Memory: The True Fuel for Ultra-Trail Running and Endurance

We train our legs, structure our training plans, analyze our data. But what if endurance mainly came from the memory we build with each effort?

A question circulates in the ultra-running world: “What if memory was the true fuel for ultra?” posed by Eric Lacroix. It invites us to reflect on what we are truly training: our heart, our legs… or this inner memory that shapes us.

3 Key Insights on Memory in Ultra-Trail

1. The Body is a Living Memory

When everything falters at the top of a pass, it’s not an Excel spreadsheet that keeps you going. It’s an inner phrase: “I remember I’ve held on before.”

This memory is not intellectual. It is sensory, emotional, embodied.

It has been built:

in long runs in the rain,
in failed races,
in nights of doubt,
in starting over.

2. The Danger of Over-Measurement

We store everything:

kilometers,
watts,
paces,
segments.

But what transforms an effort into learning is not found in the data. It is found in:

what you felt,
what you understood,
what you went through.

A training session becomes formative not when it is “perfect,” but when it leaves a lived trace.

Data optimizes performance. Memory builds endurance. Both are useful. But one does not replace the other.

3. Enduring Is Not Just Resisting

Over time, athletes change their approach. They run less “against” time and more with their sensations.

They know how to:

slow down without feeling shame,
give up without feeling diminished,
continue without pushing themselves to the breaking point.

2 Inspirations for Trail Runners

These reflections express something essential for us, trail runners: our strength goes beyond muscle fibers. It is born from the history we carry within us.

Body memory is built through repetition, through the accumulation of lived experiences, good or bad. Each long run, each moment of difficulty overcome enriches this inner reservoir that we draw upon during ultras.

The Scientific Perspective: What Neurosciences Tell Us

Prospective Memory According to Francis Eustache

Neurosciences confirm this intuition.

The work of Francis Eustache shows that memory is not just a storage of the past: it is prospective. It also serves to imagine the future.

The same brain areas (especially the hippocampus) are activated when:

we recall a significant event,
we project ourselves into a future situation.

Visualizing an ultra finish is not a simple “mental trick.” It is a mnesic pre-encoding. The brain already maps the path.

The Importance of Embodied Awareness

Research on attention and embodied awareness (Farb, Segal & Anderson, 2013) also shows that an effort experienced with presence and attention leaves a more lasting imprint than an effort performed on autopilot.

In short:

A mindful effort strengthens emotional regulation
It consolidates autobiographical memory
It becomes a resource that can be mobilized later

References:

Practical application of memory in trail running

In Practice: Cultivating Your Endurance Memory

Here are some concrete ways to develop this physical and emotional memory:

Note your sensations rather than your numbers after certain runs
Ask yourself before a session: “Why am I running today?”
Recount your run in ways other than time or ranking
Create a simple ritual after your long runs (tea, silence, writing, calling a loved one)
Regularly visualize a key moment (a pass, a finish line, a sunrise)

In a world saturated with numbers, endurance sometimes becomes an act of resistance: remembering what truly matters.

— Antoine, Baptiste and Etienne from TRL

Memory: The True Fuel for Ultra-Trail Running and Endurance