Redefining “Tough”

Trail running has always valued toughness. Long climbs, unpredictable weather, early starts, late finishes. Most of us are drawn to the sport because it asks something of us.

This idea came to mind recently after a conversation with someone we had just met—talking about training, pacing, and the challenge of slowing down. We were discussing long, easy runs. Zone 2 efforts. The kind of running that feels almost too comfortable, especially when the ego is quietly suggesting we should be going faster.

It struck us how often toughness gets framed as intensity, when in reality, some of the hardest discipline in trail running is restraint.

Early in our running lives, toughness often looks like pushing through—holding pace, ignoring fatigue, sticking rigidly to a plan. Sometimes that’s appropriate. Over time, though, many runners discover that longer efforts demand something different.

In those moments, toughness begins to look more like awareness than force. It shows up in small, quiet decisions:

• Keeping an easy run truly easy

• Trusting the process when no one is watching

• Listening to subtle signals instead of overriding them

There’s nothing flashy about running slower than you can. It doesn’t make for exciting data or bold stories. But it builds something durable—physically and mentally.

For many runners, the real shift happens when training stops being about proving fitness and starts becoming about developing judgment. Managing effort. Regulating ego. Playing the long game.

If trail running is something we hope to keep doing—not just this season, but for years—then toughness may have less to do with how hard we push, and more to do with how wisely we choose when not to.

Some thoughts we thought worth sharing.

See you on the trails!