February 7, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode of MilesFromHerView, Kat dives deep into the true essence of mindset and mental toughness. Discover how to rewrite your internal narrative, reclaim your confidence, and push through life's toughest challenges. Kat shares her personal journey and offers practical strategies for building mental resilience, celebrating small wins, and rethinking how you talk to yourself. Tune in to learn how to align your actions with your internal beliefs and embrace the strong, capable woman you're meant to be.
00:00 The Race Begins: Mile 80
01:05 Mindset Matters: Transforming Your Life
01:27 Welcome to MilesFromHerView
02:16 Personal Stories and Mindset Shifts
05:14 Identity and Mental Toughness
09:41 Reframing Discomfort and Celebrating Wins
15:03 The Power of Self-Talk and Affirmations
19:18 Reclaiming Your Time and Space
25:33 Taking Action: Start Moving Today
26:48 Conclusion: Keep Moving Forward
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Mile 80 is where the race trulybegins.
(00:03):
By now it's dark.
Your legs are heavy.
Every step feels impossible andthe doubt starts creeping in.
The finish line is still 20miles away and eternity.
This is the breaking point.
The moment where your mindstarts whispering, you've done
enough.
Maybe you should stop.
(00:24):
But this is also where somethingdeeper takes over because you
didn't come this far just toquit.
Now imagine this isn't a race.
Imagine it's your life.
You've built somethingincredible, a career, a family,
a home.
You've checked the boxes, donethe things you were supposed to
do.
But somewhere along the way, youlost you that fire, that
(00:48):
strength, that belief in yourown power.
And now you find yourselfwatching other women strong,
confident, relentless, andthinking, I wish I could be like
that.
What if I told you?
You already are today.
We're talking about mindset, howmental toughness self talk and
(01:10):
rewriting your internal storycan change everything because
it's not just about miles ormuscle.
It's about the narrative youtell yourself.
And if you're ready to stopwaiting and start becoming,
let's do it.
Kat (01:28):
Welcome to MilesFromHerView, the podcast
powered by catfit strength,where busy women like you find
practical solutions to fuel yourfitness journey with
authenticity and resilience.
I'm Kat your host, a mom of twoactive boys, a business owner
and an ultra marathon runner anda strength trainer in her
forties with nearly two decadesof experience.
(01:48):
I'm here to help you cut throughthe noise of fads, hacks, and
quick fixes.
This is a space where wecelebrate womanhood and
motherhood.
All while building strength andresilience and reconnecting with
you from a place of selfcompassion and worthiness.
Whether you're lacing up yourrunning shoes to go out for a
run, driving your kids topractice or squeezing in a
(02:10):
moment for yourself.
I'm right here in the trencheswith you.
Let's dive in.
Welcome back.
I'm Kat, your host, I'm excitedto talk on this topic.
It's something that's I'm goingto say near and dear to my
heart.
Throughout this, you're going tohear some of my personal story
sprinkled in.
I encourage you with everypodcast I put out with all of
(02:33):
the content I put out take fromit, what will serve you and
discard it, what won't, andhopefully at the end of this you
discover the incredible powerthat you hold within yourself
and how powerful you are as aperson.
The biggest thing that stopsindividuals from showing up is
not the motivation.
(02:53):
It's not, it's just, it's notthe motivation it's to me.
It's the mindset, the storiesthat get intertwined in us
prevents us from moving forward.
If we can control our story, ouridentity, you will find You can
(03:14):
achieve incredible things andyou are achieving incredible
things.
It is just so wild how you canfeel so certain about who you
are until life pretty much justflips the script.
When I became a mom, I struggledso hard with my sense of self.
(03:34):
I felt pulled in everydirection.
Society's expectations.
Families.
Well, meaning advice, theidentity of who I was supposed
to be at work.
All these titles, mom, coach,wife, daughter, athlete, me, but
they felt like they were at warwith each other in somewhere in
(03:55):
the chaos.
I completely lost.
myself, and then there was mybody for so long, it had been my
source of confidence, my toolfor conquering challenges.
I was an athlete in college.
I was an athlete as a childgrowing up.
That was what made me feelalive, running, lifting, pushing
the limits.
I came alive in those moments.
(04:18):
But after my first child, Thatconnection started to slip and
then after my second thrustedinto a complicated high risk
pregnancy and a delivery thatshook me to my core, I lost
complete trust in my body.
The thought crept in.
Maybe I broke myself.
(04:39):
Maybe I'll never be an athleteagain.
I was over a year building mybusiness helping women feel
strong.
While secretly, I wondered if Iwould ever be strong again.
Looking back now, I can see whatthat season of my life taught
me.
That experience of fear, doubt,disconnect gave me a deeper
(05:04):
understanding of the identityand its power.
It shaped the way I coach, theway I move, and the way I show
up for my clients.
Let's talk about this identityshift athletes don't just train
their bodies, they train theirminds and when circumstances
challenge that identity andinjury, a life change, a setback
(05:26):
doubt creeps in, but we have thepower to reclaim it.
Bodies change.
It's a simple sentence, but itholds so much.
The way we see our bodies, theway we speak to ourselves,
that's what dictates how much wecan truly achieve.
And that's what we're going todive into next.
How to build mental toughness torewrite your story, shift your
(05:49):
mindset, and take up thechallenge.
space in your own life.
So let me ask you this, when wasthe last time you did something
hard?
And I don't mean the kind ofhard where it's just an
inconvenient or exhausting.
