Teach Yourself How To Run: Part Four

Hopefully you have already made the most of your opportunities to get out for a few runs and put into practice some of my advice.

I realise that it's hard. Taking counter-intuitive advice, or even worse, advice that you agree with but still haven't managed to drum up the courage to implement.

Just remember, you are trying to alter your perception of the experience of running. So with that thought in mind... let's try an experiment with you on your next run. Please be advised that for this experiment to fully have a chance at working, you must already have run a few times consistently AND must be on very good form. SO, if you are neither of them... then sort that out FIRST!

This experiment needs total commitment and fit, fresh legs.

Here goes. I have named this experiment 'soldier syndrome'. This is because I started using it when I was originally training in the RAF many moons ago.

SOLDIER SYNDROME
the power of the imagination
On your normal route which you have been running, pick a nice flat and straight length of path to try this out. As you run, calm yourself in your mind, try to imagine what it feels like to be your legs. Close/squint your eyes a little. Concentrate on that darkness and how you legs feel. Really try hard to imagine. Imagine your strong strides and feeeel the steps being absorbed into your feet, your muscles all the way up to your thigh, as it effortlessly lifts you legs off if the ground, time after time - rhythmerically like a metronome. Right, so far this has been easy to imagine and if you have gotten this far... CONCENTRATE ON ONE LEG ONLY. Imagine that single leg, and go deep within yourself. Try to remember how this makes you feel.

Now imagine your leg becoming heavier.. heavier and less mobile. With each stride, imagine it becoming more and more difficult to lift, and imagine the how the additional effort is making you feel, tiring you out. Whilst you run, you can feel your leg slowing you down... but you can still work just hard enough to lift it. Working harder and harder to compensate  for your leg which feels like it's made from lead or concrete. Puff and pant if you need to generate the additional effort that you need to drag your leg from the ground.

OK once you have done this for long enough to actually feel the energy being sapped from you... continue running. Shake off that feeling. Your leg is free from tiredness again and is made from bone and elastic muscle - not concrete. In-fact, you can feel that the leg is pulsing with energy and power. Imagine the leg pumping with a glowing energy as you strike the ground each time. Kinetic energy from each step is fully replenishing your own pool of body fuel  and once you have reached a balance feeling then it is best to try to finish off your run without experimenting any further.

I used this technique in the past to either make my exercise challenges harder or easier dependant on what affect i wanted. It was a way to test myself and increase my mental stamina - and it worked.

So give it chance. Toy with the idea that you can imagine greater effort by simply thinking about it. The benefits are massive to your motivation.

Engine[er]



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Location:on Train journey from St Albans to London