Tips for Running

For my last blog post, I want to give current runners and future runners some advice from my own experiences and my book. Throughout my book I’ve read over the quarter, Running with the Mind of Meditation, Sakyong Mipham has provided me with excellent tips for running and meditation that have been extremely helpful!

First off, before you become a serious runner or even if you are currently one, you really need to think about injury prevention. If not taken care of properly, a minor injury can become a major injury and stop you from running for weeks or even months. I know this firsthand because during the 2015 cross country season, I chose to ignore my knee pains and it only got worse by the time it was track season. I had to sit out often and was constantly in pain but after a lot of time at physical therapy, everything went back to normal. When I was reading the book, the author explained very well how to prevent injuries. He says that, “If you don’t run symmetrically, you can create un-natural angles that put more pressure on one joint or another. This can result in injury” (Mipham 67). From the book, I’ve realized that posture is so important because having an unbalanced posture when even sitting can lead you to have injuries. This has left me always tweaking my posture by sitting up instead of slouching and running with my body aligned rather than all over the place. It might be a little awkward at first but I guarantee you that fixing your posture one day at a time will benefit you greatly.

Extra tips for Injury Prevention:

1.      Stretch- before and after every run!

2.      Ice/heat your body with ice and heat packs to cure soreness

3.      Listen to your body, don’t push yourself too hard as this can increase your risk of injury

4.      Do hip exercises (clam shells, leg lifts, donkey kicks, fire hydrants)

Secondly, as you can tell from the title, there is a strong emphasis on running AND meditation. I mentioned in a previous blogpost, I have never sat down and meditated but I have used many concepts of meditation while running. Through concepts like breathing, mindfulness, focus, stability, and many more, I’ve found running to be much easier and interesting. Mastering the technique of breathing takes time and patience (I’m not quite there yet), but it is possible. When running races, I recommend keeping your body straight, head up, and breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. Sometimes it gets hard to do this especially when you’re tired and out of breath but keep trying your best as it will make the intense running easier. Also, keeping a positive and focused mind will make you a better runner automatically. If your mind is stable and you’re using your mindfulness “muscle” also talked about in a previous blog post, your run will have more meaning and will make you want to work harder. These concepts of meditation do not have to be used for just running but can be used for all aspects of life. Mipham has shown me that meditation can be used to cope with stress in a positive way rather than dealing with stress in negative ways like overeating, drinking, becoming unstable, or blaming others. Meditation will immediately help you realize what the mind can and can’t handle and will allow you to further strengthen your mind (Mipham 86).

How to start using Meditational Concepts with Running:

1.      It will be challenging at first but stay as positive as you can. When you’re feeling pain, think about your motivation and stay focused

2.      NEVER put your head down after intense running as the airway won’t get as much air when bent over, stand up straight with your hands on your head to expand the airway

3.      When stressed, think about how you can strengthen your mind

Finally, here are some extra tips to help anyone with running!

1.      Do core exercises, a strong core equals a strong body

2.      Eat as healthy as possible with lots of protein, fruits and veggies

3.      Drink lots of water

4.      Give yourself rest days as you don’t want to tire yourself out

5.      Run with other people to make it more fun (friends, family, pets)

6.      Write down your goals for running

7.      Switch it up with different types of running like sprints, hills, distance, track workouts, etc.

8.      When travelling, try to go on at least one run just to experience a new type of climate and soil

9.      Motivate others to start running

10.   Keep challenging and pushing yourself!

I want to know: Do you run a lot? If yes, how did you get into running and do you have any tips? If no, would you like to get into running? What's preventing you from running?

Mipham, Sakyong. Running with the Mind of Meditation. New York, United States: Harmony Books, 2012. Print.

Motivation

A frequently asked question non-runners ask me is, “Why do you run?” I completely understand this question because before I became an avid runner, I was not a fan of running and didn’t have an inner drive pushing me to continue it. This all changed once I joined cross country and found my motivation to keep running. I started realizing the benefits of running, not just the health benefits but also the benefits gained for the mind and experience.

Sakyong Mipham explains that motivation is essential to anything we do. Through good motivation, we can power our body and mind to get out and run six miles. We have to pay attention to what makes our mind motivated, what feeds that motivation, and what sustains it (Mipham 49). When I was a beginner runner, I had a hard time finding good motivation to continue running at all. Now, I find motivation for running through myself and my friends. Although my family cheers me on during races (once or twice a week), I’m not running with them six days a week so I am left with finding other sources to keep me motivated throughout the week. To keep myself motivated, I create goals and stay positive! When I make goals for running, it keeps me thinking about what more I can do to achieve the goals which makes me work harder during practice and races. Staying positive is what sustains my motivation because I find that if you complain less and see only the good things about something, you will more likely be happier at the end of it. For example, if I have a good attitude about a hard practice, I will more likely be motivated to finish which will make me happier at the end knowing I didn’t give up even though it was challenging.

