How important is self belief when trying to accomplish or succeed in a challenge you at actually is beyond your capabilities?  Self belief is huge, and don't get this confused with arrogance, self belief is about you trusting your training so making sure your body is prepared for the task in hand, race planning and scheduling so again the preparation and attention to detail, and trusting in some fundamental grit, heart and luck!  Self belief is a powerful tool that not only lets us sign up to these crazy challenges but its also what helps drive us to complete them and achieve our dreams. How can you improve or work on your self belief without being misguided and lying to yourself?  I believe that as individuals we can work at our self-belief by positive reinforcement, achievement, good preparation and planning and good PMA!  This is crucial in my opinion to succeeding in Ultra marathons, if you don't believe in yourself and believe you can do it then unfortunately others won't and when your on your own on route in the middle of the night this could be the difference between success and dnf.  So make sure before you start that there is going to be only one outcome, and that is that you are going to finish!  In another book that I once read I can't remember which sorry, but it basically said to help with this you have to dream of the finish constantly, thinking about what it will be like and how it will feel, then when times are hard you can use that to help push you through.

I was caught in a position of dare I say 'misplaced confidence' but the last race I did which was the Hardmoors 60 gave me the appropriate kick in the ass!  I am now fully grounded again and understand that the Hardmoors 160 next May is going to be the toughest thing I have ever done and I need to treat it with respect.  I need to plan appropriately leaving nothing to chance and to start my training in good time so I can build up the mileage appropriately.  I'm loving the new challenge and excited about training properly for it.  Current training is base level fitness, so plenty of gym work and short runs and weight loss as this now going to have a massive impact on the outcome of some of these races I want to do.

To succeed in my challenge there is going to have to lots of hardwork, practical training appropriate to task, discipline, and sacrifice.  These are the ingredients if mixed correctly and balanced right that will determine whether I am successful in the Hardmoors 160.  I'm not going home without my medal, I will succeed and will be using this as my stepping stone to bigger and greater things!

Believe to achieve!