In the world of functional fitness and endurance racing, physical prowess is only part of the equation. The true champions are those who have honed their mental resilience, enabling them to push beyond perceived limits and achieve extraordinary feats.
Ollie Russell exemplifies this mental fortitude. After playing Rugby for Leicester Tigers, battling through marine training, becoming a Hyrox World Record Holder, and competing in numerous endurance events, Ollie is well versed in the art of mental conditioning. His journey offers invaluable insights for athletes aiming to elevate their performance.
And now, you can learn from his experience. Here are Ollie’s top mindset strategies to help you push further, perform better, and train smarter in functional fitness and running events.
1. Detach your identity from your performance
Most athletes measure their entire self-worth by their race results. When they perform well, they feel unstoppable. When they fail, their confidence crashes.
Ollie was no different in his early days of competing. His athletic identity revolved around results. But over time, he realised something crucial:
“If I attach my identity to a result, then every setback feels like a crisis. But if I see performance as just one part of me - alongside being a coach, brother, boyfriend - then I can handle challenges better and enjoy competing more."
His breakthrough came with the development of what he calls ‘The 4P Model of Human Performance’—a simple framework that helps athletes avoid over-identifying with just one area of life.
The 4 P Model
Personal – Your relationships, well-being, and happiness
Physical – Your fitness, performance, and health
Professional – Your career, learning, and achievements
Psychological – Your mindset, self-awareness, and emotional health
“If you only focus on the Physical P, you're setting yourself up for an identity crisis when things go wrong. But if you develop all four areas, you become a well-rounded, more resilient person - and a better athlete too."
Athletes who struggle with this often burn out, feel anxious before races, and beat themselves up after bad performances. The best competitors take pride in their effort, rather than defining themselves by a scoreboard.
Takeaway: Performance is just one piece of who you are. Detach from results, focus on progress, and your confidence will become unshakeable.
2. Train your mind like you train your body
In 2009, sport scientist Samuele Marcora, conducted a study between two groups of athletes to demonstrate the influence of mental fatigue on physical performance.
He had two groups cycle-to-exhaustion. However, beforehand, one group spent 90 minutes watching a relaxing documentary; whilst the other performed a mentally fatiguing cognitive task. The result? The mentally fatigued group gave up earlier, proving that your brain power directly impacts your physical endurance!
This is why Ollie intentionally simulates race-day fatigue in training, to improve his mental endurance. He will implement:
Training after mentally draining workdays
Doing hard workouts while sleep-deprived
Simulating high-pressure conditions (unexpected changes in training, loud music, unfamiliar environments)
“If you're always training in perfect conditions, your brain won't know how to handle real race-day fatigue. But if you expose yourself to mental stress before workouts, you build resilience and push further when it matters."
Takeaway: Your brain has a performance battery, just like your body. Train it to handle stress, and you’ll go further than ever before.
3. Reframe setbacks as opportunities
Every athlete faces setbacks, bad races, injuries, and personal struggles. All of which take a mental toll that impacts your performance and can easily lead to demotivation. Ollie is no exception. Life has knocked him down repeatedly, giving him every reason to stop running, pull out of a race, or even to put life on hold to grieve the loss of his father.
However, in the face of adversity he smiled. Instead of viewing his setbacks as failures or allowing them to define him, he started using them as fuel.
“I stopped pressing the 'abort button' when things got hard. Instead, I told myself 'I'm glad this is happening, I get to learn from it'."
Psychologists call this cognitive reappraisal, a strategy that helps athletes reinterpret negative experiences and turn them into strengths. The doubt that would fill his stomach, the anxiety that would pound in his chest, and the worry that would cloud his head could’ve easily held him back. However, he reappraised those sensations and thoughts to make them fuel from which he could power his fitness endeavours.
Takeaway: Setbacks are not roadblocks. They are detours to a better athlete.
4. Dislocate expectations & embrace the unknown
Mental toughness isn’t just about pushing harder. It’s about learning how to handle the unexpected.
“Dislocate expectations.”
Ollie learned this concept in rugby and throughout Marine training. It’s the idea that when you expect a situation to go a certain way and it doesn’t, you either crumble or adapt.
The military have used this process for years to help prepare recruits for the unexpected nature of war. By lulling them into a false sense of security and then throwing them into an uncomfortable environment.
Now, you may not be heading into war but competing can be a battle ground. One that will throw the unexpected at you. In this situation you need to be mentally prepared to handle whatever is thrown at you. However, it isn’t about preparing for every potential outcome, but much rather being able to find comfort in the discomfort that comes from facing the unexpected.
This is why in training, Ollie intentionally removes certainty:
Going beyond planned distances
Adding unexpected challenges to workouts
Training in adverse conditions
Takeaway: Stop clinging to fixed race plans. Train yourself to adapt, because when the mind stays flexible, performance thrives.
5. Prioritise recovery & human performance
The best athletes aren’t the ones who train the hardest, they’re the ones who recover the smartest. Ollie used to believe more training meant better results, until he burned out.
"The best athletes in the world go as hard on recovery as they do in training."
This is why he now follows the Kobe Bryant philosophy on performance:
"I do the basics better than anyone else."
To become an elite sportsperson people believe that you must have a secret formula. A training plan programmed by the Gods. However, Ollie assures me the reality is much less glamorous. The journey to becoming an elite sportsperson is right under your nose, its found in the mastery and perfection of the fundamentals:
8+ hours of sleep per night
Deload weeks to prevent burnout
Mental recovery techniques (breathwork, mindfulness, downtime)
Flexible training plans based on energy levels
Human Performance isn’t just about training harder—it’s about training smarter. The people who master recovery, stress, and adaptation are the ones who keep winning.
Takeaway: Recovery isn’t a weakness—it’s your superpower. Train smarter, not just harder.
Final thoughts - become unbreakable
Mental strength determines physical performance. If you want to perform at your best, regardless of the domain, apply these strategies:
Detach your identity from race results – You are more than your PBs
Train your mental endurance – Prepare for fatigue
Reframe setbacks as opportunities – Turn failure into fuel
Embrace uncertainty – Let go of fixed expectations
Prioritise recovery – Rest fuels performance
Thank you to Ollie for sharing his story. Hopefully, you’ve taken something from his strategies found through experience. Which strategy are you taking into your training today?
Want to train your mind like an elite athlete? Download the Getahead app and start your mental fitness journey today.
Robin Hughes, Head of Mental Fitness
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