To add on, some of my biggest motivators are my friends and Sakyong agrees that your motivation comes your friends. He says that, “Friends encourage us, reminding us why we got into running in the first place. They help us stick with it. Most important, a friend wants us to do what is best for our progress” (Mipham 64-65). Through running, I have met several amazing people who not only made me a better runner, but have repetitively motivated me to work hard. During both of my cross country seasons, the girls’ varsity team was very close-knit as we practiced together, sweat together, and competed together. Frequently being together allowed us to push and remind one another of our end goals while having a great time. I remember the weekly long runs on the Soos Creek trail where we would run for miles and talk about anything and everything. We would forget about the pain and allow our talks to bring us closer together as a team and as friends. The varsity team wasn’t the only ones motivating me, it was really the entire team. When my fellow runners and friends cheered me on during a race (especially when I was feeling dead), it gave me the motivation to keep going and run faster, even though it hurt. That little splurge of encouragement provided me with the drive to do my best for my team, my school, and myself. Overall, I can easily say that my biggest motivators when running are my friends and myself!

A race where I clearly needed to find my motivation  

Varsity Top 4- one of my best races for the 2016 season running with these girls

Part of the Cross Country Family

I want to know: What motivates you? How do you use that motivation to your advantage?

Mipham, Sakyong. Running with the Mind of Meditation. New York, United States: Harmony Books, 2012. Print.

Finding Your Mindfulness

The book I am currently reading and blogging about is called, Running with the Mind of Meditation. Yet, in all of the blog posts I have written, I haven’t directly talked about meditation with running. In all honesty, I am not interested in sitting down to mediate because I simply don’t have the time for that. I want to kill two birds with one stone so instead, I use concepts of meditation during my runs or any other exercise I do. Breathing, focus, mindfulness, peace, stability, and relaxation are most of the concepts of meditation I practice during exercise.  

Through this book, I’ve learned many new things about running but the most surprising thing I’ve learned is about how connected running and the mind are. Your motivation, your emotions, your hobbies, and everything in between is controlled by the mind. Sometimes when I’m running, I feel like my mind drifts off and I lose my connection with running to the point where I forget to push myself. I’ve noticed that the less focused I am, the worse I run. To fix this, Sakyong Mipham uses the strategy of mindfulness. This is the process of training the ability to focus on an object and maintaining it. It’s like exercising a muscle of the mind because the more you exercise mindfulness, the stronger it becomes (Mipham 64). I want to make my mindfulness “muscle” stronger as fast as possible. That’s why whatever exercise I do, I try really hard to stay focused. If I am at the gym, I keep myself concentrated on my workout by listening to my favorite music because it’s a constant reminder of why I am at the gym and putting my phone on airplane mode because it stops me from wandering on to social media. Right now, the weather isn’t ideal for running so I typically run on the treadmill at the gym or at home. However, when the weather gets better, I’ll start to run outdoors and I’ll really have to work hard to stay focused because I can’t run outside with my headphones since I can't stand holding my phone or putting it in a pouch around my arm. Luckily, my mindfulness will play a large factor in keeping me on track but I’ll need to have a strong willpower to stop my mind from drifting so I don’t miss the opportunity to challenge myself.

Sakyong also informed me that, “If we do not pursue mindfulness, earnestly stabilizing our mind in meditation, we will inevitably never feel the results. Therefore, we might feel disheartened and give up.” (Mipham 66). When I use concepts of meditation during my runs or any other exercise, I feel my body relax to some extent. I still feel a little uncomfortable but normally the pain, soreness, or any other major discomfort eases because my mind is wandering someplace more important that gives me the energy to keep going. Typically, I try to think about the end goal, meditational concepts (breathing, peace, stability, etc.), and how I can better myself for the next track and cross country seasons. The relaxing sensation isn’t immediate nor does it last for very long but it’s a nice feeling to have when you’re sweaty and tired. Mindfulness will help make that feeling last even longer and allow me to place more emphasis on a given exercise. Most of the time before a big race, I feel anxious and become worked up by starting to worry that I won’t be able to finish and will stop in the middle of the race. Although it’s has never happened before, it’s a scary and embarrassing feeling to have. With the methods Mipham has taught me, I can calm myself down and refocus my negative energy to become positive and finish the race strongly. Using concepts of meditation, especially mindfulness, has helped me keep my exercise positive, driven, and focused so my mind isn’t darting here and there, but is rather concentrated on what’s important.

music playlist to keep me energized

Treadmill at gym

I want to know: How do you focus yourself when doing a specific activity and have you ever tried meditating? If yes, do you have any advice on how to improve mindfulness or any other meditational concepts?

