http://www.endurancemindcoaching.com/

Endurance Mind Coaching, Manchester (2026)

15/07/2026

New episode of The Focused Mind Podcast (link in bio), as I’m joined by ultramarathoner and doctor Jenny Hartley (Jenny Hartley ), fresh from her victory at the legendary Summer Spine Race and a career that also includes multiple Invictus Games gold medals.

Together, they explore the psychology behind thriving in some of the world’s toughest endurance events. Jenny shares the mental strategies that have shaped her journey—from a 20-year military career to becoming one of Britain’s leading female ultra-runners—and how she developed the confidence to continually step outside her comfort zone and pursue new challenges.

The conversation covers:

How she prepared mentally to win the Summer Spine Race.
Managing her inner critic using the Chimp Model (and why she calls her chimp “Stan”).
Coping with extreme endurance pain and fatigue.
Maintaining focus, motivation and optimism during races lasting more than 100 hours.
How psychological skills influence not only her running, but also her work as a doctor and everyday life.
Jenny also discusses her experience using The Psychology of Running, explains why cold-water swimming has become such a powerful mental training tool, and shares how she helps both athletes and patients overcome fear, embrace discomfort, and build lasting resilience.

Whether you’re an endurance athlete, healthcare professional, or simply interested in the psychology of high performance, this episode is packed with practical insights into developing a stronger, more resilient mindset. Jen is hilarious company so this was a lot of fun. We hope you enjoy!

28/04/2026

After the big news from Sunday’s London Marathon of the first Sub 2 hour time I’m lucky to have managed to get both and the best Endurance science writer in Alex Hutchinson ( ) to share their thoughts, reflections and explanation on an emergency, celebratory episode of the Focused Mind Podcast. If you want to get behind the headlines, understand what it was like in London, and the science of what it takes to break 2, then listen in (Link in bio).

08/02/2026

🚨 New Podcast alert! 🚨 (link in bio). Since founding and specialising in the sport science of endurance, it’s been a goal to interview (AKA writer Alex Hutchinson) for the podcast. His book, ‘Endure. Mind, body, and the curiously elastic limits of human performance’ has been a foundational text in my applied sport psychology practice, with elite and amateur athletes alike. If you haven’t read it, or the follow up (The explorers gene), they are highly researched, evidence based, but accessible books that can help you understand yourself and improve performance.
So it was with great pleasure to get an hour to chew the fat & get his views on everything from British Cross country, the sub 2 marathon, and what all endurance athletes can do to move the needle forward. Thanks Alex.

13/01/2026

Back to the home of my run club to give a talk with and coach on mental and physical preparation for spring marathon season. It’s less than 14 and 15 weeks till the Manchester and London marathons respectively. As I always advocate, if you don’t train your brain as you train your body, how are you going to gain maximum confidence come race day?Seasoned racers often say that the marathon is ‘90% mental’ which I can’t verify, but I would definitely say that is the case for the last 6.2 miles of the distance!
What are your mental tools for when it gets tough and everything’s screaming at you to stop or slow down?
Follow us and share with your training buddies over the next 3 months to sharpen your inner game as you train. You’ve got this! 💪🚀

29/12/2025

Calling all endurance athletes! A call out to you all to take a little bit of time to reflect on how well you did against those goals & ambitions made back in January. My old Performance Director at Liverpool FC used to say this was the best time of year to take an objective view of your progress as an athlete and individual. You’ve had Christmas, you’ve caught up on sleep and rest, and you haven’t started up fully for the next block of your sport.
* What did you aim for in January 2025?
* Did you set hard, tangible, concrete goals?
* Did you set an intention for our mindset and mentality through the year?
* Did you legislate for possible derailers, hurdles, or things that could put you off track?
* Then how well did you do?
* What did you learn (& now take forward)?

Hope you’ve grown and had a great year! See you in 2026!

