Trail Running in Dénia, Spain: Training the Mind on Montgó
Training today. It’s sunny, with not a cloud in the sky. People are out hiking and jogging on the trail leading up to Montgó. I rode here on my bicycle, as always.
The ride used to seem to take a long time. In fact, during my first two years in Spain, 2022 and 2023, and maybe even 2024, I didn’t cycle here. I thought it would be too far. It was a block in my mind. Now I actually enjoy the cycle, and it takes about 20 minutes. I push all the way there, so after the workout you can imagine how nice it is to simply roll downhill all the way back into the town of Dénia.
During today’s workout, I revisited the old Ultra Runner Podcast and listened in particular to Craig Thornley and then Eric Orton. Eric is known for being featured in Born to Run, the bestselling book in the running genre of all time.
Eric was talking about something I was actually experiencing during this very training session. He spoke about sports hypnotism, which he says he used to help guide his athletes towards the correct mental approach. It brought me back to the cliché: you can’t control the situation, but you can control how you react to it.
I noticed during this run that there were times when I wasn’t at my mental best. The run is about 1.5 kilometres uphill—just under a mile—before I press lap on my watch turn me around and run downhill. I repeat the same hill many times, so as I go down I’m running on the same trail, and when I go back up I’m running on exactly the same trail.
That repetition means I’ve started to recognise my mental patterns at particular points along the route. There’s one area with steps and sharp rocks where I tend to tense up. There are sections where people come up the path and I become so focused that I don’t want to make eye contact, and I notice myself becoming tense. Then there’s the deep, soft gravel, where your foot sinks an inch before finding solid ground and you inevitably lose a little forward momentum.
Today, instead of simply experiencing those moments and moving on, I recognised them.
I told myself: Next time I get to this point, I’m going to relax as I go down the steps. I’m going to smile at the people on the trail, then return to my focus. I’m going to relax my shoulders as I run through the soft gravel and not worry about losing a little momentum.
It felt groundbreaking for me.
I’m forming a real connection with this trail. Because I repeat the same stretch again and again, I’m becoming increasingly aware of exactly where my mind and body change. I’m learning to be present for each individual footstep rather than allowing my mind to wander off.
The trail is just technical enough that when you’re running downhill, you need to focus on every footstep. If you don’t, you can easily trip. There are sharp rocks everywhere, and plenty of corners where something unexpected could happen.
After hearing about what happened to Jeff Browning the other day, I’m especially aware of safety. As I understand it, Jeff fell and broke his glasses, apparently hit his head, then suffered a heart attack and went into a coma. I’m still waiting to hear how he is doing. It’s a sobering reminder that anything can happen to anybody at any time.
So safety is always somewhere in my mind now, particularly when I’m coming around corners or running over technical sections.
That was my run today.
Afterwards, I came back and ate some local fish with local fruit and vegetables, then had an afternoon nap. Now I’m eagerly anticipating watching UTMB this weekend.
Another good day of training—and, more importantly, another small step forward in learning how to control my mind while I run.
