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!

25% There!

After today's long run, I have completed 25% of the 16 weeks of training. Of course, this is just the "official" marathon training. I haven't counted how many weeks since I actually started walking and then woggling and then jogging, so it's actually much more than 25%, but I have COMPLETED 25% of the OFFICIAL marathon training. It's really hard to believe.

It's hard to think about how much I've already accomplished and how much better physically I'm feeling. I'm also feeling more positive about the runs and my ability to complete them. Sometimes (just sometimes), I feel as if I could run forever. It just feels SOOO good to be out there training. The runs are hard, but I feel like the queen of the earth when I finish them.

It feels so good to be physically feeling what I wrote about here in relation to achievement and motivation. Achievement is behavior in action, increasing motivation is the cognitive consequence, which in turn inspires more behavior.

And I've felt this progression every week. My long run (achievement) makes me feel so amazing and proud and that feeling caries me through (motivates me for) my Tuesday and Wednesday runs and then my Tuesday and especially Wednesday (because it is longer) runs carry me through my Friday run and then before I know it, it's time for another long run.

This week I was, again, very nervous for my long run. I think it is because I've been obsessive up until this point about going to bed SUPER early on Saturday night (like 8:30pm) so that I'm ready to go on Sunday morning. This week I wasn't able to do that, and so I was worried that it would really affect my run. I woke up and was instantly hit by a wall of anxiety about the run. I overcame this by thinking about the fact that I felt rested and that HONESTLY, once I started running, I knew that I wasn't going to stop. Once I'd started, I was going to move my body for more than two hours, and once I reached 8 miles I'd stop. The run wasn't hard . . . . the start was.

On my run today, I was thinking about something interesting regarding distance. Initially, I considered every run long. It was hard to get going because of how far the miles seemed. Five, seven and eight are BIG numbers when you are talking miles (or at least I still think so)! I was intimidated by the distance, but as the mileage increases on the Sunday runs, only those distances not yet run continue to feel "far." Any mileage that I've already accomplished and surpassed, no longer qualifies.

Now, only the first couple of miles (especially on Sunday) seem long, tough, a real effort; once I'm by those it's like I get into a grove and start to relax. I think about other things, or I focus on my feet, my breathing, my arms moving, the act of running . . . anything except the number of miles. And the miles just slip away under my feet. It's like I'm not even aware of them.

Often, it isn't until I near the end of the run that I find myself thinking in terms of distance, and then it is to report to myself how much is left. But instead of saying, "I've still got a mile to go," I find myself thinking, "Only one to go." Only, there was a time when I couldn't have imagined doing one mile; now, I'm saying, "ONLY one mile." It's shocking to hear yourself define as "only" what you used to think would kill you, but once you've gone further than that it impacts how everything else is interpreted. Pretty cool.

Physically, my hip muscles were better today. They've been aching on the long runs. However, the last two weeks I felt like I finished the long runs STRONG. Today, I really struggled the last mile, and my legs were very tight, preventing me from finishing as fast as I would have liked.

I tried eating a little more breakfast before I left the house today. I had a piece of whole wheat toast with fresh peanut butter and half a banana sliced on top. Honestly, the only difference I noticed with eating was that I didn't get ravenous quite as fast once I was finished running. It's hard to say if it affected my running other than that.

I was super happy with my mileage this week. The Wednesday 5-miler really took it out of me, and I struggled through my day at work. I COULD move my "medium" run to Thursday because it's my day off, and I wouldn't have to be as functional for the rest of the day but part of me really feels like I need that extra day to rest up for the next long run. I think I'll see how it goes this week with doing my 5 miler on Wednesday and then go from there.

This week- 20 TOTAL miles!

Next week-Double digits on the long run (10 miles)!

Wish me luck!

Why a Marathon?

I wanted to remind myself why I want to run a marathon. Here are a couple of quotes I've run across that have described it nicely:

"Training for and running a marathon is not a single event; rather, it is an experience. It is a discovery of self that will forever change our perceptions, perspectives, priorities and possibilities. You will meet yourself at what you thought were the boundaries of your potential and endurance and watch in awe as they evaporate to reveal only open expanse. To know that the only boundaries in life are those which we create ourselves in a discovery which can not be taught - it must be experienced. For once you have seen the view from the mountain top, living a life of voluntary blindness is no longer an option."

"The act of standing at a start line 26.2 miles from a finish line is the purest metaphor for living an active life. If you keep moving forward, if you keep putting one foot in front of the other - in the marathon and in life - you will see yourself through to the end."

