Learn to Love Running Solo -

⚠️ IMPORTANT. BEFORE HEADING OUT ALWAYS CHECK CURRENT LOCAL GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES RE CORONA VIRUS

⚠️ Unless local guidelines instruct otherwise, fresh air and outdoor exercise are allowed and are good for us – though it’s important to maintain SOCIAL DISTANCING.

For many countries, exercising solo is one of the few activities still allowed with the current raft of corona virus measures.

I know that some people prefer to run alone for various reasons and I enjoy it too. But for others, running solo is a challenge.

My solo runs go one of two ways-I either aim to be productive while out there or alternatively to zone out completely.

Here’s some ideas of how you can do both:

Productive Ideas for Solo Runs

Cadence check

Have you ever checked your cadence? This is the number of steps you take per minute and if you get it right it’s one way of avoiding injury; running with a quicker cadence reduces the impact of each foot strike and therefore the load on the joints is less.

I gave it a go a few weeks ago.

The number 180 is hailed as the magic number so I thought I’d shoot for that. I’m sure it’s not as simple as this and the ideal cadence must differ between individuals but no harm in me giving it a go. I was intrigued to see how it would feel.

180 steps per minute.

I read a few articles online warning me that if I’d never paid attention to it before then my cadence was likely to be too low and it would take time to push it up to that lauded 180.

I downloaded a metronome app (stroke of pure genius) – the idea being that I could set it to pulse at 180 beats per minute and try to match my foot strikes with it. The metronome emitted a loud ‘tock, tock, tock’ which was fine with me but did alarm the farmers and grape pickers as I trundled past.

At first, the increased foot movement felt a bit frantic and the ‘tick tocking’ and my steps were all out of sync but it honestly didn’t take long before my feet were in time with the app. A matter of minutes.

And, you know what? Keeping up with the metronome wasn’t that hard. I definitely had to concentrate so I didn’t deviate from the rhythm but it was strangely satisfying running along to the beat and a little bit meditative. I ran for 30 minutes at an easy pace.

The cadence of 180 was definitely quicker than I’d normally run but I’m wondering if I found it relatively easy to step it up as I’d maybe already increased my cadence without realising. Last year, Julian Goater, the British long distance runner and author of ‘The Art of Running Faster’ had paid a visit to my running club and taken us out for a coaching session.

‘Quick and quiet!’ he’d urged. ‘Quick and quiet!’

He coached us to take lots of small steps (quick) and to take care to run lightly on our feet instead of pounding (quiet). I’d remembered that ever since and have tried to stick to it.

So, what next? Well, I’m going to take the metronome with me on my next few solo runs and see how it feels over the longer term. I’m also not quite sure how I’ll find trying to run faster and maintaining the same 180 cadence. But for starters, running at a higher cadence definitely feels as though I’m pounding less on my joints and that’s got to be a good thing.

Check Your Form

To listen to the masses you’d think that running was easy—just lace up your trainers and start moving, they say. That’s it! But to run properly? That’s a lot easier said than done.

A solo run is a good time for me to address my odd, lumbering run. I can’t tell you how I knew but I just had a sense that I was making the run harder work than it should be. I got a friend to video me and I looked awkward, ungainly and a little unco-ordinated.

One thing that runner’s websites talk about is form. Basically, your form is simply the way you, as a person, run. And of course your goal is to have good form. There’s so much to take in but the best piece of advice I’ve had is to try and relax. It’s easy to tense up, especially in the jaw and hands so during a run I’ll often do a ‘body check’. This is just a quick mental assessment from head to toe checking for areas of tension. Are my shoulders creeping up towards my ears? Are my fists clenched? Am I slouching?

I lift my shoulders up to my ears then relax them gently down again. I’ll shake out my arms then return to swinging them back and forth, my hands softly cupped. I screw up my facial muscles…then relax them. I make sure I’m ‘running tall’ by imagining a string pulling me up from the top of my head.

Searching online I read that it’s very easy to expend far more energy than you need to when running. The better your form, the easier running feels.

One thing I knew I was guilty of was clenching my fists during a run and the more I squeezed them, the more energy I was wasting! I decided on the ‘potato crisp trick’ which meant holding a crisp between thumb and forefinger when running, the object being not to crush it. I succeeded on the third attempt.

Listen to Audiobooks or Podcasts

Learning something new on a podcast or getting into an audiobook are some of my fave things to do on a long, solo run. Currently, I’m listening to Running Up That Hill by Vassos Alexander.

