Stop Thinking, Start Running: How to Put Your Training on Autopilot
What Is Automaticity?
“Automaticity is the ability to perform a skill or action automatically, without conscious thought, because it’s been practiced so often.”
In ultrarunning, it’s what allows you to move, fuel, and adapt for hours without mental friction. Every motion, every cue, every decision becomes seamless — because you’ve already made it a hundred times before. You’re not thinking about running; you’re executing a plan encoded into your nervous system.
The Tactical Roots of Automaticity
Automaticity didn’t originate in sports, it was forged in combat.
In military and SWAT training, automaticity is the foundation of performance under pressure. When adrenaline spikes and tunnel vision sets in, fine motor control and rational thinking degrade. Through endless repetition under stress, operators train to breathe, move, assess, and act with calm precision, even when chaos surrounds them.
“ Under stress, you don’t rise to the occasion …you fall to your level of training.”
The principle is the same for ultrarunners.
The battlefield might be internal, exhaustion, heat, terrain, self-doubt, but the solution is identical: train calm under chaos.
By rehearsing responses to stress, you remove hesitation and stay composed when others unravel.
Automaticity is controlled aggression paired with emotional regulation the same duality elite operators rely on, and the same composure ultrarunners need at mile 80 when the world starts to tilt.
Why Practicing Mental Cues Before Race Day Matters
Practicing mental cues before race day builds that same tactical calm. It trains your brain to respond automatically under fatigue.
When you’ve rehearsed cues like “steady climb,” “relax the hands,” or “strong and smooth,” they surface naturally when it matters most.
During an ultra, your mental bandwidth is already stretched: fatigue, pain, and environmental stressors compete for focus. Automatic cues become anchors for control and rhythm, quick resets that stabilize your effort and mindset.
Let’s Break it Down
Familiarity breeds reliability … you can trust your mental toolkit under pressure.
Consistency improves performance … practiced cues keep pacing and focus stable.
Repetition turns reaction into instinct … what you rehearse becomes what you default to when it counts.
“Short, deliberate cues like “one more climb” or “steady effort” act as mental anchors that allow you to re-center when discomfort peaks.”
Key Aspects of Automaticity
Motor Skill & Running Form
Repetition hard-wires movement patterns. Efficient mechanics become instinctive, freeing the brain to handle terrain, pacing, or strategy.
Pacing & Effort Management (RPE)
Seasoned runners “feel” effort through breath and stride instead of data. Intuitive pacing replaces dependency on numbers.
Nutrition & Hydration
Fueling becomes reflexive. You execute your plan automatically, anchored to time or terrain — not to thought.
Gear & Logistics
Every pack grab, layer adjustment, or shoe fix happens without breaking stride. The smoother your logistics, the more seamless your flow.
Mental Resilience & State Management
Emotional Non-Reactivity: Recognize discomfort without surrendering to it.
Trust in Training: Confidence replaces panic.
Mindful Flow: Breathing or mantras act as automatic grounding tools.
“Repeated exposure to controlled stress, back-to-backs, progressive overload, terrain variability — creates mechanical toughness and neurological efficiency. The body becomes physically durable; the mind becomes psychologically automatic.”
The Science of Running on Autopilot
Automaticity marks the shift from controlled processing (conscious effort) to automatic processing (unconscious execution).
It’s the same neurological principle that lets a SWAT operator clear a room or a pilot perform under duress.
Repetition moves tasks from the prefrontal cortex to deeper procedural memory, freeing up the brain to handle complex, real-time problems.
For runners, this means saving mental energy for strategy, safety, and resilience — not micromanaging stride or pace.
Approaches You Can Build This Week
1. Make it intuitive with RPE
Problem: Constantly checking your watch drains focus.
Fix: Train by feel.
Drill: On three easy runs, cover your pace data. Match your effort to your breathing rhythm (3-in / 3-out).
Benefit: When GPS drifts or the terrain changes, your body instinctively finds the right gear.
2. Habit-Stack Your Fueling
Problem: Deciding when to eat wastes precious mental energy.
Fix: Anchor fueling to external, predictable cues.
Drill: “Every song change = gel.” “Every mile = three sips.”
Benefit: Nutrition becomes automatic, no guesswork, no lapses.
3. MantraS
Problem: Fatigue fills the silence with doubt.
Fix: Condition a phrase as a mental trigger.
Drill: Use your mantra “Smooth and Strong,” “Relax the Shoulders,” “Breathe” in the final mile of every long run.
Benefit: When the wall hits, your automatic response is focus, not panic.
In the End…
Automaticity is the bridge between endurance and composure between chaos and control.
It’s what SWAT calls stress inoculation and what ultrarunners experience as flow.
When the storm hits in combat or at mile 90, you won’t rise to the occasion.
You’ll fall to your level of training.
Automaticity determines how high that level is.
Your Challenge
For the next two weeks, pick one pillar… pacing, fueling, or mantra and make it automatic.
Stop thinking about how to run. Let your training run you.
HEY THERE, THANKS FOR READING!
I offer 1:1 coaching for athletes who want structure, accountability, and real long-term results.
Schedule a free consult to get started.