And last but not least . . . an Adidas ad I saw in Runner's World this month pretty well summed it up for me . . .

"Because I'm loving every wonderful, horrible minute of this!"

Week 3 Marathon Training, Check!

I've come to really enjoy the LAZY Sunday afternoon that is a requirement when someone who is a novice runner like myself, does a LONG run early Sunday morning. It really doesn't feel like much of an option to do much more than blog or catch up on Oprah, but even though it doesn't feel physically possible to do anything else, the laziness feels EARNED.

Here's how Sunday played out today:

1. Wake up at 6am (I got so lucky because I set my alarm for 6am but then accidently unplugged the alarm clock before I went to sleep last night. Somehow, I rolled over and realized that I couldn't see the clock and when I got up to check and see what time it was, it was 5:52am! Lucky!)
2. Get dressed. Yesterday, I treated myself to this new running shirt which added to the excitement.
3. Get myself and Bella ready for run, eating a light breakfast of raspberries and walnuts.
4. Drive to predetermined location to begin long run (Cooper and Ray).
5. Start long run with Bella (this week I started before Kevin so we'd finish closer to the same time)
6. See Kevin along the way (he caught me at my halfway point) for some encouragement and a little "pick-me-up"
7. Spend next 1.5 miles running while trying to wrestle with Bella who LOVES Kevin SO much and can't understand why he is running ahead of us
8. Complete long run and celebrate with Kevin who is chilling in the back of his truck
9. Drive home with air conditioning blasting on Bella so she doesn't die of heat exhaustion
10. Walk directly to backyard and instruct Bella to jump in pool
11. Dry off Bella
12. While beginning to realize how covered in salt I am, have discussion with Rick and Dave (his brother) about my run and how it went.
13. Take much needed shower and marvel at how jello-like my legs feel
14. With "runner's high" still in full effect, drive to bagel shop for breakfast because I'm ravenous!!
15. Stop at grocery store on way home to get our grocery's for the week
16. Return home and collapse in complete exhaustion.
17. Watch DVRed shows.

Today, Bella, Kevin and I ran 7 miles!!

We are having a record-breaking weather streak here in Phoenix (the temperatures are back in the 100s), so I started the run earlier in the morning this week so it wouldn't get too hot. Today's run went very smoothly and I felt as if it was even easier than last week for some reason. I felt like my pace was a little bit faster and I really never hit the "jelly legs" feel like I did last week.

There was that 1.5 miles of frustrating running when Bella thought she'd been shot out of a cannon and had to follow Kevin. She pulled on the leash for a REALLY long time and during that time, I concluded that it would be my last long run with Bella because I was sooooo annoyed that something that was so hard was being made so much harder by my dog. However . . . hang on . . . before you tell me what a horrible dog owner I am for giving up on Bella part way through her marathon training, let me tell you that as I was completing mile 7 today, I looked down at Bella who was still faithfully trotting by my side with her tongue half way to the ground and was overcome by:

1. How proud I was of her (I know, she's a dog but she's way cool, and she ran 7 miles)
2. How proud I was to have given her 7 miles of exercise
3. And of course, how proud I was of myself for just having RUN 7 miles

So, unless something drastic happens, she'll remain my running partner, even though she sometimes doesn't make things easy because even with the added difficulty she triples my pride in my running accomplishments.

One thing I think made the run feel easier today is that about a month ago I got an Ipod shuffle.

Why, do you ask, is this the first day I've ever run with the Shuffle if I've had it for a month?

It is because I think that iTunes is the most user-unfriendly, poorly designed thing I've come across a long time, possibly ever. Words cannot adequately describe how much I hate iTunes. Let's just say that I have screamed more obscenities at the computer in the last 2 weeks trying to transfer a playlist from my old Ipod to my new Shuffle, than you might have known existed. I finally conquered the beast last night and made a decent playlist on the Shuffle. It's full of Techno, Electronica and a few good rap songs thrown into the mix as well. I LOVED my Shuffle mix this morning. It seemed like there was always a great song on when I needed a little energy boost. The Shuffle was awesome--so light and so easy to control as I ran. I'm still not in love with my headphones but I'll work on that some other time.

I ran 18 miles this week, and I feel great!

PSYCH 101: Performance and Anxiety

These last two weeks, I've been experiencing some anxiety about both the "medium" and "long" runs for the week. The night before, I feel kind of irritable (poor Rick), and my heart races a little bit before I fall asleep.

