Anyone who runs knows that running your best requires more skillsets than just being able to run fast. At times, it’s as much a psychological game as a physical one, and you can make, break, or completely sabotage yourself through your mind alone, regardless of your fitness level going into any single day.

I’ve been reminded of this several times this week, with my mind playing tricks in either making runs 10% better, or 10% worse.

Day	Perceived Experience	Solution/Outcome
Tuesday	Had some inflammation lingering in my quad post weekend, and worried it would transcend into my knee. Invented more pain in my knee than was actually there.	Taped my knee before the run, and felt better immediately – before the run even began.
Wednesday	Believed I was marginally better at running downhill than uphill in my workout.	Ran the second half of my five-minute intervals significantly stronger than the first half, every single time.
Friday	Felt uncomfortable on a bike rather than my usual arc-trainer, and worried it would cause pain to my knee.	Stopped after fifteen minutes. Barely cross-trained.
Saturday	Tried bicarb for the first time. Heart felt a little off. Legs stopped firing correctly by 20K and slogged the final 10.	Had a negative headspace for the final hour of the run, and started questioning too much, making it worse for myself.
Sunday	Put on a fun, colourful outfit.	Felt much stronger, more confident, and amazing all run.

In each of these examples, you can easily see how my perception of what was happening around me contributed to a slightly better, or slightly worse day of exercise.

And the dream is to have everyday feel like a ’10’ and to stop overthinking on the negative. To at least be able to reframe it as positive.

But it’s inevitable that not every day will feel like a 10.

At least, right now.

Because I’m about to share my top secrets to feeling like a 10, at least nine out of ten times, like any good dentist would recommend.

This article will not be about the stuff that you’ve heard every coach or content creator (including myself!) speak about over and over:

❌ Fuelling and nutrition
❌ Optimal recovery strategies
❌ Optimal training strategies

I have many other articles on these topics, and recommend a few:

-> How I fuel for training and races with XACT Nutrition
-> The secrets to my recovery in 2025
-> The changes to my training in 2025

Instead this article will be about to how to genuinely feel better, how to stop inventing pain for yourself, and how to stay positive even when the negative creeps in. HERE WE GO.

SECRET #1 – DRESS TO IMPRESS YOURSELF

Ever see a cyclist storming down the trail or the road, decked out in the coolest gear, sunglasses and bike?

What do you think about when you see a boss girl cyclist?

SHE MUST BE A PROFESSIONAL!

Even if it’s just Sally Joe out for her daily stroll.

We associate looking good with being better.

Especially when we look at other people around us who look good. They must be good too.

Why not do more in your daily routine to see yourself that way.

I’m not saying you need to go out and buy expensive running clothes, fancy shoes, and all the gizmos and gadgets you can find.

I’m definitely not saying that you need to dress to impress anyone other than yourself.

But I am saying that feeling good about how you look will 1000% translate better into feeling good about how you run.

Even David Roche has recently inferred that not wearing his favourite pair of green shorts was a reason for less confidence when he DNF’d Big Alta 50K. It seems absurd, and one of those “He can’t actually be serious or think that way” kind of sentiments.

But there’s so much merit, psychologically, to the look good feel good motto.

I don’t think you need to become obsessed with it to the extent that you genuinely think green shorts = better performance, and without them I am doomed!!

But I do think that wearing things that make you feel good, can give you the silly superpower to transcend that perception into how your entire body feels about everything.

I’ve been playing this psychological trick in two keys:

1. Wearing bright, fun colour combinations that are different from the monotonous blue, black and white that everyone else is wearing.
   
2. Wearing branded clothing from XACT, a brand that I’m always proud to represent.

WHY THIS WORKS

There’s a lot of reasons for why this works so well in just giving you that 5-10% boost.

One is that it can remind you of why you’re great, or why you’re different. Some people don’t want to be different and don’t want to be reminded of it. I always like to remind myself of why I’m different, because it feels empowering to have that reminder.

When I put on the XACT logo, I genuinely feel cool, and it reminds me of the success stories I’ve had in races when wearing those clothes, again giving me that tangible reminder of success.

The other reason is via a legitimate psychological phenomenon known best as the ‘The Batman Effect’.

^RELATED

The Batman Effect works like this:

You have a group of children, each told to solve a problem or complete a task. Some were told to try and solve the task, and others were told to pretend like they were Batman, and then solve the task.

Which group performed better?

The children who were told to pretend like they were Batman. Every single time.

Because when we just give ourselves that extra layer of invincibility, we’re more likely to believe that we can do something.

If I’m just Rhys I might not be as effective at running efficiently than if I’m Rhys with sweet shoes – as silly as that sounds. Probably even less so than what would be really absurd in telling myself I’m Batman with nice shoes.

I’m going to hazard a guess that most people wake up with some kind of anxiety or doubt about how their run is going to go every day, even if it’s the most minor of doubts. You can see this in just about every pro vlog out there, how they constantly, vocally self sabotage themselves.

Sometimes when I’m feeling that kind of doubt, whether it be about my knee, about a cold I’ve caught, or whatever random body part has decided to become inflamed, I’ll put on my XACT racing shirt, or my Marsquest sunglasses and I immediately feel like a different, more confident person again.

An example of this can be seen in my chart way above when I talk about putting tape on my knee and immediately feeling better about that knee. It placebo’d the pain away, before even taking that first step.

Day	Perceived Experience	Solution
Tuesday	Had some inflammation lingering in my quad post weekend, and worried it would transcend into my knee. Invented more pain in my knee than was actually there.	Taped my knee before the run, and felt better immediately – before the run even began.

Dressing to impress yourself gives you a better shot of already feeling like your Batman, where you just feel that ever so slight more invincible, confident and cool.

