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It is with the greatest pleasure that I introduce to you one of the greatest extreme endurance athletes in the world.

Marshall Ulrich, 55, is the only person in the world to complete the Triple Crown of Extreme Sports: world class ultra runner, record setting adventure racer, and Seven Summits mountaineer. His specialty is competing in extreme conditions including desert and adventure racing, as well as mountaineering.

Marshall has:

• Completed over 116 ultra marathons averaging over 100 miles each.
• Completed 12 expedition length adventure races, including all nine Eco Challenge adventure races – something only two other people in the world have done.
• Reached the summit of each of the Seven Summits, including Mount Everest, all on first attempts.
• Crossed Death Valley a record 19 times, including a solo and 586-mile quad crossing.
• Won the Badwater 146-mile race from minus 282 feet to the 14,494-foot summit of Mount Whitney a record 4 times
• Finished a record 13 Badwater146 ultra marathons
• Completed the Leadville Trail 100 and Pikes Peak Marathon on the same weekend – a feat no one else in the world has achieved.
• Completed all six 100-mile trail races, finishing top-10 in five of them, in the same year – and was the first person ever to do so (in 1989).
• Won two silver medals in the national 24-hour championships, with a PR of 142 miles.

I submitted a number of questions to Marshall and he was kind enough to take time away from his very busy schedule and try and help the recruits who are getting ready for BUD/S

Hi Scott,

Sorry this has taken me so long. I'm going to reply to your questions first, after compiling them from all of your emails, then go into a more detailed "ten commandments of endurance" that I concocted just for the Navy Seals. I need to refine the Ten Commandments, but this is a start.

#1 Hell Week is five days long with about five hours sleep total. They are pushed to the limits and many quit…

They have to get it in their minds that quitting is not an option.

#2 How did you developed your amazing mental abilities that enable you to accomplish so many incredible feats. Do you feel as though this was a GOD given ability or is this something you were able to work on in your training?

I can't tell you if this is a God given gift (for sure), I suspect not. I believe that it is a learned behavior. As a boy, I grew up on a farm and we were not coddled. We were expected to feed cows, put up hay, straw, clean up the milking barn, and do crappie work etc. Nothing was above us doing. For my brother and I we would make it a contest, take for instance, who could bail and stack the most hay in a day? We would have to do this 7 days a week and not at our convenience, but when the dew was on the hay leaves and this normally was just before and for a short time after dawn. Sleeping happened when it fit into that schedule. We thought of it all as normal, nothing extraordinary.

#3 BUD/S involves intense physical activity over prolonged duration, when recruits are at their weakest physically they have to be at the strongest mentally to resist the temptation to ring the bell and quit, they are very tired, cold, sandy and wet and the notion of a warm shower and meal are a powerful force to resist.

As one of my racing buddies always said when things got crappy during the Eco Challenges. It's all (just) a test. I always took comfort in that statement as it became a challenge to perceiver. Having him say that also meant that we were all in "it" (the event and suffering) together. And more recently with the fundraising that I have done and do, I need to have that purpose beyond myself to achieve—transcend my physical and strengthen the mental by associating it for a higher purpose and existence. The Navy Seals are much the same—they are fighting for our country—that is the higher purpose for them (possibly but not limited to). The bell is put in front of them as a temptation…The men have to think, what is the worst that can happen…Will I die, get injured, ect… it is just a test. Remember that they were the ones who put themselves in the position that they are in—they have no one else to blame. It's okay to feel sorry for yourself for an instant, but let that go and have a talk with yourself about who is responsible for putting yourself where you are—the answer is, it's you/me.

#4 What training techniques do you use to sharpen your mental strength and determination and can you think of any techniques that recruits could implement to help prepare for extreme endurance event such as BUD/S?

Ways that I talk myself into doing an extreme event is to identify the event, don't think about it too much, put myself in a position to do it, and then simply, do it. Remember to live in the moment; it is a journey and a process with ups and downs. When they are down, know and have confidence that they will survive and come out the other end stronger and ready to take on even bigger challenges. They must not look at the whole picture and mind fuck themselves out of doing. Be there and learn how to suffer, but that isn't enough, learn how to suffer silently and with dignity. Keep negative thoughts to yourself about quitting, it can be contagious and you will align yourself with those who have similar thoughts. Learn to align yourself with those that you can feed off their positive supportive thoughts and support one another.

#5 I had recommended extended training run on 400 meter track where you could stop every lap and the temptation to stop would very great and as such they could learn to ignore the little voices in their heads telling them all the reasons to stop, this is stupid, I hate tracks, etc.

This might be helpful; I think that it would depend on the individual. If you do that I would not make it for more than 12 to 24 hours, as they will need to recover from it. It wouldn't matter if they walked or ran, just so they were on the track moving. Maybe a prescribed break of five minutes and hour and they could accumulate time if they missed a 5 minute break.