I mean that kind of hard thatmakes you question yourself, the
kind that forces you to wrestlewithout push through discomfort
or decide whether you're goingto keep going or let the
(06:11):
struggle win.
Remember, mile 80 is where therace begins.
Maybe you have, or maybe youhaven't.
Run a hundred miles.
Maybe it's on your list.
You don't need to run a hundredmiles to understand these, these
concepts, but a mile 80, yourlegs are screaming.
Your body is begging you tostop.
And that finish line, it feelsso far away.
(06:33):
You've conquered so many milesat this point.
You have been out there all dayon the trails, on the road,
moving.
But this moment, the one whereyou wanna stop, but choose to
keep moving forward.
That's mental toughness.
And here's the thing it's justnot about running for me,
running does allow me to notjust understand life, but it
(06:57):
applies to life.
Think about those moments whereyou felt stuck, stuck,
exhausted, unsure if he couldkeep going.
Maybe it's in your fitnessjourney.
Trying to reclaim strength afteryears of putting yourself last.
Maybe it's in motherhood, inyour career, in the version of
the self you're fighting toreconnect with.
The question is when you hityour mile 80, what do you do?
(07:22):
Let's dive into what mentaltoughness really is.
Mental toughness isn't justabout grinding through workouts
or forcing yourself to bedisciplined.
It's about resilience.
It's about how you respond whenthings don't go as planned.
When life throws you curveballs, when progress stalls,
when your confidence wavers.
(07:43):
It's about the ability to adapt,shift your perspective, and keep
showing up even when the pathforward just isn't clear.
I highly recommend this book.
It's a great listen to if youare someone who really enjoys
audiobooks psychologist AngelaDuckworth wrote a book called Gr
what she discovered in there isthe idea of talent alone does
(08:07):
not determine success.
Perseverance does.
The most successful athletes,businesswomen, and leaders
aren't those who have it easy.
It's the ones that show up evenwhen it's hard.
So that kind of mild referenceof 80, one of the things I, and
I even tell my own kids is lookfor the times where you need to
(08:31):
get really gritty.
You need to, it's just, it'suncomfortable.
It's, it's You're growing,you're feeling this discomfort.
Now, I really, I want to take asidestep here.
In the context of working outand even in ultra running, we're
(08:52):
not talking about abusing thebody and the essence of lasting
damage or injury.
That is not what mentaltoughness is and that is not
what grit is about.
It's when you're, You arefeeling this overwhelming desire
to quit and not persevere.
So when I talk about mile 80,surely, yes, I could stop.
(09:17):
Nobody is paying me to do it.
But it's finding that innerstrength, that trust and belief
in yourself.
So I want to be perfectly clearthat it is not about abusing or
injuring yourself causing thatbodily harm.
Grit is about that mentalperseverance and really stepping
(09:39):
into all of you are.
So let's reframe thatdiscomfort.
So how do you train for this?
Because it's not just in sport.
It also goes into life.
So we want to reframe thatstruggle.
Instead of thinking, this ishard.
I can't do it.
We're going to shift to this ishard.
(09:59):
And it means I'm gettingstronger.
So the way you talk to yourselfin these hard moments, determine
whether you push through or giveup.
So we want to hear ourselves.
Are we telling ourselves that wecan't?
Or we're saying, Hey, you knowwhat, this is hard, but I'm
growing through this.
So for me, when I'm in thatmoment, I always kind of say,
(10:25):
the pain, the discomfort can bealongside of me or behind me,
but it will never get ahead ofme.
I'm in control of this.
It's acknowledging that yes,it's hard.
It is going to be hard at somepoint.
The hardness never goes awaywhen you are looking to move
your career to the next level.
(10:46):
When you are looking to buildmore strength, the hardness
changes.
Things become a little easierbefore the next bridge of hard.
And that happens in ultrarunning.
When you're in that 100 milerace, some miles are going to be
really, really hard.
Even for mile one to 20 and somemiles are going to be really,
really easy, even for mile 80 toa hundred.
(11:09):
So it's looking at theacknowledgement of, yeah, this
is hard, but I'm gettingstronger.
Celebrate micro wins.
I talk a lot about celebratingwins, the small wins, the micro
wins, what this is doing isagain, reframing that
discomfort.
Like a five minute workout is ahuge win.
It's still a win.
Yeah.
Choosing a protein at breakfastis a huge win because every
(11:32):
small action reinforces who youare becoming.
When progress feels slow, youwant to track these small
movements and prove yourselfthat you're moving forward.
So in that context of a hundredmile race, it's a lot of miles.
It's a lot of time you're onyour feet.
I look at the small wins.
Sometimes it's, I'm just goingto keep taking a step forward
(11:53):
and I'm going to celebrate thatbecause in that struggle, that
is celebrating that I am takinga step forward.
That finish line is gettingcloser.
And then it ties into mantra andpower words.
I, I love myself a good quote.
I mean, give me a good quotethat will fire me up.
I'm for it.
Power words are huge.
You want to choose words thatalign with the woman you're
(12:15):
becoming.
I am resilient.
I take up space.
I finish what I start.
Your brain believes what youtell it.
So give it something powerful tohold on to.
So I've talked a lot about likea hundred mile race.
Doubt creeps in.
I want to stop, but instead I amreframing how I think.
(12:37):
Yesterday shared on my milesfrom her view in a long interval
speed training workout.
My mind just it went negative.
Sometimes it just happens.
Sometimes there's a reason,sometimes there's not.
I practice.
I'm like, okay, what can I givemy mind here?
I'm stuck in this interval.
Honestly, it did not feel good.
