MINDFUL RUNNING for sheer jay
I was mid-run when I realised I no longer had a healthy relationship with exercise. My calves were in agony, I was exhausted and I had to stop because I felt as though I might be sick. The worst part was that I knew before lacing up I was overtired, but I’d gone anyway – because I felt I had to.
As someone who had once loved running purely for the fresh air and endorphins, I’d somehow become fixated on the frequency and quality of my runs. I religiously tracked them with my Strava app, checking the distance covered, average speed and calories burned. It wasn’t until I was doubled over on the side of the road that I recognised I needed a running reality check.
Enter a mindful performance coach. After battling with alcohol and drug abuse throughout his 20s, Chevy Rough (who you may recognise from the 2017 BBC documentary Mind Over Marathon) came to ‘mindful movement’ as a form of anti-depressant. Now, he spreads an ethos that seemed to be just what I needed: running for enjoyment’s sake.
When I arrive at Rough’s north London gym, we have one hour in the diary, so I’m geared up for a long run.
But to my confusion, he leads me through to a quiet and completely empty studio. He wants to talk about my reasons for running. I explain how I suffer from ‘run guilt’ if I don’t end up going, and this, I quickly learn, is problem number one. ‘It’s all well and good having a plan of when you’re going to run,’ says Rough, ‘But we only have one energy tank. If you’re tired or stressed, and then you force yourself to go anyway, that’s how you get injured and burn out.’
Problem number two is fitness tracking apps and wristbands. Rough suggests that measuring your runs is ego-based and that the numbers (speed, distance, calories) are just another way we validate ourselves. Really, it’s no different from being obsessed with the number on the scales or the number of likes on an Instagram post.
The main physical technique to mindful running, which I put into practice in the 10 short minutes I run with Rough, is about breath. Much like in meditation, breathing is everything. I learn that when we run, we should be breathing both in and out through our nose only. This is difficult, and forces you to reduce speed.
I find this frustrating, but slowing down helps me feel more in the moment, which is what it’s all about. Mindful running ultimately means being mentally connected to your movement and fully present in your run, free from distractions. That means no tracker, no music, no phone. Just you, your body and your breath. I find there’s something liberating about running this way.
I feel calm and content, and I’m reminded why I fell in love with running in the first place.
Since my session, I’ve been trying to incorporate mindfulness into my runs as much as possible. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t touched Strava again, because I do find it motivates me – and sometimes I want to challenge myself. But the big change is that I’ve learnt to be kinder to myself. This means only pushing myself when I know my body can take it, and respecting my body if it’s tired. And just like that, I’ve got my running mojo back.
Follow Chevy on Instagram @chasing19
‘I ONLY PUSH MYSELF WHEN MY BODY CAN TAKE IT’