17/12/2025

It was with deep sadness I learned from team that passed a few days ago. When I set up Endurance Mind Coaching at Christmas 2016, she was one of my first clients, and she worked on and off with me till February this year. She was public about our work together, and an advocate of how mind management and sport psychology could help athlete performance. And she was a living example of what was possible when you train body and mind to get the most out of racing.
To say she was a powerhouse is an understatement. She was a tenacious runner, and an absolute student of the sport. Like the best clients, as a practitioner after a few years consultation with the same person, you start learning things from them. She’d brief me on the latest sport science (always up for trialling new methods, techniques, tools, and gizmos), what was happening in UK & US athletics. For pre marathon inspiration she’d re watch or wins as part of her mental conditioning to channel their grit, determination, and effort. She championed women’s sport and always was super proud if she came First Lady or vet in her category. But she was always generous to other runners, wanting to lift others up rather than smash them down.
There are so many races where I can scroll back through our WhatsApp’s and she was jumping for joy at an improvement, SB, PB or most recently, ‘a getting round’ performance in her first races back after chemo and treatment. She managed sub 3:13 in last years Berlin marathon after chemo, which would be a dream time for many.
Like many competitive club runners, she dreamt of getting a sub 3 marathon, and in 2022 at the age of 51, she did it! And promptly got a sub 3 tattoo (see pic) that afternoon as she was cocker hoop with finally achieving her dream goal. Never one to stop, even though the cancer treatment carried on, she called me in February this year to find out how she could potentially train to become either a sport psychologist or therapist! After her last marathon last year she said what got her round was a Gabe Grunwald quote: “it’s ok to struggle, but it’s not ok to give up.” A fitting epitaph. RIP

07/10/2025

📩 DM me 'WORKSHOP' to sign up

07/10/2025

If your nervous system can’t adapt to stress, you’ll never reach your peak.

This clip from The Focused Mind podcast with Thibo David dives into exactly that - why stress adaptation is the foundation of high-level performance.

It’s the same approach I use with my clients: we train the mind to stay calm and confident under pressure, because that’s what drives consistency and results.

🎧 Have you turned in yet? I'd love to know what resonated most for you 👇

05/10/2025

Exclusive interview on The Focused Mind podcast with this week. Thibo is an exclusive PT and fitness coach, who similar to me works across sport, business, and the music industry. Most famously he has helped Harry Styles to 2 marathons, most recently in Berlin last month in an awesome sub 3 hours (in horrible hot weather). Thibo was a green beret in the French armed forces so brings his military experience and efficiency to a highly progressive method of working holistically with his clients body and mind. The same precision and calm that is needed in military pressure situations is also needed for top level musicians, premier league stars and boxers/fighters. It really wasn’t what I was expecting, but he explains so well how he manages to extract such top level performances by working with the whole person. This isn’t all about Styles training, but a much deeper dive on the frameworks, methods and thinking of Thibo himself that all his clients apply. We hope you enjoy our conversation and take some learning to apply in your endurance training.

03/10/2025

This time 8 years ago, I was in Eugene, Oregon visiting friends, but managed to stop by Coos Bay en route, the birth town of my all time running hero Steve Prefontaine. Managed to dig out photos from that trip; at the small but lovingly cared for museum in his home town, packed full of his memorabilia; a run round the famous Pre trail at the university of Oregon where he studied and ran, and site of many of his records in the early 70s.
If you don’t know Pre, he was a fearless runner who ‘put it out there’ with nary a damn for the consequences (a little like Ingebritsen today). The first athlete who wore their first ‘waffle’ shoe. And if you look at certain pairs of vapours, they carry his infamous calling to give it your all and not waste your gift!

I needed Pre this morning at the track to summon the running Gods to help me round. Who is your all time legend? do you ever try to channel their spirit to push you on? Let us know in the comments!

Endurance Mind Coaching

15/07/2026

28/04/2026

08/02/2026

13/01/2026

29/12/2025

17/12/2025

07/10/2025

07/10/2025

05/10/2025

03/10/2025

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category