When you're pushing yourself, itdoes not feel good my body can
(13:00):
handle this.
We're working on growing.
And the mind is saying, justquit, just quit, just quit.
But I needed to give itsomething.
What popped into my head?
Was just before my first hundredmile race.
My youngest son gave me a hugehug, a big bear hug.
And he said, mommy, today,you're going to run a hundred
miles.
That triggered a memory that Ihad not thought about.
(13:24):
I don't know, decades, maybe ofthe first time my great
grandmother saw me compete.
At the time I was competing inthe sprints and jumps high jump
was my main event.
That was the first and only timeshe ever saw me compete.
The track meet was near her homewhere she lived.
I wanted so bad to break theschool record so she could see.
(13:47):
Because in her time, sportsweren't accessible for women.
She was such a fiercely strong,independent woman.
And she still inspires me today.
And it was one of those thingsthat in that moment, seeing her
in her late eighties, after Ibroke the school record, the
stadium record, it also set apersonal best for myself,
(14:09):
jumping up and down with herhands up in the air, and she was
not a cold individual at all,but she was not a hugger.
She gave me the biggest hug.
and told me, don't stop, believein yourself.
Words that are simple.
That's nothing profound.
Words that have popped into myhead in and out over the years,
(14:30):
but it was just so compellingfrom her she was a person who
wasn't very affectionate oremotive.
and that Changed my mindset onthose things and be like, don't
stop.
Believe in yourself.
We all have stories like thatbecause at the end of the day,
(14:51):
success isn't about neverstruggling.
It's about who you decide to bein the struggle and the decision
is entirely in your control.
So what if the biggest thingholding you back isn't your
schedule, your genetics, or yourability, but the way you talk to
yourself?
your brain believes what yourepeatedly tell it.
(15:15):
If you're constantly saying, I'mtoo busy, or I'm not an athlete,
your actions will align withthat belief.
This is called the selffulfilling prophecy.
Your thoughts shape yourreality.
Think about the person you wantto be.
You already know what they do.
You know, they show up how theymove through life, but when it
(15:38):
comes to fitness andconsistency, I hear clients or
others say things like this.
I hope to get consistent oneday.
I fell off the wagon again.
I'm never going to be the personwho can maintain a gym routine
because insert everything.
Start noticing how often youtell yourself why you can't.
(16:01):
Every time you reinforce thosethoughts, you build up
resistance.
You keep yourself small, buthere's the best part.
You can change this.
Shifting the inner dialoguetakes work.
And I know that's not what youwant to hear, but the thing is
when you dedicate that energy,to changing that internal
(16:23):
dialogue.
It is incredible.
So the first thing is you wantto become aware, track those
negative thoughts for a day.
Just observe how often you tellyourself you're failing or you
can't before you've evenstarted.
You don't have to jot this downin a journal or anything like
(16:44):
that.
Start to listen to yourself,talk to yourself.
You might be shocked.
Personally, I know I was when Istarted listening to myself.
Then we want to reframe thenarrative.
When we have that awareness, wewant to reframe that narrative.
Instead of, I'm so inconsistent,try, I'm someone who keeps
(17:05):
showing up.
Instead of, I don't have time,shift to, I prioritize what
matters and movement matters andfinally.
You probably have heard thisbefore, but really let's break
this down.
Talk to yourself like you talkto a friend.
Would your best friend tell youyou'll never be able to do this?
Personally, if I had a friend tosay that to me like, well,
(17:26):
you're not really a friend, youknow, you wouldn't stand for
that.
So why say it to yourself?
You wouldn't tell your childrenthat.
You wouldn't tell your partnerthat.
Speak to yourself as kindly asyou want your friends to speak
to yourself and how they speakto yourself.
So when I started training forendurance races, it was after my
second son was born.
(17:48):
He was still a baby and myeldest was a toddler.
I kept thinking this isn't forme.
I can't do it.
I'll never be able to train theway I need to.
I mean, everything I'd read,every training plan I saw told
me I needed hours upon hours oftraining to succeed.
But in reality, My 24 hours didnot match the 24 hours that all
the experts out there told me Ineeded.
(18:10):
So I quit.
I quit time and time again.
I kept telling myself, there'sno way I can do this.
Like, this is impossible.
And I would think of people whowere doing it like, oh, well,
they have it easier.
They have more help than I do.
They're just so gifted.
You know what?
That is so untrue.
I'm stubborn, like reallystubborn.
(18:31):
I'm a Taurus.
So if you know, you know, I'mstubborn.
Eventually I realized, what if Ijust met myself where I was?
What if I rewrote my storyinstead of seeing all the
reasons why I couldn't?
What if I focused on all theways they show up?
I trained differently in a waythat fit my life.
When I had this realization, Istarted looking at how I coached
(18:55):
my clients.
And I changed how I coach them.
So for me, in the context ofrunning, I ran when I could, I
lifted weights when I could, andevery time my mind told me I
wasn't an endurance athlete, Istopped and pushed back and
said, no, I am that person.
I am becoming her.
(19:17):
So let's get real.
How many times have you beentold directly or indirectly to
shrink yourself?
Be smaller.
Take up less space.
Don't be too loud, too strong,too much.
For so many women, thisconditioning runs deep.
We internalize it.
It plays out in our fitnessjourneys.
I don't want to look too bulky.
(19:38):
I'm not an athlete.
I could never lift heavy likethat, but see, here's the truth.
The strongest, boldest versionof yourself is already inside
you.
You just have to start seeingher.
So we need to flip that script.
So in sports psychology andtherapy, there's a tool called
cognitive restructuring.
