Not necessarily marathon-specific, but I enjoyed Matt Fitzgerald's two books on the mental aspect of running:

Run: The Mind-Body Method of Running By Feel

Brain Training for Runners

I have struggled a lot in the past with this in races, and I feel like the 'brain training' stuff helped me both train to be mentally stronger and helped me resist the urge to slow down unnecessarily during a race.  Since reading these books and trying to incorporate some of the methods I feel like I'm a lot stronger at the end of longer races.  It used to be that a bad mile was inevitable for me during a 10-K, as the voices saying 'no, it's OK, you can slow down' overrode the will to do my best.  Now, I find that even in 15-Ks and half marathons (still haven't quite got the marathon down), I am better able to resist the temptation to listen to that voice.

A cornerstone of the approach is race-pace running, which I find very useful since you can draw on that during a race: I am used to this, I can do this.  A key part of Run:.. is choosing workouts, which are to be repeated or adapted and repeated throughout your training cycle, which give you confidence.  So if running several 10K-paced repeats is a confidence-building workout for you (which leaves you feeling strong and gives you a good sense of your marathon fitness) you should repeat it a couple times through the training cycle; if miles at MP are what gives you confidence at marathon pace, then you might start with 6 miles at MP, and then halfway through the training cycle do 9 miles at MP, and then when you are close to peaking you might run 12 at MP.  He argues that one of the most important things going into a race is the confidence that you are up to the task, so whatever workouts you can do that will build your confidence are the right ones for you.

(There's a lot in both books I don't necessarily agree with, but overall I think they do a good job at addressing this aspect of training)

Hey Fsocks, why do you post unhelpful bullshit whenever someone asks a legitimate question?

 

If its good enough for Yogi it's good enough for me.

The marathon itself (4.5 hours for me) wasn't tough mentally, well maybe the last hour was a bit.

The couple hundred hours of training leading upto it was much tougher to get motivated for on a daily basis when tired, and generally much tougher mentally.

LRB, I think I meant that on race day, it is 90% mental.

You prefixed your original comment with for you, so you're good.  But I actually agree with it as well, I just expounded on it a bit.

There were times during my first where it seemed as if it was 100% mental, such as mile 22 to 23, which to me, lasted about as long as the marathon itself.  Or when when I was running up that mountain (it was more like a speed bump) during mile 25 thinking, whose fuckin idea of a sick joke was this?!

My second was less about mental strength and  more about focus, which may have been due to a higher confidence level as some others have mentioned.

The mental endurance or mental issues have only played a significant role in the marathons where I made poor pace judgments and physically struggled at the end along with the two marathons I ran when I was not well prepared for the distance. Not surprisingly there's less struggle mentally when the race is going well.

Yes, you must be mental to run marathons. Is that more helpful?

Does the F in FSocks stand for flippant? I like your off the wall comments.

Not necessarily but I like it.

 

Um...

 

First third brains, second third legs, last third heart. Though if I could run a third with my personality, it would be a massive fucking WIN!

 

OP: Try this.:

 

http://www.amazon.com/10-Minute-Toughness-Training-Program-Winning/dp/0071600639/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373506707&sr=8-1&keywords=10+minute+toughness

 

Well worth  the $10...

 

EDIT:

 

And actually, I think it was first 10 miles with your brain, next 10 miles with your legs, the last 10k with your heart. Which is actually kinda silly...I used my hearth throughout each of my marathons.

Um... :P