5 Running Things you can Think About Less
Running is inherently a mental game. The adage “90 % mental, 10% physical” is impeccably accurate. But it’s not mental as in a challenging problem that you have to be really intelligent and formula savvy to sort out. It’s mentally demanding. It requires a lot of mental space to maintain the degree of focus and concentration required and to keep all the important factors playing their part in the game. Yes, there are some runs where you can zone out and the miles tick by. But often in your head it’s like watching this really fast moving picture with lots of obstacles that arise unexpectedly, each one requiring your immediate attention. This bandwidth is valuable. It isn’t something that can be wasted on unnecessary thoughts or cognitive demands. Too much distraction or excessive worry about irrelevant uncontrollables, and the opportunity for success is lost. Left on the road ,7 miles back, squished into the pavement like a tiny bug.
So there are things that you can consciously think about and control, and there are things that don’t deserve the valuable real estate of your resilient running mindset. Here’s some of the latter:
Cadence
Running cadence is steps per minute. Many people think that the ideal cadence is 180, but increasing amounts of research are showing, not only that there I not necessarily an ideal cadence, but that different cadences can still produce high level results. Some elites run at a cadence higher than 180, some lower. And likewise, as a recreational runner, cadences higher or lower than 180 should be expected – and are totally normal. Cadence is dictated by more than just your athletic ability, and indeed can be impacted by your height, whereby, taller runners, have longer legs, and therefore would be expected to have a different cadence than a shorter runner. All of this to say, that in the end, getting concerned about what your cadence is, or trying to change it into something different, isn’t likely the best place to use your energy and exert your mental focus. Because if you have ever tried to count your steps and alter your cadence, you will have found that it takes an immense amount of concentration and cognitive attention.
Pace
This one comes with a caveat: if you are seeking to improve your pace and run faster times, than pace in fact needs to take up a lot of space in your mind - both on the days when you are pushing it and aiming high and on the days when you need to keep it easy. But if you are just going running to move your body and feel good and be outside, then fast or slow is irrelevant. You are not “soooo slow,” or failing as a runner because you’re “ not very fast.” The amount of mental energy expended around the stories we tell ourselves about pace, how much it dictates our worth as our runner and how it defines us on our running journey is absurd. Just run your run. Go out and move your body, put one foot in front of the other and let it flow out of you. What if this was your pace and you let it be and stopped trying to change it and stopped telling yourself it wasn’t fast enough? Tell yourself it’s fast enough.
Footstrike
If you go stand on the sideline of a major marathon and watch as the elites run by, you will notice that not all of them are landing on their forefoot. Some heel strike, some mid-foot strike and some forefoot strike. The once held belief that forefoot striking is better has not been proven in the literature, to the degree that other strike patterns are not bad or at risk of causing injury. In fact, any strike pattern is at risk of causing injury, same as any runner is at risk of injury. The totality of factors is more important than any individual one. All this to say, that however you naturally strike on the ground is probably the best way. Changing footstrike patterns requires requiring an inherent pattern of your body – a challenging task, physically and mentally – that presents with a lot of risks. Done improperly, or without the right supervision, the risk is greater that you will become injured in trying to change than if you kept the pattern the same. Ultimately, if you are worried that your strike pattern is causing you to run slower or be less efficient, focus first on the things that are in your control to change: run consistently, incorporate speed-based workouts, do strength work, start some running drills
Pronation and Overpronation
“You should buy these shoes because you pronate.” It’s a common statement that you hear if you go in to a shoe store, and more than that, is espoused as the reason behind injuries and poor running form. Pronation is the inward rotation of the knee, ankle and tibia and assumes that pronation leads to poor alignment, leads to poor form, leads to running injury. And it might. But multiple studies have supported the contrary, whereby there is no link between pronation and injury. Furthermore, shoes do not necessarily modify the pronation, as they claim to do.
If you tell a runner they pronate, and that can cause problems – and you claim to have a solution to the problem in the form of shoes – they will buy the solution. I have no evidence-backed research behind the use of pronation as a sales gimmick, but know that as above, there is evidence behind pronation not being the detrimental cause behind running injuries you may have been led to believe. There is no doubt, a root cause, but pronation might not be it.
Shoes
Let’s continue on the shoe topic, not only because they are a crucial piece of running hardware, but also because I feel many people are sadly misled down sales pitch path of the impact running shoes can have on their injury rate and performance. Here’s the thing: shoes alone will not cause or prevent your injury, make you run faster or slower or make or break your gait and biomechanical tendencies. Combined with other factors, they can have an impact – both positive and negative – on your running, but it is the function of the other factors that is worth your attention. For example, putting on a pair of Nike Vaporflys will not make you run 4% faster if you have not been training to run fast. To be sure, they will offer percent gains relative to your fitness level and training level, but not without doing the work. Likewise, putting on a new pair of shoes will not fix your injury if you do not address the underlying factors that are causing it. Shoes are designed as a tool to help make running more enjoyable and accessible and to facilitate a more optimised running experience. It is unreasonable to rely on shoes to fix an injury or make you a better runner if you are not doing the background work first.
What should I think about?
Think about running consistently. Think about showing up to run every day you say you are going to show up to run and pushing through when it is hard. Think about being committed and driven by the process and not focused on the outcome. Think about running for the sake of getting to run, not for any social media glory, or race success.