I've had a two week break due to a chest infection, which has been really frustrating because January was the start of my training plan for the Ultra Trail South West in June. I'm now two weeks behind schedule, but I'm relaxed about it. Being smarter than the average bear I have built some slack into the schedule in case I get injured or ill. I just didn't expect to need it so soon. I think the rest has done me some good, because when I got out there I was flying. Well I would have been had it not been for a little bit of excess weight put on during Christmas and over the last few weeks.
What I missed the most, when I was not running, was the mental space it provides. Space to switch off, to think, to daydream, to plan, to think what if, to let the brain idle and lots, lots more. Most of the time this just happens, but at least once a week I have a mental session. No, I don't mean run like crazy until I almost drop dead, that's Tuesdays when I do hill reps. What I mean is actually practice some mental techniques.
When I start my mental run I warm up as usual with 10-15 minutes of gentle running. I then pick up the pace and concentrate of my performance, think about posture and what my body is doing. I get totally absorbed in it, so it is something I do on a route I know well and that is safe. Being smarter than the average bear I stay away from the traffic, the river and the cliffs. This last for about 10-15 minutes then I slacken the pace a bit and relax and think about nothing, if something comes into my head I tie it to a balloon so it can float free. That takes up another 10-15 minutes. I now have a choice I can either think about something specific, to solve a problem or plan something. Or I can just coast along and see what pops up. This bit can be 15 minutes or on a long run it can be quite extended.
If I have any great thoughts or ideas I try to anchor them in my mind before picking up the pace for another blast, where I concentrate on my running, I think the term people use is associate. The final 10 minute is a gentle cool down jog thinking about nothing in particular.
Sometimes to help me through the process I think of myself as a car (yes a bit mental or even childish). To pick the pace up, I drop down into third, accelerate and when I have gone back up the gears, I keep my foot hard on the accelerator. To slacken the pace, lift the foot off a bit, stay in top gear and cruise along. If I'm trying to solve a problem I might vary the pace a bit, even slip into neutral and cruise along, just like a tea-break at work.
Hills are good when you are in car mode; you can just chug up slowly or race up. Sometimes I imagine myself to be a big lorry, grinding up the hill in a very low gear or I'm a Subaru Impreza speeding up with high revs and lots of noise. My favourite is a Nissan Skyline, effortlessly with grace and style flowing up even the steepest hill.
Go on engage your brain, have some fun and enjoy a mental run.
Great post! One of the things I love most about running is the oportunity it gives me to empty my brain of the days stress and nonsense and just let it wander or ponder !
Great idea allocating a session a week purely to a structured form of 'mental training', can give a purpose to what some may use as a recovery or 'junk' miles session. Running meditation.
Glad to hear you are back up and running. Great post. I often find my mind wandering whilst out running. I like the idea of 'mental exercises' - good practice for ultras as well, in case you need to get the mind back on board and firing on all cylinders during a 'down' period.
Yes I think mental strength is perhaps more important than running ability for ultras, but of course you still need to be pretty fit.
I have always felt mental purpose whilst running helps run to be better, easier?, Personally I focus on a problem, a goal but what seems to work best is a gripe, annoyance - the `strength` fuel from anger deflected into energy for sustaining a run either distance, pace or speed.