I've developed some tips and tricks for keeping my mind off my pain and fatigue and on other things in an attempt to make my runs go by faster, and keep my thoughts from returning to the ever-so-frequent "can I stop now? can I stop now? can I walk now? can I quit now?". I first noticed that when I trained with my sister on my visit to Vancouver our miles went by so fast. We were talking and counting miles together and I wasn't completely focused on my body and my muscles. Then as Greg and I started training longer distances together I confirmed that having a partner or a group is much more distracting than hitting the road alone.
So here are a few of my mental tricks that may be applied to any form of exercise. Hope some of them help!
1. Music! Of course this is a given for most people, but beware: not all running music is created equally. I was first drawn to really exciting, pump-you-up songs, but quickly realized that they took all my energy as I raw raw rawed my way through my first 2 miles. The key is to find mellow songs that are catchy to keep your heart rate low, but not put you to sleep. Some of my new favorites are the new Lights album, Postal Service, David Crowder Band, Owl City and even Sia.
2. Friend! As I mentioned already, going out there with someone else is great for keeping your mind off yourself. Sometimes I even imagine a teather tying me to Greg and when I'm feeling strong, I can mentally set the pace and "pull" him, and when he's got more spunk than me, I imagine he's "pulling" me along and keeping me in the groove. We also constantly negociate goals and keep eachother accountable to them. We'll agree that we will run the next mile, and then give yourselves a little walking break and with him there, I'm less likely to cheat on that.
3. Food! I think about all the yummy things I'm going to bake or make when I get home. I often think of the Starbucks treat I'll reward myself with, or what I have in the fridge to make a delicious dinner out of. I personally can think of food all day so before I know it, 10 minutes might have passed.
4. My Body! Believe it or not, thinking of spicific muscle groups and changes that are happening in my body can keep me motivated. I'll think of all the work my legs are doing and how the muscles hurt because they're getting stronger and next run they'll be even better and faster. Or I think of my abs and focus on using them to propell me forward and visualize the muscles working for my health and speed.
5. Hot Bath! I love coming home, cooling down and then soaking my body in a big hot bubble bath. I'll visualize the water relaxing me and remind myself that "this pain will end, and in just 45 minutes (or whatever) I'll be soaking my body".
6. Mantras! They sound cheesy, or Budist or whatever, but they actually work if you pick one that means something to YOU. I found a lot of the mantras I saw online didn't work for me and I knew I needed to find my own. As I shared once before, mine are "If you ain't dying, you ain't trying". and "I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me STRENGTH". and "this too shall pass, it won't go on forever, soon I will be done". Find what works for you and tattoo it in your mind.
7. Break It Down! Take your distance and break it up into small chunks that you know you can easily do. Wether you decide to break it up by time, "I'll run 5 minutes and walk 1" or distance "I'll run unitl mile 7 and then walk a half a mile", breaking up your run will pass time and keep your mind working. Plus, if you're slow at math like me then it really kills a lot of time to check your watch and figure our your distance and pace and expected time of completion. I literally started doing 10 seconds of running and 50 seconds of walking and you wouldn't believe how quickly those 10 running seconds seemed to creep up on me. I've even broken it down by "run to stop sign, walk to corner" and I often use this one speed limit sign on my regular route as an imaginary finish line and push myself to my pretend finish.
8. Rewards! I'm not an extremely externally motivated person, but I know some people like to say, "when I can run a 10K I will gift myself some new clothes". Whatever you kind of want to get, but don't have a great excuse for, use that thing to push you forward.
9. Gas Tank Trick! I came up with this when I kept reading about "keeping your fuel for the end". I try and visualize my entire run as a full gas tank and use my energy as gas. The goal is to empty it slowly so you're sure to have some at the end. The longer the run, the slower I want my heart rate at the beginning and the easier I am on myself. The shorter the distance, the more fuel I can burn through and really push myself.
I hope these come in handy for some people. I think I'll need to use a combination of all of them for my 1/2 marathon that's coming up in just 3 weeks!!!!!
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