Research for runners (#1)
March 3rd, 2009Today, I’d like to introduce what I hope will become a semi-regular feature on this blog. I’d like to explore how runners can use knowledge from psychology and research to improve their training, motivation, race performance, etc. God knows I can use all the help I can get. I live in hope that some researcher somewhere will discover the perfect one run/week training program (under 30 minutes would be best). Until that time, I need to learn what I can do to get my butt out the door, to the gym and on a treadmill when I really don’t feel like it.
I’d also like to use this segment to shed some light on running controversies. You know what I’m talking about: You may read something in one magazine (“Caffeine intake improves finishing times”), something entirely contradictory in another one (“Caffeine intake doesn’t affect finishing times”) and something downright scary in a third (“Caffeine intake makes runners turn purple”).
Another reason for me to dive into the research literature will be to bring up studies that didn’t get publicized. As an academic, I know the elation one feels when a manuscript gets published followed shortly by the crushing realization that no one is likely to read it except the editor of the journal where it was published (and my parents). I’d like to give these unsung heroes some small measure of glory.
The final reason is that this gives me a chance to read academic articles that aren’t about sex, which is a nice break. You’d be amazed at how researchers can manage to make sex seem boring.
Here goes:
Running and flow
Last semester, I did a paper on a fascinating psychological theory called “flow”, which was developed by a researcher named Csikszentmihalyi (the hardest part about my class presentation on this paper was pronouncing his name repeatedly). Basically, this theory is an attempt to explain why people continue to do certain things in the absence of obvious rewards (ex. praise, money, increased status). These activities could be anything from creating art, playing chess, dancing, rock climbing, playing sports, reading – you name it. Csikszentmihalyi defined flow as, “The state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it”. People who are in flow might feel totally absorbed in their activity and immune to distractions. They may lose track of time and not realize that hours have passed. Usually, people experience flow when the activity they are doing is challenging their skills but their skills are developed to the point that they can meet that challenge without feeling overwhelmed by it.
A lot of the research on flow has been done with athletes but not so much with runners. So when I spotted a paper on how flow experiences might affect marathon performance, I grabbed it. This research was done by a couple of psychologists at the University of Zurich. They did three different studies with a few hundred marathon runners. I won’t bore you with every single detail but instead share some of the most important findings. The results showed that runners who experienced flow while running the marathon felt stronger motivation to continue their training in the future. During the marathon, runners reported a decrease in their feelings of flow as the race went on, with an especially sharp drop around kilometer 30. I suspect you marathon runners out there could have told me that – it’s hard to be totally absorbed in anything when your body hurts so much. On the other hand, this didn’t really matter because experiencing flow was not related to runners’ finishing times. You could be completely lost in the moment or you could be hating every minute of it and it wouldn’t affect your performance. However, the results did show that experiencing flow during training was associated with an increased number of kilometers the runners ran per week, which might result in shorter finishing times.
(Funniest part of this article: In the third study, runners’ flow experiences were measured directly during the race itself. “The marathon runners are awaited at the kilometer marks by assistants of the researcher. These assistants joined them for a short distance and asked them to rate their current flow state by reading the flow items and noting the answers.” Can you imagine these poor grad students running along with their clipboards and shouting questions to sweaty, out-of-breath marathoners? The things we do in the name of science!)
Here’s the take-home message: Don’t be discouraged if you don’t experience flow while you run. I certainly don’t. I’m just happy when it doesn’t hurt. But getting lost in the feeling might make your training a bit more pleasant so here are some ways you can look for flow experiences in running. Try setting yourself some goals for each run (real challenges), and pay attention to the feedback you get from your body. Allow yourself to get immersed in the run, be present and enjoy the immediate experience. Practice concentrating on other activities in your life. If you experience flow in other activities but not running, try to figure out what makes that other activity so positive for you. Be open, take risks and experiment. Good luck!
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