Ultramarathoner Courtney Dauwalter on Building Mental Strength

Ryan talks to ultramarathon runner Courtney Dauwalter about the balance between listening to your body and pushing through pain, prioritizing happiness and enjoyment rather than optimization, her metaphor of the pain cave that she visualizes when pushing her body, and more.
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Courtney Dauwalter is the world’s best female ultra runner in the world, and when it comes to races over 200 miles, she is, hands down, the best. She is a two-time ultra runner of the year, and has been named one of the top 50 fittest athletes by Sports Illustrated. She’s won multiple races, most impressively the Mohab 240, where she beat all men and women by 10 hours. Courtney credits this success to her mindset. From her unorthodoxically long shorts, running without a training plan, to her ability to go deep into what she calls “ The Pain Cave,” Courtney is a humble master of mental grit.
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Music:
"Grow Old" by innerkid: ampl.ink/aKePP

[@isabelgranados8176]

So amazing, her personality... all the time she had like a glow and a smile during the meeting . Im going to start running tomorrow!!!

[@corunna2565]

Good for you!!

[@longsighcarryon]

Friendly reminder to keep running 😃

[@keegansmith7278]

I just recently got back into it, I hope you are still running!

[@jasejordan4179]

Go running!

[@ArnabMYT]

Courtney is seriously such a joy to listen to. What an amazing ambassador for the sport. The longest that I have done is 50k trail ultras and I love it. I have never used music, I like to talk to myself. When it starts to hurt, that is where I feel the strongest connection to my alter ego 😇

[@trailpacker]

I never get tired of listening to Courtney. I’ve been running for the last two years this fall and she inspires me to one day look at ultra running. Thank you for the great interview.

[@michael7324]

I've been a big fan of Courtney for a long time.

[@Kelly_Ben]

Great interview, Courtney is an absolute legend! I loved what she said about balancing performance with enjoyment of life, and how giving up daily happiness for a few percentage points worth of improvement wasn't worth it. And though she is incredibly humble and down to earth and wouldn't care, it's too bad you didn't do an actual introduction- unless they Google her after, many of your fans won't realize she is one of the BEST athletes in the WORLD. It would be an easy way to introduce her, and the awesome world of ultra running, to people unfamiliar with them.

[@oscargonzalez1519]

About to start this, and I already know this is gold.

[@keneticchannel]

Literally watching this with a calf on ice after blowing it out on a weekend trail run because I wasn't listening to my body in the way Courtney said is important. Pfffsshhhh, we should all just listen to Courtney. She's the master of knowing when to power threw and when to heed the red flag. 🙏

[@Eddie-Spaghetti]

Wow what a guest love Courtney Dauwalter 👍👍👍

[@mannymotta2174]

I was listening to the Joe Rogan podcast from December 2017 for the second time and I’m glad I found this . I’m not a runner however I do workout hard I think for a 55 year old. The message Courtney sends can and should be applied to all areas of life. I’m a big fan

[@RJ-iu7ze]

Just discovered your channel and within days you have one of two people in the world outside friends and family that I would consider heroes. Courtney is a wonderful individual and the grace with which she shifts the goals posts on human potential is breath-taking.

[@heritageoutdoorsproduction2460]

Glad to hear I’m not the only one who strangles every last drop of serotonin out of a song when it hits right ESPECIALLY when using it for exercise or inspiration for creativity

[@victoriaman117]

Courtney Dauwalter is a certified badass! And the best part is if you met her you would never know she was the greatest female runner of all time.

[@yesyoucanquilt]

She’s amazing.

[@GlennGabrielMedia]

That was such an epic podcast. Ryan covered so much just because his perspective is predicated on trail or ultra running but rather how can we extract Courtney's mindset and apply it to other things in life. Amazing!

[@andre790927]

Mmkòo999999999u

[@cpruns4501]

WHAT.....My two favorite people on youtube on the same POD? This is going to be amazing! Now I have to work all day waiting to listen to this tonight:)

[@aaronwimberleymbamsf5776]

Great meditation to start the day=]

[@phillstanford6036]

I'm only just now learning about stoicism but it sounds exactly perfect for what I need a recovering addict trying to stay clean with bad anxiety and everything I've heard and read about this is exactly what I need... How am I only just now learning about this

[@Sipharen]

It's a journey, my friend.

