Endurance a frame of mind?

Yesterday I continued with the less volume and ran a slow 6mile before doing some strength endurance/conditioning. It was really good to do something different other than big endurance running. The first circuit I did involved 20 dumbell squats to press, farmers walk followed by 10 clap press ups. Did three circuits with no recovery in between. After a breather I did one more circuit of 20 dumbell swings, Burpees, chest press and lunges, two circuits. Short but sharp the strength work was but the change in intensity really motivated me. Infact I've got some DOMS (muscle soreness) in my chest today. I really think intensity is definetly the way forward with strength conditioning.

The last few days has also seen me stretching out for longer. I'll be the first to admit my flexibility work is not consistent. Some days I'll have a good go at it after a session but most of the time I just don't :s
How ever I think allowing myself just 5 mins a day would be about 35mins in a week which would be a start, 10 mins would be overan hour. It just seems to stretch out any soreness and help increase range of movement. I know this but I can't always be motivated to do it!

Today I ran 17 miles at about the pace I'm guessing for the ultra. After easy days it felt very comfortable but I'm definetly sticking to it as I've never run anywhere near 50miles before so who knows how I'll react later on. The more I train for longer than the 'norm' the more I start to realise the roll the brain has to play. I honestly think training the brain is as much a part of endurance as training has on physical fitness. Maybe a persons experiance is what trains the brain as such, so with that thought, training the brain may just come through going further in training. For example, two months back I didn't think 50m was possible, I wrote it off instantly. By now I think it's possible to complete it.Hard but possible. Why? It's not like I'm much fitter in two months but my brain is now telling me through repeatedly going far in training that I can do it. Switching the way I think seems like half the battle. Another example is PB's (Personal bests) They are there to be broken. If one day someone breaks a PB then does it again two days later then it's not because of your all of a sudden much fitter, so the brain must play a part. You know mentally by experiance that you can sustain a pace. Mentally you know you can run at x speed so next time you'r brain tells you let's run a little faster, so you usually do or at least come pretty close.

It's like everything in life, part of peoples limitations are mental and are only limited by experiance.

With that geeky blab over, and I'm sorry that last bit was pretty geeky I'll call it a day for now.

By the way I've just got some new electrolyte tablets, none caffine! Hope these are better.