Running, Mothering and Mental Fitness
Running IS HARD. Why would anyone do it?
I have said before that I started running because I am impatient. Not that I am fast and so running would get me somewhere faster…no sir! My impatience was in the calorie burn of exercise. I wanted to do it {lose weight} fast so running seemed like the answer. My running for calorie burn happened in spurts; as in it wasn’t a lifestyle but a problem solver for the first years that I attempted it…I’d say a good seven years my attempts to run were sporadic at best.
Once I really fell in love with running. {You can read about that run here and it’s a good read.;} I found myself asking, “I wonder why I am doing this?” And NOT because I didn’t love it because, as you know, I did/do but really was curious about why. The thought occurred to me that maybe my life was not hard or challenging enough so I had to come up with self-created opposition. There was a hint of truth there and I knew it but it wasn’t spot on. What I came up with recently is that I think, for me, distance running has become an opportunity for me to show myself what I am capable of. It allows me to make the connection that…if I can do the “hard” of running then I can do the other hards of life.
Running is good practice in feeling all of the feels and moving along anyway. There are so many life lessons taught on the route or trail that the analogies are endless. You know this if you know a runner. For today’s post, I want to focus on one aspect of running and that is MENTAL FITNESS. My husband sent along a running article that I devoured. I will link it here. It’s a long read so I will share a few quotes and pointers for you .
This quote was not a huge surprise for me as I have experienced the desire to stop running and then done a full body self scan/evaluation and decided that I am actually perfectly fine to continue running. I’d say something like:
How is my breathing/lungs/oxygen? check.
How are my legs/feet? check.
Does anything on my body physically feel like I need to stop? The answer was, NO.
I’d then keep running.
I mean, don’t get me wrong…sometimes the pebble in my shoe or the laces not tied just right or the water bottle coming loose etc was enough to stop me but if I am being totally honest…so rarely was/is my stopping because of physical fatigue. {Obviously this is after you have gotten yourself to a level of running fitness.}
Another good quote. No big surprise that sprinters need to be in top physical shape but those who want to go the distance, their time is best spent working on their brains and mental fitness.
The thought just occurred to me that when someone asks me if being a mother of little kids was harder or being a mom of teenagers is harder…it is just a different hard. Babies are like training for a sprint…real hard on your body; as the kids grow the challenges {on me} were more emotionally taxing and now that I am on to adult children…give me all the mindset brain work. In all honesty, the love I have of running is similar but trumped by my deep love of mothering. Nothing has brought more true love and joy than my motherhood journey. I realize the level of joy and satisfaction I have discovered through being a mother is directly related to the difficulties I have encountered in the same role. Not that different from distance running.{Happy Mother’s Day week!! didn’t even plan that.}
So, what do we do to cultivate the mind toughness needed to succeed as a distance runner? Mariska van Sprundel, who authored the article provided pointers and I referenced several ideas below.
Specifically, she pointed out choosing music that will be supportive of your individual pace or desired race pace.
So important to have an idea of what you want to accomplish. Are you going for a PR and if so, will it be a negative split? Do you want to just enjoy the run and feel good?
She mentioned that if you have a chance to review your course, as in drive it and experience it beforehand, or even run it, that running a route you are familiar with requires less mental energy.
Having others available to cheer you on is always a plus. One fun thing I do is that I live at the top of a pretty steep hill so many of my runs end uphill and I have found that if I imagine my neighbors out cheering me on that it makes that last elevation climb that much more doable and brings a smile to my face, every time.
Preparing for a challenge would be telling yourself, of course it is going to be hard. The author also suggests even going to worst case scenarios so that you can say on race day, “Well it wasn’t THAT tough!” I know for me that by the time I run the race, I have done so many long runs in training that the event IS actually easier than the training runs have been.
Training your brain to combat fatigue happens on the long training runs but can also be simulated with hill sprints or tempo runs.
This one was interesting to me. It makes sense. So, no chess games pre race. {I don’t even know how to play chess…it seems so taxing} or don’t jump from a heavy load of studying or work into your race. I also think this could include preparing yourself mentally for the morning of race day. aka. know where you are going to park, have your nutrition planned, allow yourself plenty of time so that you aren’t having to solve a lot of problems before setting out on the course.
So, whether you are training as a distance runner or going the distance in life, mental fitness, mindfulness, brain work is paramount!
The studying I have done on the way our brain works and the self awareness created by the coaching tools I use have literally transformed me into someone who chooses the hard not to punish myself but to thoroughly relish in the growth and illumination found in an evolutionary life. I KNOW…long sentence but oh! so true.
If this message about running, mothering or life resonates with you, feel free to sign up for a FREE call with me where we can explore how I could be one of the “others” on the sideline of your race cheering you on.
The right support can make all the difference:)
xoKathleen