It's the process of recognizinglimiting beliefs and replacing
(20:00):
them with empowering ones.
Visualize your future self.
What does she look like?
How does she move?
How does she carry herself?
Picture her walking into a room.
Does she hesitate or does sheown the space?
Just think about that.
Think about that for a moment.
Now, affirmations get a littlelike wooey, but I want you to
(20:21):
think about again, thatawareness piece.
How are you talking to yourselfI kind of consider myself an
introvert and.
networking or walking into aroom full of people and having
to start up conversations withindividuals who I may not know
is really, really hard.
That's where daily affirmationsand physical cues come in.
When your body shapes yourmindset, stand tall, breathe
(20:43):
deeply and move with purpose.
When that doubt creeps in, youremind yourself, I am capable.
I deserve to take up space.
I am strong.
Think about this.
How are your physical cuesplaying into?
So remember I said, how does shecarry herself?
How does she move picture?
How does that future self walkinto a room and owning that
(21:03):
space and develop that languageto demand those physical cues.
Then the last one is reclaimyour time.
So we always tell ourselves thatwe don't have time, but I'm
going to be honest here.
If you have time to scroll onInstagram, if you have time to
play on your phone, you havetime for 10 minutes during
(21:24):
training session.
I know that's tough love and Iwill stand by this.
The fact is we all have 24 hoursin a day or 24 hours in a day.
Look totally different, but youhave time.
If you have time to sit thereand watch endless Netflix that
goes into the night, you havetime to turn it off and go to
bed because 10 PM.
(21:48):
Okay.
Turn off the TV.
So we, we have to stop blamingthat we don't have time.
I'm guilty as charged tellingmyself I didn't have time to do
things, but what I wasn't doingwas acknowledging the fact that
that was a way to keep me smalland safe versus telling myself I
do have the time.
(22:08):
My life is packed.
It's still is packed.
I still have kids.
I still have a business.
I'm still training and I hadfully bought into that idea that
if I can do it perfectly, itwasn't worth doing it at all.
And that shift happened when Istopped trying to fit into
someone else's definition ofsuccess and started rewriting my
(22:30):
own.
I found pockets of time.
I lifted weights from my livingroom.
And there was a time where I didrun early before the kids woke
up.
And every single time I showedup, I proved to myself that I am
that person.
I did not train perfectly and Istill don't train perfectly.
I find ways to show up formyself because it is a priority
(22:53):
for me to be me and to be thatperson I am becoming.
Because you don't become hersomeday.
You become her by showing uptoday.
It's not just.
You wake up one day andtherefore you are, it is showing
up today, tomorrow, and the nextday.
(23:14):
How do you keep showing up?
We got to get deeper.
We got to find out what'sdriving you.
If you dive deeper and youreally under like uncover what
fuels you, that intrinsicmotivation, that deep, deep
inside, What actually keeps yougoing when things are hard.
Think about that.
(23:34):
If you ever made it to mile 80,or if you've ever been at a
point where things are super,super hard, it is so easy to
quit.
Think about that deep, intrinsicthing.
Think about the things that getyou out of bed.
I'm going to give you a littlejournal prompt.
Ask yourself, what's my realreason for wanting to feel
strong I want you to askyourself probably five or six
(23:56):
times.
I keep asking myself that overand over again.
It's not because it constantlychanges, but it's digging
deeper.
It's pulling back the layers,getting down to the deep core.
I'd always had this dream, thisidea of running a hundred miles.
It wasn't just about finishing.
(24:18):
For me, it was proving somethingto myself.
It was proving that I couldredefine who I was, that I
wasn't limited by the stories Ionce believed.
I'm not going to sugarcoatthings.
It was years upon years offailing, learning, failing,
learning, but I continued toshow up because just like my
(24:42):
great grandmother gave me thatbig hug and said, don't stop,
believe in you.
It triggered something.
There have been so many times,and maybe you can think about
the times where people have toldyou you weren't good enough.
People have told you to quit.
People told you you didn'tbelong, but you know what?
You do.
(25:02):
You at any point can step intoyour strength and do not for
once believe in the notion thatit's too late because you are
such and such age, because youknow what?
That, that is a lie.
You don't have to wait forpermission to take up space.
You do not have to wait to earnyour place at the table.
And you already belong herebecause you get to decide who
(25:25):
you are and the strength thatyou hold.
And this applies to all facetsof your life.
So I want you to pick one actiontoday that shifts that internal
narrative.
Maybe it's choose a mantra.
I'm strong.
I'm capable.
I show up.
Move for five minutes.
(25:46):
Just start.
Literally just start.
I don't want you to pick up yourphone and be like, Ooh, what is
the best exercise?
When is the best time to workout?
What is the best pre workout?
What is, put your phone down andjust start moving.
Maybe it's walking around theperimeter of your house.
Maybe it's walking up and downthe stairs.
Just start the moment you pickup that phone and try and look
(26:10):
and Google the best workout youare delaying.
I just want you to start.
Maybe it's squats.
Maybe it's in the Netflix.
You know, do you want to keepwatching the next episode, the
whatever, how many seconds youjust start doing squats.
You are starting move your body.
Maybe write down who you arebecoming.
Write down in detail who you arebecoming, because the version of
(26:35):
who is strong, consistent, andcapable, she's already here.
It's up to you to extend a handand decide who you are.
So start speaking to her.
Thank you for tuning in to milesfrom review powered by KatFit
Strength.
