Stress and Running

And what to do when running for stress leads to getting stressed about running...

It is widely accepted that running is an effective and immediate stress-reducing activity, and you’ll often hear me say that running cures everything, and I’m only being slightly hyperbolic when I do! It can give us clarity of thought, induces the release of feel-good hormones, it can increase energy levels, change your body shape, make you stronger, give you more confidence, the list goes on.

BUT what happens when running becomes just another stressor? When suddenly you can’t get out of the front door because life is too busy, you are exhausted and running becomes just another thing to get done on a long list of jobs that never ever seem to have an end. And of top of that you feel that you are just stuck in the mud, you can’t seem to make any progress to get faster or improve at all.

When this happens to my running club members (actually ideally before this happens because prevention is better than a cure and all that), I always remind them of this one incredibly true, valid and, hopefully, comforting thought- your training and your running doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We are not professional athletes that get paid to run, with a support team around us ensuring we have enough rest, nutrition, physio, psychological support. Effectively running and shaping our lives, removing barriers and literally and physically fluffing our pillows so we get perfect nights sleep. We’re just regular people, with lives and jobs and people who need us, who also run.

We all have other life stressors and commitments that impact on our ability to train, recover, and perform. Accepting and understanding that you just might not have the training tolerance to do the kind of training that you want to do is such an essential skill to develop which will eventually lead to success as opposed to burnout. It’s not failure, it’s working with instead of against reality. It’s doing hard things, in a kind way.

Let’s also not forget that stress can be a good thing and the body can take stress, albeit in manageable doses. The body and mind are quite resilient and, in some cases, stress can help improve your running performance- the increase in heart rate at the start of a run can help you feel alive and excited, and this adrenalin can help you have a great run if harnessed the right way. A few nerves when you turn up at a new training session or race will help you run up that hill or enable you to run a little bit faster on another lap.

However, don’t underestimate how stress from other areas of your life can prevent the body from performing and recovering.

Stress is stress, the body doesn’t know the difference between physical stress, emotional stress, psychological stress; basically your body doesn’t recognise the difference between a hard training session or whether you’ve got enough money to pay the bills; the body’s stress response and raised cortisol levels can often make you feel as though a tiger is permanently chasing you. Whilst this might be ok short term, the prognosis for this type of stress is never good. Worry, anxiety, pressure at work, in fact all forms of stress can cause fatigue, illness, sleep problems and irritability.

No one would question that you need to be motivated to accomplish your goals, but would you recognise that it’s also possible to be so consumed to succeed that this hyper-motivation can itself get in the way of any success. If we link this over-motivation to stress then the more pressure you put on yourself to achieve something, the more stress you’re likely to experience.

And as the body isn’t aware of what kind of stress you are experience, this added nervousness or worry, could be distracting you from your training. If a training session doesn’t go as planned or if you’re experiencing a niggle, these could be blown out of proportion which could lead to distorted thinking, overthinking, more stress and more anxiety leading to making poorly thought out decisions, and ultimately jeopardising this training cycle and/or your race.

So- next time you’re feeling stressed while running or about running, when you usually use it for stress relief, take a step back and think about whether you have the resources, at this point in time, to reach your goals. If you are not ready for this right now, this up coming race could be more detrimental to your running journey because failing might set you back even further.