How the hell do you run for hours? Don't you get bored?
I get this question almost daily, and I've actually got an answer
You may have dreamed of a day when you can happily run for hours, loping along with no exhaustion, pondering the scenery and life itself. You look serene as you speed down a country road with flowers blowing in the breeze beside you …
Yeah, it sounds great, but running for hours at a time can get boring. I love flowers as much as the next person, and if you have a great route with pretty scenery, it might take you through a few runs, but eventually that mountain in the distance is just going to look like an obstacle to pass, and the flowers will look like people in fancy hats mocking you.
Sorry. I ran with no sleep the other morning, and the mind tends to wander.
While an hour-long run isn’t a big deal if you have some good music, when you’re running almost every day, or you’re training for a race for four months and have runs that go two hours and beyond, even a great playlist isn’t going to hold you through all of it.
I discovered this during the pandemic when my usual heavy metal playlist was sounding a little too dark, considering what was going on in the world. It just wasn’t doing it for me anymore. So, I switched to podcasts and audiobooks.
It may feel odd to run without a musical beat, but trust me, your brain is going to supply you with an earworm whether you like it or not, and that will likely set your pace. (Or your pace will call to mind an earworm that fits the beat of your feet on the ground.) A book or podcast, on the other hand, can really occupy your mind.
I tend to pick long ones that I know will intrigue me for races, and for the long training runs leading up to them, and podcasts of around an hour or so for regular days. Races in particular are great because you’re going to need the distraction as you hit mile 18 and realize you still have 8.2 to go.
I listened to “How to Be Perfect: The Answer to Every Moral Question” during the LA marathon a while back. It’s a book by Michael Schur who created the series “The Good Place,” and he narrated with the cast of the TV show doing some voices. It’s funny, it’s fascinating, and it’s not the least bit dry. I’ve also listened to the “A Court of Thorns and Roses” fantasy series by Sarah J. Maas. You can blame your pink cheeks during the spicy parts on your face being flushed from exercise.
There is a trick, though. You have to keep bringing your mind back to the story. It will want to run away (heh) and tell you to stop, drift to the stitch in your side, remind you that the couch is comfy, and oh, look! Squirrel! (That’s particularly true for me because I feed them when I run.) You can’t beat yourself up for the drift. You can, however, simply rewind the book and tell it to focus again.
What I do for myself with music is set up a playlist of a few songs for the last three or so miles when I’m really flagging. Those songs have a beat that is faster than my pace. Your body can’t help but keep trying to catch up to the song, and I’m telling you, it can push you through those hard spots. Plus, you won’t be able to tune it out after focusing on the book for hours.
I do have one final trick that I learned being stuck in a plane for an 11-hour flight without my headphones or a book. (I do not recommend this, and they were out of earphones for sale.) I started playing the alphabet game with myself. You know, the one where you look around until you find an “a” on something, and then a “b,” etc. You can do it with colors, signs, numbers, license plates … I don’t know why this works, but it can make me forget what I’m doing for at least an hour. If you’re really flagging, it’s sometimes just enough of a distraction that it can get you through a few miles.
On the days where the flowers and the mountain call you and you want to gaze at them, do it. On the others, don’t worry about your pace. Don’t worry about your race. Don’t worry about anything. Just listen to someone telling you a story in your ear and let go.