Running Up That Hill is a celebration of endurance running. Of running ridiculous distances – through cities, over mountains and across countries. Distances most people couldn’t even imagine…

I’m not far into the audiobook yet but loving it so far!

Make a Mental Goal List

On any solo run, I’ll have lots of ideas randomly pop into my mind-things I want to do later that day … things I want to do in the next five years … lifetime goals … We all have plans, dreams and goals we are working towards and a solo run is a fabulous time to focus on them.

Recently I decided to focus on this blog, specifically a few niggly areas where I seemed to be stuck. It took twenty minutes but then came an avalanche of ideas! I had my phone in hand wildly hoping this would happen. I spluttered into my audio app. It’s a great way to record ideas but you do have to work hard later to decipher what on earth you were saying 😂

Try it yourself and I think you’ll be amazed how the minutes, and of course hopefully the miles, will slide by.

Zoning Out on Solo Runs

People want to know how I keep myself occupied when running for 2–3 hours at a time. Trust me, thinking is not hard – it’s the whole ‘shutting your mind off’ thing that takes practice.

Running Meditation

Running is all about managing discomfort so I’m always on the lookout for distraction techniques. My favourite definition of meditation is that it’s the practice of observing without reacting.

Recently, I spent a few evenings reading through articles on running and meditation then one morning put a couple of suggestions to the test.

I broke into a gentle jog along the coast road and waited for my internal dialogue to pitch in, as I knew it would.

Why is my chest aching already?

My legs! God, my legs…so heavy… don’t think I can go much further

It’s so hot

It hurts

I won’t look at my watch until I reach that house in the distance… no, wait maybe I’ll look at the end of this hedge…oh sod it *looks at watch* Oh god, is that all I’ve done..?…

Time to concentrate. I focused on my breathing; I really tried to find the positive in it but all it did was made me more obsessed with the deep ache in my chest as I struggled to suck in enough air and on the unholy racket I was making. I switched my focus to my feet; homing in on the sensation with each foot strike, the sound of my steps. This was better, I got a little wrapped up in the tap tap tap (actually it was more like slap slap slap but a light tap was my aim) but before long I was bored. But I did learn something really useful from this session; by far the best thing for me to focus on is the sights and sounds and smells of nature around me. That got me an extra 10 minutes on the clock without hardly noticing. Give it a go!

Taming the Monkey

Buddha described the human mind as being filled with drunken monkeys, jumping around, screeching, chattering and carrying on endlessly.

My internal running monologue goes something like this:

‘What shall I eat for dinner?’ ‘My big toe hurts’ ‘Was that a rat??’ ‘I should stop and take a selfie in front of that amazing view’ ‘Runner coming towards.. look cool’

This thoughtstream feels natural and I’m happy to let my mind wander. The problem comes, though, when your mind focuses instead on stressors which unfortunately often seems to be the default setting:

What will happen if I lose my job? I think my partner might be unhappy with our relationship… I’m such a rubbish parent… Something bad is going to happen, I just know it … This virus is getting scary...

Often when I first set out for a run I’m one huge cocktail of worry careering along the road. Life seems too hard and I can’t keep all the plates spinning. My monkey mind leaps on the opportunity.

As the endorphin rush of running quietens the monkey mind, it’s a great opportunity to work on taming it. By practising when you’re out on solo runs, you’ll find what works for you in silencing the negative chatter. The more you practise, the quicker you’ll be able to crush it.

Fear is an especially loud monkey, screeching incessantly about everything that could go wrong.

Here’s how I challenge him:

(This was my fear: “I’m worried that if I leave my job and go and follow my dream of going travelling, it won’t work out.”

So I ask… “What’s the worst that can happen?”

And the fear monkey is s**t hot: “You would run out of money”

“So what will happen then?”

“You would have to cut short your big trip and return home with no job.”

“Oh no, what would I do then?”

“You’d have to move in with family or friends and do any job you could find to tide you over.”

“…. yes…and…”

“You’d have to start over.”

“I can live with that. Yep. I can cope with that…”

Running is such a wonderful way to quiet the voices of fear, anxiety, worry and other negative emotions. It’s not that my worries go away, but I just know I’ll handle it all.

And for a bit of fun… Zombies, Run!

This is a fun running game app. Here’s how the developer describes it…

Run in the Real World. Become a Hero in Another.

Only a few have survived the zombie epidemic. You are a Runner en-route to one of humanity’s last remaining outposts. They need your help to gather supplies, rescue survivors, and defend their home.

And you have another mission — one they don’t know about…