With the "Medium" length run (which has been 4 miles these past two weeks), I think it's mostly because it is on a work morning (usually Wednesday), and I'm anxious that I have to get it done in time to get ready for work and then also semi-function through the rest of my day despite my run. With the "long" run (which has been 6 and 7 miles these past two weeks), it's of course because it is a distance that I haven't run yet, and I'm nervous about how hard it is going to be.

It really hasn't been THAT bad, but it got me to thinking . . .

What is the relationship between performance and anxiety? That is, do we generally perform at our best when we are very anxious and excited or do we perform at our best when we are not at all stressed and excited?

The answer is, neither one. We usually perform at our best when we are moderately excited, that is, sort of in between caring too much and not caring enough. This is an issue that has received a great deal of attention over the years from psychologists interested in human performance. It has been studied a lot and, although there are some situations in which it seems best to be very excited, an endurance activiity like training for and running a marathon is not one of them. It has been fairly well established that we do our best at endurance activities under conditions of rather low anxiety.

What this means for me is that it will be in my best interest to avoid getting very worked up for my training runs and to especially stay calm on marathon day!

When you get highly anxious, your sympathetic nervous system (think adrenaline) becomes activated and this results in all sorts of unhelpful (for marathoning) physiological changes in your body. Examples include increases in heart rate, blood pressure and loss of body fluids through excessive sweating and urination, and none of these will help you perform well in training for and running the marathon, although they are great if you need a burst of strength for a very short period of time.

So far, I've tried to use the nervous energy to make sure all my equipment is adequately prepared for the next day's run. As far as feeling anxious as I'm falling asleep, I've just been acknowledging the anxiety and then trying to RELAX it away. Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer gives several good ideas for visualization exercises that can diminish the anxiety. Maybe I'll work on those sometime too.

Here's the link to one of the articles I found while researching anxiety and athletic performance.

Brown Monkey Update

Just wanted to report that I haven't had a Diet Coke in 72 hours. I HAVEN'T given up caffeine and I haven't given up carbonation but I HAVE given up Diet Coke, for now. Some times are easier than others. Today at lunch was the hardest point so far, but each time a resist, it makes it easier to resist the next temptation.

I'm hoping that it's really going to help my running. I'll let you know how it's going. . .

First Official Long Run!

Today has been an amazing Sunday so far! Bella and I ran 6 miles!

I am totally thrilled to have succeeded in completing the long run today because since I missed a whole week while I was in Portugal, I've had a ton of anxiety about what it would mean for my training schedule. Since I completed all of my mileage and all of my runs this week right on schedule, I'd say I'm back on track, and it feels great!!

Today was the last day of "Week 2" Marathon Training. Bella and I headed out to the canal about 7am this morning. The cool part about today is that I met Kevin at the canal so we could run "together." "Together" means that we started and stopped at the same place but didn't run the same pace. In fact, we passed each other once on his way back (and traded Ipods which was really fun) and then he had to wait for over 30 minutes for me to complete my distance back at our original starting place. But still, it was sorta "together" and so much fun!

I ran out of water today. It wasn't a huge deal because I didn't run out until I was just about done, but I totally have to figure out water/hydration before my next long run. Actually, I do think I have it figured out but just didn't effectively employ my plan today. For the long runs, either:

• I will get another waistpack to carry small things of water in or
• Rick has offered to bike ahead of me and leave water along the canal path.

Which brings me to something else AMAZING that happened today. Literally JUST as I was finishing my 6 miles, Rick and his super cool brother Dave (who is visiting from Alaska) came from behind me on bicycles to surprise and support me! It was the greatest! Then I got to celebrate the fact that I ran 6 miles with Kevin (who was patiently waiting at his truck for me) and Rick and Dave! How's that for a cheering squad?

When we got back to the house, we made yummy breakfast burritos smoothered in green chile!
I really don't think this Sunday can get any better!

Portugal

Portugal was amazing!

We explored the western coast, toured several castles (every town, even the little towns, have castles), went wine tasting in the Douro Valley, learned all about port and drank plenty of yummy port in Oporto, drove through miles and miles of cork and olive trees in the southern part near Evora, soaked up the big-city ambiance of Lisbon and while our pace was feverish at times, I am so pleased with all we saw and so lucky to take such an incredible trip with my parents.