If this podcast inspires youdon't keep it for yourself, hit,
(26:56):
follow, or subscribe to stayupdated on the new episodes and
leave us a review to help morewomen and moms discover this
space.
Your feedback fuels thispodcast, and I'd love to hear
what's working for you or whattopics you want to dive into
next.
You can connect with me onInstagram at KatFit Strength, or
(27:17):
share this episode.
With a friend who is ready toembrace her strength.
Remember fitness isn't aboutperfection.
It's about showing up foryourself and finding strength in
every step of your journey untilnext time, keep moving forward
one mile at a time.
Mile 80 is where the race trulybegins.
(00:03):
By now it's dark.
Your legs are heavy.
Every step feels impossible andthe doubt starts creeping in.
The finish line is still 20miles away and eternity.
This is the breaking point.
The moment where your mindstarts whispering, you've done
enough.
Maybe you should stop.
(00:24):
But this is also where somethingdeeper takes over because you
didn't come this far just toquit.
Now imagine this isn't a race.
Imagine it's your life.
You've built somethingincredible, a career, a family,
a home.
You've checked the boxes, donethe things you were supposed to
do.
But somewhere along the way, youlost you that fire, that
(00:48):
strength, that belief in yourown power.
And now you find yourselfwatching other women strong,
confident, relentless, andthinking, I wish I could be like
that.
What if I told you?
You already are today.
We're talking about mindset, howmental toughness self talk and
(01:10):
rewriting your internal storycan change everything because
it's not just about miles ormuscle.
It's about the narrative youtell yourself.
And if you're ready to stopwaiting and start becoming,
let's do it.
Kat (01:28):
Welcome to MilesFromHerView, the podcast
powered by catfit strength,where busy women like you find
practical solutions to fuel yourfitness journey with
authenticity and resilience.
I'm Kat your host, a mom of twoactive boys, a business owner
and an ultra marathon runner anda strength trainer in her
forties with nearly two decadesof experience.
(01:48):
I'm here to help you cut throughthe noise of fads, hacks, and
quick fixes.
This is a space where wecelebrate womanhood and
motherhood.
All while building strength andresilience and reconnecting with
you from a place of selfcompassion and worthiness.
Whether you're lacing up yourrunning shoes to go out for a
run, driving your kids topractice or squeezing in a
(02:10):
moment for yourself.
I'm right here in the trencheswith you.
Let's dive in.
Welcome back.
I'm Kat, your host, I'm excitedto talk on this topic.
It's something that's I'm goingto say near and dear to my
heart.
Throughout this, you're going tohear some of my personal story
sprinkled in.
I encourage you with everypodcast I put out with all of
(02:33):
the content I put out take fromit, what will serve you and
discard it, what won't, andhopefully at the end of this you
discover the incredible powerthat you hold within yourself
and how powerful you are as aperson.
The biggest thing that stopsindividuals from showing up is
not the motivation.
(02:53):
It's not, it's just, it's notthe motivation it's to me.
It's the mindset, the storiesthat get intertwined in us
prevents us from moving forward.
If we can control our story, ouridentity, you will find You can
(03:14):
achieve incredible things andyou are achieving incredible
things.
It is just so wild how you canfeel so certain about who you
are until life pretty much justflips the script.
When I became a mom, I struggledso hard with my sense of self.
(03:34):
I felt pulled in everydirection.
Society's expectations.
Families.
Well, meaning advice, theidentity of who I was supposed
to be at work.
All these titles, mom, coach,wife, daughter, athlete, me, but
they felt like they were at warwith each other in somewhere in
(03:55):
the chaos.
I completely lost.
myself, and then there was mybody for so long, it had been my
source of confidence, my toolfor conquering challenges.
I was an athlete in college.
I was an athlete as a childgrowing up.
That was what made me feelalive, running, lifting, pushing
the limits.
I came alive in those moments.
(04:18):
But after my first child, Thatconnection started to slip and
then after my second thrustedinto a complicated high risk
pregnancy and a delivery thatshook me to my core, I lost
complete trust in my body.
The thought crept in.
Maybe I broke myself.
(04:39):
Maybe I'll never be an athleteagain.
I was over a year building mybusiness helping women feel
strong.
While secretly, I wondered if Iwould ever be strong again.
Looking back now, I can see whatthat season of my life taught
me.
That experience of fear, doubt,disconnect gave me a deeper
(05:04):
understanding of the identityand its power.
It shaped the way I coach, theway I move, and the way I show
up for my clients.
Let's talk about this identityshift athletes don't just train
their bodies, they train theirminds and when circumstances
challenge that identity andinjury, a life change, a setback
(05:26):
doubt creeps in, but we have thepower to reclaim it.
Bodies change.
It's a simple sentence, but itholds so much.
The way we see our bodies, theway we speak to ourselves,
that's what dictates how much wecan truly achieve.
And that's what we're going todive into next.
How to build mental toughness torewrite your story, shift your
(05:49):
mindset, and take up thechallenge.
space in your own life.
So let me ask you this, when wasthe last time you did something
hard?
And I don't mean the kind ofhard where it's just an
inconvenient or exhausting.
I mean that kind of hard thatmakes you question yourself, the
kind that forces you to wrestlewithout push through discomfort
or decide whether you're goingto keep going or let the
(06:11):
struggle win.
Remember, mile 80 is where therace begins.
Maybe you have, or maybe youhaven't.
Run a hundred miles.
Maybe it's on your list.
You don't need to run a hundredmiles to understand these, these
concepts, but a mile 80, yourlegs are screaming.
Your body is begging you tostop.
And that finish line, it feelsso far away.
