Could I be starting to feel the flow?

You've probably heard of flow, sometimes referred to as "being in the zone". One definition of flow from the LIVESTRONG website is:

A state of effortless concentration that results from a period of intense focus. It is the goal of all sport psychology because athletes report being in a state of flow during their best performances. Flow begins at the point that focus stops becoming difficult and starts becoming easy.

I've read a lot about flow but thought it only applied to athletes, those that have the capability to do amazing things at an unbelievably high level. I just always hope to feel good when I run, and so far this week I have.

Wednesday's steady run felt good despite the heat. My goal was just to keep an average pace of 9:45/miles for 7 miles. Can't churn 'em exactly on pace yet, but towards the end feel like I settle into a pretty good rhythm.

Yesterday's 6 miles of "controlled discomfort" was tough as I spent the first few miles running into the wind. Just haven't been able to find a way to overcome it! Pretending that the wind is not there doesn't seem to help. But once I changed direction I was probably helped a bit by a nice little tailwind. Goal was 1 mile warm up, 4 miles at half marathon pace (9:09) and 1 mile cool down.

Had a stitch through part of the run (maybe I didn't wait long enough after eating 2 slices of toast with peanut butter and honey). But I try to run through stitches so I can deal with them during a race if needed. 

Before this run I warmed up with a cannonball as recommended by @runlikeacoyote. I couldn't do the Rockies (well, I tried but I almost fell on my face!) but I was amazed by how the other exercises helped me to loosen up, in particular in my hips. I'll be doing this again and will definitely work on those rockies!

While these runs definitely felt good, I actually think that for a few brief moments on these runs that I might have been in the flow....a glorious minute or two when I felt like I was running--really running--with almost no effort! When I run I *DO* talk to myself and say things like "flow" and "relax" and "rhythm" but nothing really happens. I do it more to stay focused and stop my thoughts from drifting too much. So this happened without any expectations and almost no realization until I thought, "HEY, this is feeling different, feeling GREAT, feeling like I'M A RUNNER!"

Could a natural born shuffler like me actually be feeling the flow?! Is it really possible for ME to have effortless concentration?

All I know for sure is that I'm feeling good!

As a 150 pound man I'm a slow jogger....as a diminutive runner I know my own pace!

For me, Tuesday means intervals! I was woken up by a heavy rainstorm, but luckily things were dry by the time I actually got up. Following my new rule I had some cereal and yogurt for breakfast. Then after some general procrastination, I headed out for my run. I KNEW it was going to be hot today but I absent-mindedly walked out the door without any water! But (with my head still in a cloud) I wasn't worried, didn't turn around and figured I'd be fine. How wrong I was!

My Garmin always pesters me when I run intervals, but today it was ESPECIALLY bad. I actually started off with an amazingly fast (well fast for me!) warm up mile somehow, but when it came to my first interval this is what happened:


Garmin: Speed up! You're only going a slow jog!

Me: What? I'm going faster than my warm-up. And today that was FAAAAAST.

Garmin: I'm telling you, you're too slow. SPEED. UP.

Me: I am NOT going too slow! My arms are pumping, my legs are striding, I'm breathing hard. This has to be a SLOW RUN at least!

Garmin: WRONG. It's a slow jog. NOW SPEED UP!


And so we bickered this way for the rest of my 0.5 mile interval, until it suddenly hit me. Yesterday I switched my Garmin Training Center over from my work laptop to a netbook we usually use for traveling. Yes, so I could log all my runs while on holiday! I'd transferred all the data from my watch, but then I must've forgot to set my profile to my own specific paces.

My Garmin thought I was a 150 pound man and was using the default paces. Clearly someone's slow jog was MY run!

Good realization but it meant that it was down to ME to hit my target pace, without the help of my usually trusty Garmin. My run was hard in the end--I blame it on heat + trying to run too fast + stoopid you didn't bring any water. I did a lot of walking in between and even stopped during the 3rd interval. But after checking my interval times I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was pretty close to my usual 8:20/mile target.

When I first got my Garmin it made such a difference just to be able to know how fast or slow I was going. Now I'm really happy that I have some sense of my own pace, even without a GPS watch. And the next time I feel like I'm running either too fast or slow.....I'm going to trust my instincts, no matter what that pesky Garmin is telling me to do!

Rest Day Review: PowerBar Fruit Gel vs. Kinetica Energy Gel

Now that I'm finally doing long runs again, I've started testing energy gels. I've used a variety of different gels before, but I'm always interested in trying new ones. And luckily, I've never had any stomach problems...yet! A few weeks ago, I reviewed the High5 Isogel with Caffeine and since then I've also tried the PowerBar Fruit Gel with Guarana and the Kinetica Hydrating Energy Gel.

PowerBar Fruit Gel with Guarana
I've used PowerBar gels before and they've always worked well, so I thought it would be nice to try the new fruit gel. Mango Passion Fruit sounded yummy, and the fruit gel is supposed to have a slightly thinner consistency than the regular.

I used this gel on a 13 mile run--my second gel at the 8 mile mark. No problems with the package, and I though the mango passion fruit flavor tasted really good. As with other PowerBar gels I find they are a bit saltier than some, but this doesn't bother me and is probably due to the higher sodium levels. It has been so long since I've used gels that I couldn't tell if this one was actually thinner than the other PB ones. However, to me they are definitely thinner than some of the other gels out there (eg SIS GO gels) and the small pack size (41g vs the typical 60g) means there is less to go down anyway. You do have to take this gel with about 150ml of water.

I felt an energy boost soon after taking the PB gel, and feel like it gave me extra energy through the final miles. I didn't feel too full after taking it and had no stomach issues.