Hello all you Do Gooders! I am back, back into marathon mode and continuing on my mission to conquer the marathon via my mind.
I thought it was rather timely and convenient of the Citius Mag podcast to interview Alex Hutchinson directly after my Part II of the subject (earlier in 2018).
Alex Hutchinson, besides being a successful runner in his own right, is a writer for Runners World, an author of ‘Endure’, and manager of Sweat Science, which operates in conjunction with Outside Magazine. In an interview on Citius Mag Podcast, shown below, Alex discusses the importance of positive self-talk. Thank you Alex, as you are a much more credible source than I am in terms of promoting this overlooked aspect of the sport. Around 42:30 in the interview he notes, in response to a question regarding advice he would give to his younger self, that he would absolutely focus more on sport psychology (Check out the interview and his page).
Let’s think about running for a second…
Now stay with me. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this topic, I thought long and hard about the idea that by overcoming excess emotional thought during a marathon, you may be able to remove or reduce the occurrence of negative self-talk and mental fatigue. In the same vein, we can potentially theoretically work to increase the chance that we can fill the void with positive self-talk, rather than a complete and utter mental purgatory. I’ve had some success with both of these practices, but as we all do, I still tend to fall into thought over other things…like how much by lungs burn at mile 19! And in relation…my calves, my quads, arms, shoulders, etc. How can purposeful thought (either negative, neutral, or positive) be used to improve efficiencies?
Some circles will go as far as calling this mindfulness, which, as much of a buzzword as it is, is the direction we want to head. What I think is important to avoid, however, is being mindful of, like, the clouds, the street vendors, or the celebrities.
DO NOT BE DISTRACTED BY THE BEAUTIFUL CELEBRITIES!!
Which distractions are worth it?
Let’s bring back the Mountain Mode Man from Part 1…there he is, what a man! He’s about to climb a mountain (the marathon), and that’s exciting for us! In line with our mental meditation, where we’re smooth and effortless and without the burden of mental strain, we want to try to be as smooth and effortless as possible physically. This makes sense, intuitively, but again, how often do we make a practice of noting our strain and putting a bit of attention into resolving it. ON TO THE MINDFULNESS!
During my easy runs, I make it a habit of thinking about what my body is actually doing. I find it incredible how autonomous running becomes when you do it for hours a day, every day, and for years and years and years, but if we’re autonomously and habitually straining and wasting effort, then we may overlook that on a day to day basis. Here’s the process I go through:
Awareness:
- How am I breathing? Is it smooth, is it rhythmic, and can I make it easier? When I race, I like to get my breathing into a 2 step : 1 breath rhythm, which makes me feel like I have better sense for the pace. Is there anything off, and can I just make it feel easier?
- How are my arms swinging? Are my shoulders tight, are they down low or near my ears, are they rotating, and are my arms efficiently swinging near my hips? Coach Jeff used to just say the word “Arms” to me at the start of every run. Did I hate it? Yes…but can this become a massive inefficiency, absolutely. Thanks Coach Jeff for this life lesson.
- How are my feet? Am I gripping with my toes, or am I just letting my foot roll naturally with the shoe, as designed?
- How are my legs? Does anything feel tight, am I pulling from my quads, utilizing my glutes, or straining through my back?
- How is everything else? Am I slouching or am I upright, are my hands clenched, are my god-damn ears wiggling uncontrollably!! It all matters!
Implementation:
I am admittedly neurotic about some aspects of running, but fixing simple inefficiencies seems to be an easy place to shave some seconds off, and every second counts. All runners will have a mix of good and bad regarding the above, so the goal should be to gain awareness of the strains where they exist. Imagine quantifying “strain.” Say 90% of the strain is natural marathon related strain from the steps accumulated after 20+ miles. Now, let’s say that 10% of the strain is related to inefficiency that you can actively work on. Under those conditions, if we improve our inefficiencies by 10%, then we can gain a 1% improvement in running economy. How much is this worth? Who knows…but every 1% matters, as is the goal of this blog. Gaining efficiency through minimal additional physical effort is how a semi-professional athlete with a busy work schedule will continue thrive.
An exercise to try: I’ll call it “forced relaxation” for now:
- Lay on your back
- Notice the level of general relaxation
- Identify a specific muscle
- Contract said muscle
- And fully release the muscle
- Repeat with every major muscle from your neck to your toes
This is called a progressive muscle relaxation, and ideally you’re more relaxed after this exercise than when you first took the position. We can do this when we run as well, or at least we’d like to.
While muscles will contract and lengthen together as designed, just take notice of each individual muscle. Try to progressively relax a muscle you think feels tight during the middle of your run, just as you could while lying on the floor. Does this have an effect on how you feel?
Practice:
Practice makes perfect…
Gaining a better awareness of my stride and how to control it is in itself part of my goal, but this, along with the process of relaxation is a work in process that is possibly never perfected.
Try it during your easy runs, for specific intervals in workouts, or the progressive muscle relaxation while hanging around. It may surprise you that something as obvious as relaxing your body is also easily achievable.
See if while you can maintain your pace and just float effortlessly for a 1 minute, completely relaxed and effortless. Try to make the tightness developing in your foot, your hip pain, or breathing just relax. Sometimes just being aware and making the decision is enough to have a noticeable impact in how you feel.
Conclusion
In Valencia and most recently in Barcelona, I focussed hard on re-relaxing my entire body after every single mile marker. Simply the act of momentarily dropping my shoulders, taking a deep breath, and relaxing my entire body seemed to make the next few minutes easier, which seemed to accumulate over the course of the race. Even if it just loosens the most surface level tensions, then I believe its worth the exercise and experimentation. These are the situations in which to think…
Do Good,
Young Austin