(06:33):
You've conquered so many milesat this point.
You have been out there all dayon the trails, on the road,
moving.
But this moment, the one whereyou wanna stop, but choose to
keep moving forward.
That's mental toughness.
And here's the thing it's justnot about running for me,
running does allow me to notjust understand life, but it
(06:57):
applies to life.
Think about those moments whereyou felt stuck, stuck,
exhausted, unsure if he couldkeep going.
Maybe it's in your fitnessjourney.
Trying to reclaim strength afteryears of putting yourself last.
Maybe it's in motherhood, inyour career, in the version of
the self you're fighting toreconnect with.
The question is when you hityour mile 80, what do you do?
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Let's dive into what mentaltoughness really is.
Mental toughness isn't justabout grinding through workouts
or forcing yourself to bedisciplined.
It's about resilience.
It's about how you respond whenthings don't go as planned.
When life throws you curveballs, when progress stalls,
when your confidence wavers.
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It's about the ability to adapt,shift your perspective, and keep
showing up even when the pathforward just isn't clear.
I highly recommend this book.
It's a great listen to if youare someone who really enjoys
audiobooks psychologist AngelaDuckworth wrote a book called Gr
what she discovered in there isthe idea of talent alone does
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not determine success.
Perseverance does.
The most successful athletes,businesswomen, and leaders
aren't those who have it easy.
It's the ones that show up evenwhen it's hard.
So that kind of mild referenceof 80, one of the things I, and
I even tell my own kids is lookfor the times where you need to
(08:31):
get really gritty.
You need to, it's just, it'suncomfortable.
It's, it's You're growing,you're feeling this discomfort.
Now, I really, I want to take asidestep here.
In the context of working outand even in ultra running, we're
(08:52):
not talking about abusing thebody and the essence of lasting
damage or injury.
That is not what mentaltoughness is and that is not
what grit is about.
It's when you're, You arefeeling this overwhelming desire
to quit and not persevere.
So when I talk about mile 80,surely, yes, I could stop.
(09:17):
Nobody is paying me to do it.
But it's finding that innerstrength, that trust and belief
in yourself.
So I want to be perfectly clearthat it is not about abusing or
injuring yourself causing thatbodily harm.
Grit is about that mentalperseverance and really stepping
(09:39):
into all of you are.
So let's reframe thatdiscomfort.
So how do you train for this?
Because it's not just in sport.
It also goes into life.
So we want to reframe thatstruggle.
Instead of thinking, this ishard.
I can't do it.
We're going to shift to this ishard.
(09:59):
And it means I'm gettingstronger.
So the way you talk to yourselfin these hard moments, determine
whether you push through or giveup.
So we want to hear ourselves.
Are we telling ourselves that wecan't?
Or we're saying, Hey, you knowwhat, this is hard, but I'm
growing through this.
So for me, when I'm in thatmoment, I always kind of say,
(10:25):
the pain, the discomfort can bealongside of me or behind me,
but it will never get ahead ofme.
I'm in control of this.
It's acknowledging that yes,it's hard.
It is going to be hard at somepoint.
The hardness never goes awaywhen you are looking to move
your career to the next level.
(10:46):
When you are looking to buildmore strength, the hardness
changes.
Things become a little easierbefore the next bridge of hard.
And that happens in ultrarunning.
When you're in that 100 milerace, some miles are going to be
really, really hard.
Even for mile one to 20 and somemiles are going to be really,
really easy, even for mile 80 toa hundred.
(11:09):
So it's looking at theacknowledgement of, yeah, this
is hard, but I'm gettingstronger.
Celebrate micro wins.
I talk a lot about celebratingwins, the small wins, the micro
wins, what this is doing isagain, reframing that
discomfort.
Like a five minute workout is ahuge win.
It's still a win.
Yeah.
Choosing a protein at breakfastis a huge win because every
(11:32):
small action reinforces who youare becoming.
When progress feels slow, youwant to track these small
movements and prove yourselfthat you're moving forward.
So in that context of a hundredmile race, it's a lot of miles.
It's a lot of time you're onyour feet.
I look at the small wins.
Sometimes it's, I'm just goingto keep taking a step forward
(11:53):
and I'm going to celebrate thatbecause in that struggle, that
is celebrating that I am takinga step forward.
That finish line is gettingcloser.
And then it ties into mantra andpower words.
I, I love myself a good quote.
I mean, give me a good quotethat will fire me up.
I'm for it.
Power words are huge.
You want to choose words thatalign with the woman you're
(12:15):
becoming.
I am resilient.
I take up space.
I finish what I start.
Your brain believes what youtell it.
So give it something powerful tohold on to.
So I've talked a lot about likea hundred mile race.
Doubt creeps in.
I want to stop, but instead I amreframing how I think.
(12:37):
Yesterday shared on my milesfrom her view in a long interval
speed training workout.
My mind just it went negative.
Sometimes it just happens.
Sometimes there's a reason,sometimes there's not.
I practice.
I'm like, okay, what can I givemy mind here?
I'm stuck in this interval.
Honestly, it did not feel good.
When you're pushing yourself, itdoes not feel good my body can
(13:00):
handle this.
We're working on growing.
And the mind is saying, justquit, just quit, just quit.
But I needed to give itsomething.
What popped into my head?
Was just before my first hundredmile race.
My youngest son gave me a hugehug, a big bear hug.
And he said, mommy, today,you're going to run a hundred
miles.
That triggered a memory that Ihad not thought about.
(13:24):
I don't know, decades, maybe ofthe first time my great
grandmother saw me compete.