Mipham, Sakyong. Running with the Mind of Meditation. New York, United States: Harmony Books, 2012. Print.

The Breath

When I'm running at practices, races or just for leisure, my breathing is all over the place. My breaths are uneven and hard to control. It's almost like I have something building up in my chest and the only way to get rid of it is to breathe through my mouth, even though I know you should inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. I really want to focus on my breathing because I don't want it to affect my performance and be a distraction. According to Sakyong Mipham, "Beginning runners often tend to hold their breath or only use a portion of their lungs... As we begin to run more, we begin to relax with the breathing. This can be accomplished by breathing deeper. After we become proficient runners, we realize that human body is designed to breathe. Our lungs take up our torso and back" (Mipham 29). To help my breathing process while running, I need to breathe more deeply so I can gain more oxygen into my body. This will help me create steady breaths and have enough energy to continue my run. I think my biggest problem with breathing is that I forget to breathe while running. Although this sounds silly, it leaves me to breathe more rapidly but not deeply. I struggle to get oxygen when breathing fast because I am not using my entire lung capacity. Continuously thinking about breathing will stop me from forgetting and help with balanced breathes. Better yet, breathing deeply AND rapidly will allow my lungs to be used the way they should be and allow me to gain a better running experience.

To add on, Mipham also informed me that the flow of oxygen and oxygenation of the blood are linked to good health. It's important to pay attention to the breath when exhaling and inhaling because of the benefits it creates for the mind and body. It creates a stable mind, releases negative and stressful thoughts, and balances emotions (Mipham 27). Breathing is clearly very important for the body and mind to function properly. I've learned that I can use my breaths as an advantage to keep my mind focused and stabilize my thought process during runs. If I am breathing deeply and getting enough breaths in, I will be able to distract myself from the pain and run with more ease to help my body relax. Moreover, my lung capacity will increase so I will be getting more oxygen in to power my body. Knowing the process of how oxygen flows and putting it to use will help me clear my mind from any distractions while running. Also, practicing deep breathing even when I’m not running will improve my breathing, lung capacity, and thought process. All in all, changing my breathing is a slight adjustment that can have a major impact on my running activities by benefitting my speed and time.

Oxygen flow to brain

Lung capacity

  

I want to know: How has breathing affected your performance in an activity and what things have you done to help improve your breathing cycle?

Mipham, Sakyong. Running with the Mind of Meditation. New York, United States: Harmony Books, 2012. Print.

Maintaining the Base

Running became a major part of my life when I joined cross country two years ago. Not realizing cross country meant running more than 25 miles a week, I ran less than 15 miles the summer before my first season. The first few weeks of cross country were absolutely brutal and I wanted to sleep in all my free time to cure my exhaustion. I hated it at first, but after a while I got used to the rhythm of running and my life became easier as I had started to build a base. Sakyong Mipham explains that building a base for running takes at least two years. It’s a process of taking the things you already possess like your lungs, muscles, bones, and tendons, and training them so your ability to run steadily increases (Mipham 23). Before becoming an avid runner, I ran off and on for track and sometimes on my own for a bit more than two years but never had a solid starting point. I didn’t have the stamina to run multiple miles without long breaks because this was my first time running distance. Also, I didn’t train to build up my muscles the way I do now which contributed to my weak, unstable base. Mipham has shown me why a base is so important and luckily cross country has helped me create one.

Running at a cross country meet (not stopping because I have a durable base)

Unfortunately, after my first year of cross country ended in 2015, my sturdy base slowly withered away to the same starting point I was at in the beginning of the season. I chose to take a break to let my body rest but rested for too long by not starting to run till the following season and had to recreate a healthy base all over again. The 2016 cross country season recently ended and now I intend to find a balance between running and resting to sustain my base because this was the biggest struggle for me last year. Mipham says that, “Long periods of overstimulation- too much activity- begin to affect the organs and blood flow (Mipham 25-26).” Neither my blood flow nor my organs have been affected, but yet I feel an overstimulation of running and want to step down for a few months. Now, instead of running 25 miles weekly, I aim to run 10-15 miles a week. This form of running will give me the chance to relax my body while maintaining a strong base as I am still practicing the activity often enough to tire myself out, but not as vigorously as I do during cross country.

I want to know: How long has it taken you to create a base in a specific activity and what are the challenges of maintaining a base for you?

Mipham, Sakyong. Running with the Mind of Meditation. New York, United States: Harmony Books, 2012. Print.