PSYCH 101: Associative and Dissociative Mental Techinques

Lately, I've been running a lot more with music. I feel like my pace is faster and the time passes a lot more quickly. This got me to thinking, though, about how this might affect my mental preparedness.

What should I think about when I run? Should I "space off," think about other things and use music to distract me, or should I think about what I am doing? Spacing off is said to be dissociating. That is, I am disconnecting my physical self from my mental self. When I am thinking about my running, I am associating or maintaining a connection between my physical and mental selves.

Some research shows that the dissociative approach is better because it makes the runs seem to go by so much more quickly. However, since my run is usually the "highlight" of my day, then I may not want to "miss" it by dissociating. Also, I am supposed to be training both my body and my mind and if I'm dissociating, my mind is no longer a part of the training. Dissociating while I run may only train my body.

Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer recommends the associative approach. In fact, it recommends throwing out the ipod (although it calls it a walkman because it's such an old book) and never running with it again.

However, another running book that I consult from time-to-time, The Lore of Running, says that in general, competitive runners do best if they associate during races but that novice runners do best if they dissociate. It also suggests that dissociation is easiest when you are running at relatively low intensity but as intensity increases or fatigue develops, the mind starts associating naturally, especially when the run is either so hard or so long that pain intrudes.

I'm so torn. I think I may try my Tuesday morning 3-miler without the Ipod and see how I do. I really would like to improve my focus and do more of the "mental" part of my training. I have a feeling I'm gonna need it when the 26.2 mile day gets here!