I really haven't given the mental aspect of the marathon much thought.  I've run three, and adjusted mid-race as needed.  For the first two, that meant slowing down.  For the third, it meant speeding up.  When things get hard and the body gets tired, I just tell myself to keep moving and to hang on.  I think the only time I truly felt that the mind took over and pushed the body was in the 91 degree hilly HM I ran.  I was gassed 5 miles into that thing and it took every bit of mental toughness I had to run 8 more miles.

I think it's just natural that the mind gets trained right along with the body during all those training runs.  You learn to make decisions, adjustments, and keep moving during the various types of workouts.  It naturally carries over to race day.

As far as the music goes, it keeps me company on my long runs.  It's useless to me in a 5K or 10K because I am working so hard that I don't even hear the music.

87% of life is 19.2% harder than you think it's going to be, at the time.

 

FYP.

Not to get all flippy-socks, but since you asked for different viewpoints, here's mine : If you need mental toughness, you're going too fast.  Slow down and enjoy the run!

 

Apart from that, I read something interesting that might be helpful for the non-slow crowd.  That is that your brain automatically limits your physical output before you get to the point of causing serious damage to your body. (IOW, a normal person can't just "exert themself to death.")   But one of the things that happens as you repeatedly push yourself to these (brain-imposed)  limits during training (shudder!) is that the limit where the brain shuts you body down gradually shifts closer and closer to the body's true limits.

 

I think similar things happen with severe mental illness and meth heads. I'm just sayin' ....

 

This is actually very true, and an important point.  The body's internal governor which will try to start shutting you down (danger, danger, red alert, red alert, lie down and nap, lie down and nap) will try to increase your perceptions of pain and fatigue.   Long run training teaches your body 'No, you aren't going to die, it's all right" and reduces those sensations.  There are even things you can do to help minimize those 'walls': not going out too fast intially is one, taking some sugar and caffiene around mile 20 is another.  By then your blood sugar is low and your liver is getting depleted, and your brain is Hungry!   The caffiene disrupts that feedback loop that tells your muscles you are too tired to continue.

I even have taken a tylenol in the late miles, so that the inflammation starting in my feet from the pounding doesn't add to the messages my brain is receiving to shut me down.

These are just some things I've learned in my 28 marathons so far.  

To build mental endurance I run several 20 milers in my head during training making sure to run them at mental marathon pace.

Now this is helpful bullshit.  Much better than the unhelpful bullshit you were posting yesterday.

To build mental endurance I run several 20 milers in my head during training making sure to run them at mental marathon pace.

I hope you are wearing a fuel belt and taking a gel every 30 minutes or else you will probably die, unless you are doing this barefoot.

I take mental gels at regular intervals with the appropriate mental warm-up and mental cool down.  Mental barefoot is too much for me as I don't want to risk the mental injuries.

 

Sheesh, what am I a nOOb?

What if you have to drop a deuce?

You guys and gals make this way too complicated. Just run mofos.

This is the best advice so far and I haven't seen it quoted yet. So here we go.

I just tried to mentally run a marathon.  I got injured.

in all seriousness....

Ain't nobody got time for that.