#6 What thought processes are going through your mind when you are very tired, say during quad, high up on Everest or on any of the other incredible things you have done, do you hear voices giving you reasons to stop and if so how do you ignore them?

One of the most important things is to realize that there WILL be an end to it, and to just focus in the moment. There will be highs and lows, but the lows will pass. Have them keep their eye on the ball, but not to think too far in advance, that will make the task overwhelming. Just focus on one minute, one hour, and one day at a time. Also, they are not alone (as I mentioned before) there are others there with them going through the same challenges.

#7 On those days when your body just isn't responding the way you want it to--not performing up to par--how do you deal with it? Is it better to take a day off, or to push through as best you can?

I've done it both ways and my take on this is this--when I pushed through, it may have served a mental purpose, i.e. making a person tougher, but I don't think so as it reinforces a negative feeling that is associated with physical weakness, I believe it is better to be kind to yourself, admit that you will have bad days and not dwell on those negative thoughts. Certainly taking a day off will not take away from the fitness level and mentally it's okay to let yourself off the hook. Save that mental toughness for the real test, which is Hell Week when there is NO quitting allowed. Don't give up on yourself.

#8 Do you feel as though you always had that intense desire to succeed {mental strength} or was it something that you developed {strengthened} over the years?

I do think that is how you are raised and preserve hardship. I've always had a desire to succeed and test myself. Do things that no one could have thought could be done. What it really boils down to is one's ability to deal with hardship and suffering. A person must be willing to suffer and handle the hardship. I think that using endurance events as stepping stones is useful as it builds a persons confidence. Start small and keep building. The small events will help with the mental, in that you know that you have accomplished/finished an event which leads to longer and tougher achievements.

#9 When you are physically exhausted what do you draw upon that keeps you going?

One of the things that keeps me going is knowing that there is an end to it and a reward (sense of accomplishment) at the end. And I never give up hope. I see that in the scheme of it all that I am my own worst enemy, or on the flip side, friend. Except that we all have weaknesses. It is about working with and overcoming those (mostly perceived in our own mind) weaknesses.

#10 What training methods do you use to develop your mental toughness?

I use visualization a lot. I focus on how it feels when I am doing/feeling well in training, and then I can go back to that place when things get tough and remind myself that it is just a low point. I also daydream about how it will feel to succeed and sometimes at night I will go to bed thinking about the upcoming event and fall asleep dreaming about it and seeing myself doing it. It takes practice to do this, but it is possible. And then the training helps get you were you need to be mentally as you are familiar with the suffering. Look at suffering as an old friend. Suffering gives you a benchmark to gauge things by and will allow you to live life more fully and appreciate the little finer things (in life).

#11 Lastly, how are you preparing for something as incredible as the across the country run?

The training and consistency with the training is the key. It sets the stage for what I am about to do. And I have to learn to not dwell upon the negative and focus on the positive within those workouts. I mentally prepare knowing that initially, it will be very hard and I will want to quit. I must learn to except that fact, but not be overwhelmed by it. Then a week to 10 days into the Trans Continental, my body will start adapting to the running—the mind goes along with this. It is the toughest to start. Your seals must know that the first two days will be the toughest, the third day they will start to accept their fate and from then on, its just putting their heads down and grinding it out.

#12 This question is from me ...... I was really impressed by your performance last year at Badwater. With your busy schedule it must have been darn near impossible to prepare for the race and when you started you were really struggling. What did you draw from that enabled you to rally so strongly and just start passing every by, when word got to us that you were coming up behind us on switchbacks I had to go back out and pace Lisa to prevent her from trying to hold you off, which I knew was impossible. I thought it was amazing that you rallyed like that.

When I was down and some thought out, I know that it is just a low point and that having the confidence that it would pass, helped immensely. And I do get very competitive and that simply seems to be how I am wired. Seeing someone in front of me allows me to set a goal. When I pass that person, I focus on the next and so on and so on.

#12 One more from me ..... what was going through your mind as you approached the summit of Everest?

When we started out that morning there was a 30 mile an hour wind. There were two Italians with one Sherpa and us two Americans with one Sherpa. No one else from the North or the South side bothered to even get out of there tent. So we were holding our breath until we hit the third step (just under 29,000 feet). The sky cleared and for two hours we had our window. It was just then I turned to Sherpa Pemba and said "we're going to make it aren't we". He said yes, before that we both knew without saying anything that it was too soon to ask that question as we were hoping against odds. When I got to the top I was overwhelmed with mostly one emotion—gratitude.

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TEN COMANDMENTS of ENDURANCE

Expect a journey and a battle
Focus on the present and set intermediate goals
Don't dwell on the negative
Transcend the physical
Accept your fate
Have confidence that you will succeed
Know that there will be an end
Suffering is okay
Be kind to yourself
Quitting is not an option