At the time I was competing inthe sprints and jumps high jump
was my main event.
That was the first and only timeshe ever saw me compete.
The track meet was near her homewhere she lived.
I wanted so bad to break theschool record so she could see.
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Because in her time, sportsweren't accessible for women.
She was such a fiercely strong,independent woman.
And she still inspires me today.
And it was one of those thingsthat in that moment, seeing her
in her late eighties, after Ibroke the school record, the
stadium record, it also set apersonal best for myself,
(14:09):
jumping up and down with herhands up in the air, and she was
not a cold individual at all,but she was not a hugger.
She gave me the biggest hug.
and told me, don't stop, believein yourself.
Words that are simple.
That's nothing profound.
Words that have popped into myhead in and out over the years,
(14:30):
but it was just so compellingfrom her she was a person who
wasn't very affectionate oremotive.
and that Changed my mindset onthose things and be like, don't
stop.
Believe in yourself.
We all have stories like thatbecause at the end of the day,
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success isn't about neverstruggling.
It's about who you decide to bein the struggle and the decision
is entirely in your control.
So what if the biggest thingholding you back isn't your
schedule, your genetics, or yourability, but the way you talk to
yourself?
your brain believes what yourepeatedly tell it.
(15:15):
If you're constantly saying, I'mtoo busy, or I'm not an athlete,
your actions will align withthat belief.
This is called the selffulfilling prophecy.
Your thoughts shape yourreality.
Think about the person you wantto be.
You already know what they do.
You know, they show up how theymove through life, but when it
(15:38):
comes to fitness andconsistency, I hear clients or
others say things like this.
I hope to get consistent oneday.
I fell off the wagon again.
I'm never going to be the personwho can maintain a gym routine
because insert everything.
Start noticing how often youtell yourself why you can't.
(16:01):
Every time you reinforce thosethoughts, you build up
resistance.
You keep yourself small, buthere's the best part.
You can change this.
Shifting the inner dialoguetakes work.
And I know that's not what youwant to hear, but the thing is
when you dedicate that energy,to changing that internal
(16:23):
dialogue.
It is incredible.
So the first thing is you wantto become aware, track those
negative thoughts for a day.
Just observe how often you tellyourself you're failing or you
can't before you've evenstarted.
You don't have to jot this downin a journal or anything like
(16:44):
that.
Start to listen to yourself,talk to yourself.
You might be shocked.
Personally, I know I was when Istarted listening to myself.
Then we want to reframe thenarrative.
When we have that awareness, wewant to reframe that narrative.
Instead of, I'm so inconsistent,try, I'm someone who keeps
(17:05):
showing up.
Instead of, I don't have time,shift to, I prioritize what
matters and movement matters andfinally.
You probably have heard thisbefore, but really let's break
this down.
Talk to yourself like you talkto a friend.
Would your best friend tell youyou'll never be able to do this?
Personally, if I had a friend tosay that to me like, well,
(17:26):
you're not really a friend, youknow, you wouldn't stand for
that.
So why say it to yourself?
You wouldn't tell your childrenthat.
You wouldn't tell your partnerthat.
Speak to yourself as kindly asyou want your friends to speak
to yourself and how they speakto yourself.
So when I started training forendurance races, it was after my
second son was born.
(17:48):
He was still a baby and myeldest was a toddler.
I kept thinking this isn't forme.
I can't do it.
I'll never be able to train theway I need to.
I mean, everything I'd read,every training plan I saw told
me I needed hours upon hours oftraining to succeed.
But in reality, My 24 hours didnot match the 24 hours that all
the experts out there told me Ineeded.
(18:10):
So I quit.
I quit time and time again.
I kept telling myself, there'sno way I can do this.
Like, this is impossible.
And I would think of people whowere doing it like, oh, well,
they have it easier.
They have more help than I do.
They're just so gifted.
You know what?
That is so untrue.
I'm stubborn, like reallystubborn.
(18:31):
I'm a Taurus.
So if you know, you know, I'mstubborn.
Eventually I realized, what if Ijust met myself where I was?
What if I rewrote my storyinstead of seeing all the
reasons why I couldn't?
What if I focused on all theways they show up?
I trained differently in a waythat fit my life.
When I had this realization, Istarted looking at how I coached
(18:55):
my clients.
And I changed how I coach them.
So for me, in the context ofrunning, I ran when I could, I
lifted weights when I could, andevery time my mind told me I
wasn't an endurance athlete, Istopped and pushed back and
said, no, I am that person.
I am becoming her.
(19:17):
So let's get real.
How many times have you beentold directly or indirectly to
shrink yourself?
Be smaller.
Take up less space.
Don't be too loud, too strong,too much.
For so many women, thisconditioning runs deep.
We internalize it.
It plays out in our fitnessjourneys.
I don't want to look too bulky.
(19:38):
I'm not an athlete.
I could never lift heavy likethat, but see, here's the truth.
The strongest, boldest versionof yourself is already inside
you.
You just have to start seeingher.
So we need to flip that script.
So in sports psychology andtherapy, there's a tool called
cognitive restructuring.
It's the process of recognizinglimiting beliefs and replacing
(20:00):
them with empowering ones.
Visualize your future self.
What does she look like?
How does she move?
How does she carry herself?
Picture her walking into a room.
Does she hesitate or does sheown the space?
Just think about that.
Think about that for a moment.
Now, affirmations get a littlelike wooey, but I want you to
(20:21):
think about again, thatawareness piece.
