“The more discomfort an athlete expects, the more she can tolerate, and the more discomfort she can tolerate, the faster she can go,” Matt Fitzgerald wrote about bracing in “How Bad Do You Want It: Mastering the Psychology of Mind Over Muscle.” It’s also just smart. I made sure my hydration and fueling plan matched the extra strain heat and humidity would put on my body (and I set a new personal record by 70 minutes).

I do this all the time in my everyday life: acknowledging how something I’m about to face — a tense conversation, going to the grocery store before a snowstorm — is going to stink, and do what I can to prepare for the experience. I hate going to the dentist, so I brought headphones to my last cleaning. Even though I didn’t end up using them (they showed HGTV on an overhead TV screen — does any property flop in “Flip or Flop”?), at least I knew I was prepared in case I needed the help.

Mindfulness

I do this most by focusing on my breathing. Not only does this help me physically at the end of a fast interval or a grueling race, but it also helps me mentally as well. At the end of the 2016 New Jersey Marathon, where I knew I was within sight of a new personal record, and I screamed down the Long Branch Boardwalk hoping I could keep it together until I crossed the finish line, I focused on my breathing. That helped flatten out my mind and acknowledge any doubts about reaching my goal — then flick them away.

When people can watch experiences come and go instead of grabbing them and allowing those thoughts to spin out into anxiety, they can shift their focus to their performance, according to Keith Kaufman, a Washington, D.C.-area psychologist who spoke on mindfulness in sports at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention in 2017.

“For example, an athlete could identify that ‘right now, I’m having the thought that I can’t finish this race,’ so rather than reflecting an objective truth, it’s seen as just a thought,” he said.