[@ryfreedman]

Great interview!

[@arya721]

she articulates the mindset very well

[@sat0sh139]

Totally crushing on her spirit.

[@justinramos3201]

Love me some Cerro Gordo analogies.

[@bigal6114]

First saw her on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. I like listening to her because she's humble, light hearted, and has done astounding times in ult

[@raygreen5926]

" By endurance we conquer " Ernest Shackleton ☘🇮🇪🇬🇧

[@MrBillybadasshole]

A body in rest wants to stay in rest. Mental momentum is key…

[@EcUVn]

Ryan, please do David Goggins next!

[@durianwalker]

It will be great to see if Goggins reveals his annoyance to Ryan's difficult questions too lol

[@richschulte6838]

Love me some Courtney

[@mayj695]

WTH how many commercials can youtube stick on one episode???!

[@nancymay6687]

Thank you for having a female on ❤️

[@indrakishorepersonalfinanc5945]

Ryan one Podcast with David Goggins too.

[@krysteencaepmon5225]

I love Courtney. I want to be her friend in real life lol

[@WildSatoriForest]

What do you think about Andrew Tate???

[@JaySubi53]

0:02 “I didn’t think I could ever do that” yet she does it, why are we told to believe you can and to envision you doing when she never did?

[@veneta72]

This dude goes round and round and can’t quite digest her answers and tries to contort her answers to fit his little stoic lense. What wait?!? You don’t nickel and dime or even pay attention to your diet to be the best you can? You eat what you want to maintain joy in your life? He can’t quite fit her paradigm into his perspective. What does competition mean for you? He can’t get she competes…for fun! Yes she wants to win and she enjoys competing but he can’t get into her joy perspective to fit his grind stoic deal. This guy also talks way way way too much. This woman does. This guy over thinks. Action v tedious thinking

[@durianwalker]

great insight...we are all mostly overthinking

[@hbtvproduction]

OMG… you are so right. I like talks about stoicism but he seemed to be on another planet, while Courtney was just straightforward and keeping it simple. I mean, how much more could you be direct? I understood her plain and simple English. She is the master at conveying her mindset here and he was crazy over thinking and honestly coming off kind of out of her league. I literally had to stop listening to this podcast half way through because it seems like he was pestering her, and I kind of felt badly for her. Courtney is the very best example of the KISS rule: “Keep It Simple Silly”. Plus she talks about everything here on a million other podcasts.

[@veneta72]

@@hbtvproduction well said

[@deskotjes6536]

Interesting… I thought the EXACT opposite. It was an exchange of different worlds of experience and thoughts trying to meet in the middle to understand each other. I actually truly think they inspired each other.

[@janetohlsen6712]

Nice to see Courtney! I’m afraid the host talks too much.

[@gavin6381]

Bit of a tough guest. Really had to drag the answers out, and basically spoon feed her the answers in the question. Never really got to the crux of anything, mainly just cliché.

[@hbtvproduction]

Courtney is not a “tough” guest. She is very straightforward and keeps it simple. Cliche? Maybe her brain is naturally wired to convey her experiences through simple euphemisms and analogies. She’s the real doer in this episode with the many accolades and accomplishments under her belt. She’s ultimately direct and he’s going around and around trying to fit her in his grind paradigm. Yes she wants to compete and yes she wants to win. But it’s clear that the times aren’t important to her. She experiences competing as fun, and she handles it in a well rounded way, and that’s that. She also loves the sport and is the greatest ambassador ever before of her inclusive and encouraging nature. The Ultra Community is not the same as the Iron Man or road race communities, where everyone’s watch is going off with split times and people are not that friendly with each other. People encourage each other in Ultra’s to get through the race! It’s a way friendlier community, and the whole world of Ultra racing is still in its infant years. This interviewer is a poor example of not doing enough research about the sport as a whole and overtaking about inane things that don’t matter to the very very best female athlete in the sport, who has beaten men as well as that can very well happen in an ultra race.

[@tomasreznicek]

Its called robot mentality, not mental strenght

[@randomhero7100]

This is the worst podcast to listen to while running. So many ads…