I wouldn’t say the second wind is something that happens suddenly.

In just about every race, I go through a bad patch where my mind is wandering and I’m not focused on what I’m doing. In a marathon, it may be very early in the race, usually at the six or seven mile point, but it can come as late as 20 or 21 miles.

I tell myself this is a bad patch, it’s happened before, and that everyone in the race is going to have one, too. This helps me mentally so I can just run through it. Then before I know it, I’m through it, I start to feel a second wind, and I start to feel stronger.

There’s never any elation with the second wind. It just seems as though without even noticing, I’m running stronger, breathing more easily, and my legs are feeling less tired.

When I get my second wind is when I get back into my rhythm. Then I’m very focused on the race, what’s going on within the race and around me.

A lot of it has to do with just being able to concentrate. When I concentrate, I realize I’m not thinking about being tired, but instead, I’m focusing on the race.

A second wind usually happens once or twice, but generally it’s one time in the race where you have a period of mental and physical weakness.

I’m not sure how much is psychological and how much is physiological. But it generally happens just once and then, when you get through that, you forget about it until after the race is almost over and then you remember, "Whoa, at seven miles I felt really lousy."

Nancy Ditz is a long-distance runner and Olympian.