How are you talking to yourselfI kind of consider myself an
introvert and.
networking or walking into aroom full of people and having
to start up conversations withindividuals who I may not know
is really, really hard.
That's where daily affirmationsand physical cues come in.
When your body shapes yourmindset, stand tall, breathe
(20:43):
deeply and move with purpose.
When that doubt creeps in, youremind yourself, I am capable.
I deserve to take up space.
I am strong.
Think about this.
How are your physical cuesplaying into?
So remember I said, how does shecarry herself?
How does she move picture?
How does that future self walkinto a room and owning that
(21:03):
space and develop that languageto demand those physical cues.
Then the last one is reclaimyour time.
So we always tell ourselves thatwe don't have time, but I'm
going to be honest here.
If you have time to scroll onInstagram, if you have time to
play on your phone, you havetime for 10 minutes during
(21:24):
training session.
I know that's tough love and Iwill stand by this.
The fact is we all have 24 hoursin a day or 24 hours in a day.
Look totally different, but youhave time.
If you have time to sit thereand watch endless Netflix that
goes into the night, you havetime to turn it off and go to
bed because 10 PM.
(21:48):
Okay.
Turn off the TV.
So we, we have to stop blamingthat we don't have time.
I'm guilty as charged tellingmyself I didn't have time to do
things, but what I wasn't doingwas acknowledging the fact that
that was a way to keep me smalland safe versus telling myself I
do have the time.
(22:08):
My life is packed.
It's still is packed.
I still have kids.
I still have a business.
I'm still training and I hadfully bought into that idea that
if I can do it perfectly, itwasn't worth doing it at all.
And that shift happened when Istopped trying to fit into
someone else's definition ofsuccess and started rewriting my
(22:30):
own.
I found pockets of time.
I lifted weights from my livingroom.
And there was a time where I didrun early before the kids woke
up.
And every single time I showedup, I proved to myself that I am
that person.
I did not train perfectly and Istill don't train perfectly.
I find ways to show up formyself because it is a priority
(22:53):
for me to be me and to be thatperson I am becoming.
Because you don't become hersomeday.
You become her by showing uptoday.
It's not just.
You wake up one day andtherefore you are, it is showing
up today, tomorrow, and the nextday.
(23:14):
How do you keep showing up?
We got to get deeper.
We got to find out what'sdriving you.
If you dive deeper and youreally under like uncover what
fuels you, that intrinsicmotivation, that deep, deep
inside, What actually keeps yougoing when things are hard.
Think about that.
(23:34):
If you ever made it to mile 80,or if you've ever been at a
point where things are super,super hard, it is so easy to
quit.
Think about that deep, intrinsicthing.
Think about the things that getyou out of bed.
I'm going to give you a littlejournal prompt.
Ask yourself, what's my realreason for wanting to feel
strong I want you to askyourself probably five or six
(23:56):
times.
I keep asking myself that overand over again.
It's not because it constantlychanges, but it's digging
deeper.
It's pulling back the layers,getting down to the deep core.
I'd always had this dream, thisidea of running a hundred miles.
It wasn't just about finishing.
(24:18):
For me, it was proving somethingto myself.
It was proving that I couldredefine who I was, that I
wasn't limited by the stories Ionce believed.
I'm not going to sugarcoatthings.
It was years upon years offailing, learning, failing,
learning, but I continued toshow up because just like my
(24:42):
great grandmother gave me thatbig hug and said, don't stop,
believe in you.
It triggered something.
There have been so many times,and maybe you can think about
the times where people have toldyou you weren't good enough.
People have told you to quit.
People told you you didn'tbelong, but you know what?
You do.
(25:02):
You at any point can step intoyour strength and do not for
once believe in the notion thatit's too late because you are
such and such age, because youknow what?
That, that is a lie.
You don't have to wait forpermission to take up space.
You do not have to wait to earnyour place at the table.
And you already belong herebecause you get to decide who
(25:25):
you are and the strength thatyou hold.
And this applies to all facetsof your life.
So I want you to pick one actiontoday that shifts that internal
narrative.
Maybe it's choose a mantra.
I'm strong.
I'm capable.
I show up.
Move for five minutes.
(25:46):
Just start.
Literally just start.
I don't want you to pick up yourphone and be like, Ooh, what is
the best exercise?
When is the best time to workout?
What is the best pre workout?
What is, put your phone down andjust start moving.
Maybe it's walking around theperimeter of your house.
Maybe it's walking up and downthe stairs.
Just start the moment you pickup that phone and try and look
(26:10):
and Google the best workout youare delaying.
I just want you to start.
Maybe it's squats.
Maybe it's in the Netflix.
You know, do you want to keepwatching the next episode, the
whatever, how many seconds youjust start doing squats.
You are starting move your body.
Maybe write down who you arebecoming.
Write down in detail who you arebecoming, because the version of
(26:35):
who is strong, consistent, andcapable, she's already here.
It's up to you to extend a handand decide who you are.
So start speaking to her.
Thank you for tuning in to milesfrom review powered by KatFit
Strength.
If this podcast inspires youdon't keep it for yourself, hit,
(26:56):
follow, or subscribe to stayupdated on the new episodes and
leave us a review to help morewomen and moms discover this
space.
Your feedback fuels thispodcast, and I'd love to hear
what's working for you or whattopics you want to dive into
next.
You can connect with me onInstagram at KatFit Strength, or
(27:17):
share this episode.
With a friend who is ready toembrace her strength.
Remember fitness isn't aboutperfection.
It's about showing up foryourself and finding strength in
every step of your journey untilnext time, keep moving forward
one mile at a time.
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