentality manifests as running through a stress fracture or ignored dehydration because the runner is “dogged in the face of adversity” (Duckworth, 2016). The gritty runner sees the “hit” as a badge of honour, whereas the effective runner sees it as a data point to be managed.
Furthermore, critics argue that grit has become a misused ideology because it individualises performance within neoliberal performance cultures, effectively placing the entire burden of success on the individual’s “stamina” while obscuring the systemic and contextual factors that influence success (Ayres, 2024). In a race environment, grit may cause a runner to persist with a failing strategy, such as an inflexible nutrition plan, simply because they have the stamina to stay the course, rather than adapting to the shifting reality of the trail (Duckworth et al., 2007). This linear approach to perseverance is often at odds with the chaotic, non-linear nature of ultra-marathons.
Resilience: The Proactive Alternative
In contrast to the linear, “hammer-and-nail” perseverance of grit, resilience represents adaptive recovery and transformation within complex or adverse contexts. While both constructs share the element of “perseverance of effort,” they diverge sharply in their mechanism and orientation. If grit is about the quantity of effort, resilience is about the quality of adaptation. Resilience is not merely about “bouncing back” to a previous state after a setback; it entails a dynamic, relational process of coping with stressors that results in the fortification and enrichment of resilient qualities.
For the ultra-runner, resilience is a proactive approach. It does not wait for the “hit” to occur just to see how much it can take; instead, it utilizes a suite of skills to navigate the environment. These skills include:
- Adaptive Recovery: The capacity to recover strengths, spirit, or physical homeostasis quickly after a setback. A resilient runner treats a “bonk” or a wrong turn not as a moral failure to be overcome with sheer will, but as a technical problem requiring immediate, flexible recovery.
- Cognitive Flexibility: This involves appraising situations without distortion. A resilient runner views a sudden storm as a “challenge” to be navigated rather than a “threat” to their identity, allowing them to see alternative strategies and paths forward.
- Self-Awareness and Metacognition: Resilience is underpinned by self-reflection and self-regulation. Utilizing metacognitive skills allows a runner to monitor their internal state and adjust nutrition, pace, or gear before a catastrophic “hit” occurs (Veenman et al., 2006). This is the opposite of the stoic “blindness” often associated with high-grit individuals.
- Relational Support: Unlike the solitary, “lone wolf” toughness popularized by the grit narrative, resilience involves engaging “connections and collaboration” to overcome barriers (Ayres, 2024). In ultra-running, this is the ability to communicate effectively with a crew or pacer, recognising that success is often a collective rather than a purely individual achievement.
The Theory in Practice: Moving Beyond the Jangle Fallacy
The “Jangle Fallacy” is a psychological term for the mistake of assuming two different names describe the same thing. This has led to the interchangeable use of grit and resilience in athletic and educational discourse, yet their underlying theories suggest they are distinct. Grit is an “internal drive,” whereas resilience reflects “contextual, relational, and dynamic adaptation”. While grit is associated with self-control and high achievement (Kannangara et al., 2018), it is not necessarily an indicator of high cognitive ability or the capacity for adaptive learning (Crede et al., 2017).
In fact, research suggests that grit is not adaptive unless it is accompanied by the general potential or ability to succeed in a domain, specifically skills such as self-reflection and self-monitoring. Without these resilience-based skills, grit becomes “blind perseverance.” Resilience skills, such as identifying “thinking traps”, irrational beliefs that can spiral during the dark hours of a race and practicing mindfulness, allow a runner to be proactive. They can anticipate the “hit” and adjust their course, rather than just waiting to see how much damage they can endure.
This goes against the traditional stoic ethos of ultra-running, which often celebrates the “gritty” runner who ignores all pain. However, theory suggests that this runner is often less effective than the “resilient” runner who actively manages pain through cognitive reappraisal and physiological adjustment. Resilience acknowledges that the environment is constantly changing, and therefore the runner must be “adaptable” rather than just “committed”.
The Stoic Disconnect
The Rocky Balboa quote highlights a stoic attitude that is frequently praised but rarely scrutinized. To “keep moving forward” while taking hits suggests a disregard for the self that is actually contrary to the long-term methods of successful ultra-running. The sport requires an intense “level of self-awareness” (Kannangara et al., 2018). Stoicism in its misunderstood form, as the suppression of emotion and sensation, actually limits the information a runner has at their disposal.
Grit, when separated from resilience, promotes this suppression. It encourages the runner to maintain a “consistency of interest” and “perseverance of effort” even when the context has changed so dramatically that the goal is no longer viable or safe. Resilience, conversely, encourages critical reflection. It asks: Is this path still the right one? How can I change my approach to minimise the impact of this obstacle? This proactive questioning is what allows a runner to succeed over 100 miles, where a “dogged” insistence on an original plan would lead to failure.
Building the Resilient Runner
If grit is a trait that one “has,” resilience is a process that one “builds”. Training for an ultra-marathon should therefore focus less on building grit through suffering and more on developing resilience through learnable strategies. This includes:
- Reflective Practice: Analysing past failures not just to “try harder” next time, but to understand the “triggers and emotional responses” that led to the setback.
- Mindfulness (Unplugging): Developing the ability to stay present, which helps in managing the overwhelming “distance to go” by focusing on the immediate task, the “here and now” of the trail.
- Values-Based Motivation: Moving beyond the “passion” of grit to a deeper understanding of one’s values, which provides a more stable foundation during the inevitable lows of a race.
Conclusion
The Rocky Balboa philosophy of “keeping moving forward” regardless of the damage taken is a powerful image for a three-minute movie montage, but it is an incomplete and potentially harmful ideology for the ultra-marathon runner. Grit may provide the initial spark and the long-term commitment to the sport, but it is resilience built through self-reflection, adaptation, and collaboration that ensures a runner actually reaches the finish line and continues to compete in the years to follow.
By moving away from a reactive grit that prides itself on “taking the hit” and moving toward a proactive resilience that seeks to understand and adapt to the environment, runners can transform the “hits” of the trail into opportunities for growth and sustainable achievement. In the end, the most effective ultra-runner is not the one who can take the most hits, but the one who has the adaptive capacity to ensure those hits never land with terminal force.
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Reference List
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