Michele Ufer - Mental Toughness for Runners

This book provides you with an astounding piece of knowledge, a tool, and the personal experiences of an extraordinary ultra-distance runner and sport psychologist. With this book, Michele Ufer has added another milestone to the existing literature on running.

Prof. Dr. Oliver Stoll

Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany

You will learn much about yourself and our sport. Whether theorist or practitioner, you will definitely put it to use!

Jochen Schmitz

Chief editor, RUNNING magazine

The contents of this book were carefully researched. However, all information is supplied without liability. Neither the authors nor the publisher will be liable for possible disadvantages or damages resulting from this book.

MICHELE UFER

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Originally published as Mentaltraining fr Lufer, 2016 by Meyer & Meyer Verlag

Mental Toughness for Runners

Maidenhead: Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK) Ltd., 2019

9781782558378

All rights reserved, especially the right to copy and distribute, including the translation rights. No part of this work may be reproducedincluding by photo copy, microfilm, or any other meansprocessed, stored electronically, copied or distributed in any form whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher.

2019 by Meyer & Meyer Sports (UK) Ltd.

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Member of the World Sports Publishers Association (WSPA)

9781782558378

eISBN 978-17-8255-493-6

Email:

www.thesportspublisher.com

This book provides you with an astounding piece of knowledge, a tool, and the personal experience of an extraordinary ultra-distance runner and sport psychologist. With this book, Michele Ufer has added another milestone to the existing literature on running.

What makes this book so exceptional? On the one hand, it is the rock-solid technical foundation presented in language even the psychological layperson is able to understand, and on the other hand, it is the extremely candid treatment of sport psychology techniques, which he not only describes, but also presents via actual exercises in this book. And he did not leave out an opportunity for self-diagnosis.

A book like this can only be successful if the author can bring quite a bit of personal experience in distance running to the table. This, along with his own sport psychology training and his ability to build a network during his time as an active athlete, can validate his personal experience or allow him to process it with a book like this. In addition to world-class ultra-runners like Florian Reus, we also hear from scientists who do cutting-edge research (e.g., exercise addiction).

I do not know of any previous sport psychology book about running that bundled not only the authors experience, but also that of his colleaguesor rather other runnersand made it available to the public in this way.

This book is also not a purely celebratory book, stating that mental training is the only and exclusive key to success; Michele Ufer also impressively points out the limits of mental training and addresses the so-called dark side of running. Michele thus demonstrates his ability to have a more differentiated view of his passion. In addition to his role as a runner, Michele Ufer is clearly also a practical sport psychologist and scientist.

Although I am an experienced sport psychologist and runner myself, I was able to personally benefit from the content of this book. I can only imagine how much more beginning runners and athletes who are less knowledgeable about sport psychology can learn from this publication. I wish all of you many hours of productive reading and lots of fun trying out the techniques, and most of all continued joy in running and achieving your personal goals.

Dr. Oliver Stoll
Leipzig, Germany
August 8, 2016

Dear Readers,

A few years ago, a previously unknown athlete appeared out of nowhere on the German ultra-running scene. This person caught our attention when we saw impressive photos in the editorial department of RUNNING Magazine that showed the athlete at a 250 km stage race in the Atacama desert, which he went on to finish seventh overall. I, of course, had to get to the bottom of this thing and picked up the telephone. In the end, I got Michele Ufer on the phone. He was the new guy, the athlete in the photos, and he told me how he came to participate so successfully in the aforementioned race with some physicalbut lots of mentaltraining. This conversation was followed by many more, some remarkably long, and my curiosity about Micheles approach and the subject of sport psychology continued to grow.

As a result of these discussions, we decided not to deny our readers this subject matter and created the series of articles called Mental training in practice, a column in our magazine which continues to be very popular. Thus it seemed only a matter of time until Michele would publish a book on his field of expertise. You are holding it in your hand.

During my time at university, I was able to take several semesters of psychology, and in my capacity at RUNNING Magazine I am in daily contact with athletes of various performance levels for whom sport psychology is an important factor. Moreover, as a runner, I have gained insight into my mental potential and myself. Based on this experience, I highly recommend this book. You will learn much about yourself and our sport because this is a hands-on book with lots of tests as well as examples that invite active participation or imitation. It also satisfies the science- and theory-oriented reader via cross-references, sources, and a long list of references. Whether theorist or practitioner, you will definitely make use of it.

And now some personal information about Michele: He is a true jack-of-all-trades! Next to his professional activities, he is always working to increase his knowledge and, of course, balances that part of his life with regular running. And on top of all that, he organizes a trail event by the name of Traildorado. Michele usually has a smile on his face and possesses a mischievous sense of humor (which you will see that now and then in the book).