As always with books of this type, I listened to the audio version of The Ultra Mindset exclusively while running. It’s a good way to trick your mind into looking forward to running, because you know you’re going to get an engaging narrative, along with some motivation, if you commit to going outside. And what a narrative this is.
My experience up until this point, with both my personal running career and the books by runners I have listened to, didn’t stretch far beyond road and trail races. Reading the Ultra Mindset, then, was an education in adventure racing, which is how Macy began his adult athletic career. These multi-day team races feature multiple disciplines, including running, cycling, kayaking and skiing among others. As well as travelling hundreds of miles, you are carrying heavy gear through remote regions. Sounds like an adventure, right? Exactly.
Macy tells several captivating stories of his time spent in some of the best adventure racing teams in the world; teams which regularly podiumed, if not won, the races they entered. The book opened my eyes to all the possible types of races I could partake in, where running is only one piece of the multi-day, multi-discipline puzzle. I had also never considered the possibility of racing as a team, as I complete most of my training and races alone. There is something wonderful about inspiring, and being inspired by, those around you when you have a shared goal. Adventure racing is absolutely something I will partake in.
After Macy left adventure racing behind, he embarked on his solo ultra-running career. This introduced me to another challenge I was previously unfamiliar with: Fastest Known Times, or FKTs. Search famous hiking trails in your area and you will probably find that most, if not all, of them have a fastest known time record set by a runner. Macy set one such record across Zion National Park in the USA. This new knowledge made me keen to chase some FKTs of my own. Watch this space.
Aside from all the brilliant stories from Macy’s running career, the book contains eight principles that are an asset in both your athletic career and your daily life. Macy is a family man, who takes his responsibilities as a husband and father seriously, as well as an extremely dedicated athlete, who found a way to win on dozens of occasions. A role model for runners and non-runners alike, Macy’s book contains easily applicable knowledge that is simple and practical. He gives clear examples of when he has applied these principles to obtain his own success. Five stars, Travis. Thanks for the great stories.
You can buy Travis Macy’s book here: The Ultra Mindset