It's not even so much the things we saw as the experiences we had that made it so great. Sometimes, even just the simple task of negotiating a foreign language to order a simple breakfast, can turn into a huge obstacle and make for some good stories. For one week, every meal we ordered, every time we needed to find a bathroom or ask for directions and every time we had to look for a place to stay, we struggled to speak just enough Portuguese for the locals to take pity on us and help us find what we needed.

I think the best parts of the trip were when we were sitting outdoors (perhaps in a cafe) and watching a day in the life of someone who lived there, whether it be walking their child to school or doing some grocery shopping. I really enjoyed soaking up the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) ways in which Portuguese culture and way-of-life differ from our American way.

I found this quote in one of my travel books and it so nicely sums up why I LIVE to travel:

"Travel is intensified living--maximum thrills per minute and one of the last great sources of legal adventure. Travel is freedom. It's recess, and we need it.

Globe-trotting destroys ethnocentrocity. It helps you understand and appreciate different cultures. Thoughtful travel engages you with the world. Travel changes people. It broadens perspectives and teaches new ways to measure quality of life. Rather than fear the diversity on this planet, travelers celebrate it. Many travelers toss aside their hometown blinders. Their prized souvenirs are the strands of different cultures they decide to knit into their own character."

Running in Portugal was NOT amazing. In fact, I wasn't able to run at all while I was away. I've been procrastinating admitting this on my blog until I knew I was back on track because I was unsure what it meant for my training. I knew that it wasn't good to miss a whole week of training, but I didn't know where I was going to be at when I got back.

There are several reasons I didn't run in Portugal but I'll list the 3 main ones:

• Remember when I wrote about how I was planning on doing my running when my parents were resting? Yea, they don't rest. Period. They are hard-core travelers who had so much energy and ambition to see everything possible, that I was left exhausted at the end of most days. Also, I didn't really have any spare time at the end of the day.
• All of the streets look like this and were incredibly uneven cobblestone and incredibly narrow, not to mention smoggy and polluted. In the cities, which is where we were the majority of the time, it was just too dangerous due to the crazy traffic.
• It got light sooo late there. The one morning that I set my alarm to get up and run at 6am, when the alarm went off, it was still pitch black outside and by 7:30am, the time I needed to be getting ready for our scheduled breakfast, the sun was barely coming up. I just did not feel safe running in the dark in such a foreign place.

Anyhow, it is what it is. I didn't run in Portugal. I'm not beating myself up about it because it's not that I didn't want to run, it just wasn't feasible.

In lieu of an amazing report on my runs through Portugal, you'll have to settle for some pictures to highlight some of the things we saw. Enjoy!

Is It Okay to Walk?

Kevin and I had a discussion at lunch today about whether it is okay to walk during the training runs. Here's what "my bible" had to say about that:

"Walking should NOT be construed as a big no-no. Periodic walking can be useful in the overall training scheme. Certainly, if you can run the entire distance, you should do so. Everything else being equal, the less you walk the better. But, if walking for periodic short distances during the training runs helps you to complete the entire distance, then walking is really a training aid. When you get to the point you feel you have to walk, then walk at a brisk pace. This brief interruption of your running can be enough for a little recovery so you can resume running. The temporary physiological reprieve from the trauma of running can mentally help you get back to running.

The need or feeling that you can't continue running and that you need to walk a bit is due to fatigue, either physiologically or mentally. After decades of research, the specific cause of fatigue has escaped discovery. It is know that fatigue can occur in either the muscle (called peripheral fatigue) or in the nervous system (called central fatigue). Depending on the length of your training run, a real possibility as a cause of fatigue is running out of energy. If your training run requires more than 1.5 hours, energy may be a problem. If you have not been consuming enough carbohydrates, energy may also be a problem. If you are not consuming any carbohydrates during the training run itself, energy may also become a problem.

A second cause of peripheral fatigue is a buildup of lactic acid during the training run. If you are running too fast early in the run, lactic acid can be a problem later in the run. By slowing down and/or walking, lactic acid can be reduced and its contribution to fatigue can be eliminated.

Your mental condition including the thoughts that you have can have significant impact on central fatigue.


Since there are many potential causes of fatigue, this feeling at any point during a training run is probably due to a combination of factors. Regardless of the causes, the effects of fatigue can be devastating to a runner. Learning how to deal with the fatigue, from using mental techniques to walking, will enhance your stress during a marathon. Use the opportunities when fatigue confronts you during training to practice your mental techniques and try to battle through the fatigue. However, remember that there is a point at which walking may be your best immediate solution."