It’s the same reason why it’s important to find shoes that work best for you in different contexts. Because if you feel better about what’s on your feet and you believe them to be faster, they will end up manifesting exactly as so.

If you think the same shoes suck or don’t work for your body, they never will.

And most of the time, it’s not even about the shoes. It’s about your mind, and how you think about those things.

So while I’m not suggesting that everyone joins me in my neon party, I am suggesting that the next time you feel a doubt, put something on that makes you feel good. Whether it’s a hat, a song, or simply a piece of tape.

SECRET #2 – THE RUNNING PLAYLIST

I know what you’re thinking, THAT’S ALREADY ENOUGH FOR A WHOLE ARTICLE!!

But I still have so much to say!

Similarly to picking out a sweet sweet outfit, I also find that music can be an incredibly effective tool for locking my focus into a run, staying present, and therefore, running well.

I change up my running playlist every year, getting a mix of fast-paced, angry-girl, hard hitting music to keep me flying on workouts and running smoothly on easier days.

I think it’s again important not to develop a dependency where you feel like you need that thing to perform well. I need Eminem to race well would not only be untrue but unproductive.

But I more so use music for both the vibe of it all, helping me stay in a groove; and for the way it keeps me more focused on the task of running well and efficiently (like upping cadence, or focusing on the rocks and roots of a technical trail).

If you find that music or podcasts actually distract you from the task and you like that feeling of getting lost, that’s powerful too!

But for me, nothing helps me run faster on the final set of an interval workout than Lil John’s Turn Down for What?. And the song keeps me way more focused on feeling good and feeling strong than I would just from radio silence (or the average radio song for that matter).

So if you haven’t got one already, STOP READING. START PLAYLISTING. NOW.

My every year essentials include:

• London Bridge, Fergie
• Booty Wurk, T-Pain
• Big, Rita Ora
• Turn Down For What, Lil’ John
• Take My Breath, The Weeknd
• Shots, LMFAO

My 2025 favourites so far include:

• Abracadabra, Lady Gaga
• It Boy, bbno$
• Adrenaline, Tyga

Finding the songs that feel exciting and empowering for you will again 1000% give you just that 5-10% boost, whether you’re someone that vibes to stay present, or vibes to stay lost.

And low-key, there’s also something again to say for the look good, feel good mindset when it comes to song selection. Songs like LMFAO’s Sexy and I Know It and bbno$’s Mary Poppins that speak about looking good and feeling good about it, are extremely powerful in giving you those same feel good vibes when running.

SECRET #3 – STOP INVENTING PAIN FOR YOURSELF

Remember how we talked about those anxieties and doubts that creep up on an almost daily basis?

Most of the time, those perceptions of pain are way worse in your head than they are in reality.

I know this all too well from my injury history, where after a long spell on the sidelines, I can so easily convince myself that the pain or the problem is still there, even if it’s not.

When injuries actually do happen, if you catastrophize it and go to the worst case scenarios, your perception of pain will be higher. If you convince yourself that everything will be okay, you will heal faster.

Knowing this, I started testing a theory.

The past few weeks, I’ve started to tell myself “my knee hurts” when doing single-leg glute bridges or other pilates-esque exercises, even if I’m experiencing no pain at all.

And most of the time, my knee starts to tingle, twinge or feel off.

Today, while running, I tested it with my varicocele. I told myself “something feels weird with my varicocele right now”. It took me a few seconds of thinking about Mary Poppins for the immediate, weird sensation to go away.

My point is this: You can so easily invent pain for yourself if you want to.

Therefore: You can so easily invent feeling good for yourself if you want to.

Instead of telling yourself “My knee feels weird!”, tell yourself “My knee feels great!”

And if you have actual pain that isn’t just in your head, the worst thing you can do is catastrophize it. Because that won’t help the healing process. You have to accept it, move on, focus on recovery, and stay optimistic that it’s not as bad as you think. Subsequently, pain preceptors will be lower, and healing may just be faster.

SECRET #4 – REFRAME THE NEGATIVE AS POSITIVE

My fourth and final secret is admittedly one that I’ve written about in a few other articles…

But importantly, it’s probably the top trick on the board for accomplishing that feel good factor.

Negative thoughts and negative outcomes will inevitably come. But only if you perceive those things as negative.

Look at my run this Saturday.

Day	Perceived Experience	Solution/Outcome
Saturday	Tried bicarb for the first time. Heart felt a little off. Legs stopped firing correctly by 20K and slogged the final 10.	Had a negative headspace for the final 50 minutes of the run, and started questioning too much, making it worse for myself.

I completely derailed the final third of my run just from catastrophizing my perceived pain. I tried to say things like “This is practice for when things get tough” or “This is practice for when the legs start cramping on race day.”

But I couldn’t actually get out of the negative spiral to allow myself to continue positively.

Same thing when I recently raced Trail des Bois du Duchesnay.

I constantly thought “This sucks. I didn’t pick my shoes well. I’m constantly stuck in the mud, and the other guys can run when I can’t.”

I needed to tell myself more and more “At least I’ll have energy for the runnable parts when they’ll be more tired.”

Sometimes things will suck. And there’s nothing else you can do but say “This sucks!”. But I would say 99% of negative thoughts or experiences you have can be reframed as positive, even in some weird way.

And getting good at doing this during a training cycle will help you when things inevitably don’t go to plan on race day. When you inevitably have to troubleshoot, and find the positive in the negative.

If you can do this more often when negative experiences or thoughts come about, you will have more and more positive experiences, and spend less time derailing or sabotaging your runs.

So with that, those are my top secrets to feeling like a 10 every single time. Thanks for reading and see you soon!

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If you want to feel like a 10 more and more, I also work with a number of athletes to help them get to a place where they feel like a 10 more and more. Feel free to reach out if you’re interested in hearing more!