What do you think about when you run? š¤
Self-Talk, Mindset, & Sentiment Analysis from 100+ Runners
Is running more mental or physical?
What the heck do other people think about?
What should I think about?
Running & Thinking
If youāre a runner, or have ever laced up those sneakers for a few miles, youāve probably pondered these questions.
Do you reflect on your day or your work? Do you think about your friends and family? Or do you mentally rummage through your fridge to craft the perfect post-run meal in your head that youāre going to whip up as soon as you get back?
āTacos, beer, how much longer?ā
Whatever you think aboutā¦ I promise youāll find both mental tips and humor out of these.
So, I know what I think aboutā¦ but, what do other people think about? Am I normal? Are there mental toughness secrets to running?
Iāve been thinking about thinkingā¦ and decided to try an experiment.
I did some first-hand research using analytical methods that may appall an academic scholarā¦ but nevertheless using an excellent sample setā¦ I posed this question to my favorite passionate group of runners on Facebook.
Spoiler alert: Yes, heaps of people also think about food ā itās okā¦ youāre normal =)
Many folks thought about nature and many focused on their running. Others thought about family and friends, or reflect on themselves, their day, and their work. And one talented individual said āI actually go in a trance and donāt remember anything during my run lolāā¦ š¤·āļø I wish I had that superpower!
Hearing everyoneās thoughts brought more questionsā¦
āWhat do you mean by that?ā
āWhere do you put your focus otherwise?ā
āHow do you mentally prepare for a run?ā
Then we askedā¦ What can we learn from our thoughts?
What if we took it a step further and analyzed what our psychology means. Are there themes? Are specific things better to think about than others? Is there anything we can learn?
Are there trends between our thoughts and our running?
Some of the questions we asked:
- Are there any common topics that standout? Am I normal?
- Do most runners really enjoy the running itself? Or are most trying to tune it out with headphones, music, and audiobooks?
- Are most people in off their own world?
- Finally, what thoughts are helpful? Are there any tips I can apply to my own running?
The responses were anonymized and categorized by topics, where the focus lay, and then piped them through natural language processing for sentiment analysis (how positive or negative each thought was). Now weāre getting deep. š”
Categories of analysis:
- Topic: What are the themes?
- Internal (Self) or External (Others): What is the subject of the thought? Is this thought about the runner, or are they focused externally, maybe on others?
- Associate vs Disassociate: Does this focus bring the runner closer to their running and into the present moment. This may be thinking about technique and pace, evaluating performance. Or does this thought disassociate from running, letting the mind wander to other topics or luring it away with music.
- Positivity: Neutral vs Positive vs Negative. What is the sentiment of this self-talk? Is this is a positive thought, negative thought, or is it neutral.
The Results
Common Topics & Themes
Food was the most common thing that people thought about. Usually being what are they going to eat afterwards, but also analyzing what they ate before the run and what they should eat during it. Many people dream up the perfect dish theyāre going to chow down afterwards.
So, when Iām on a long run and still thinking about breakfast tacos ā normal!
Second most common was pain. āThis hurtsā or āthat hurtsā, fatigue, the heat, and other discomforts.
At least now I know everyone else is working through many of the same difficulties that I am. Everyone else has also days when their brain doesnāt cooperate.
Further, if most people are also feeling these same pains, and theyāre pushing through it successfully right next to me on the trailā¦ then I know I can do the same. Itās not any easier for themā¦ and itās probably not any worse for me. So, suck it up brain, if they can do it, so can we!
Other common topics were about the route (how much farther to go or directions to take), people (family or friends, and especially kids), nature (observing the outdoors was a popular subject of gratitude). Some people used the time for reflection, processing their thoughts, problem solving, and planning.
Positivity of Thought
We donāt have data to correlate performance, but using sentiment analysis, we can estimate positivity and negativity of thought. Here, this is calculated using Amazon Comprehend.
Research in psychology and mindset shows that the power of positive thinking, and the mental side of sports, is huge. Likely even more critical of a factor in many ways than the physicality of an athlete, especially in endurance events. Visualization, self-talk, and other skills, can help make an athlete mentally tough.
So here, letās look at positive thoughts as those that encourage us to keep going. Those that make running more enjoyable. On the flipside, negative thoughts are more likely to cause doubt, pain, and cause us to slow or stop.
What do we see in the data? First, that most thoughts areā¦ neutral. Most simply flutter by without influencing our outlook.
Second, we do see positive thoughts outnumber negative thoughts, by almost 3:1. Given the number of people and diversity of topics, thatās interesting. Do runners who are active on Facebook just happen to be more positive people? Or does running put one into a more positive state?
āI think about the situations that are most stressing me. Somehow when I run, they seem less severe and my stress melts away. Running puts things in perspective for me.ā
My hunch is the latter.
Depressed? Feeling stressed?ā¦ A run may help.
āPerhaps all our troublesāall the violence, obesity, illness, depression, and greed we canāt overcomeābegan when we stopped living as Running People. Deny your nature, and it will erupt in some other, uglier way.ā ā Christopher McDougall, Born to Run
Note that I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice.
Another interesting way to slice the data is to look at our topics through this sentiment lense. Collectively as a topic, which tend to be the most positive versus which seem to be more negative?
Maybe we can learn which topics are most useful to focus on, versus which topics are better to let pass.
Topics in positive self-talk:
- Goals: Thinking about our goals may help give meaning to our running and improve our outlook.
- Problem solving: Running creates the time and mental space for us to think through our challenges. After a long day or week, it makes sense that having the space to process our thoughts improves our outlook, instead of feeling buried in them.
- Work: I thought this was surprising. Work, when mentioned, was discussed with other positive topics, which gave it a positive score. The reason is likely similar to problem solving.
- Spiritual: Some prayed for themselves or others.
Thinking about themself or about others?
Most people ARE thinking about themselves. (I knew it!)
Youāre out there running and your body is sending a barrage of signals to your brain. Itās difficult to ignore. No matter what weāre thinking about, our brains are constantly bringing us back into the present, physical moment.
Also, if hunger (most food thoughts) and pain are the most common two topics, then it makes sense that most thoughts are also internal.
There wasnāt a huge difference in positivity between Internal and External thinking. Internal had a greater range of positive and negative thoughts.
Associate vs Disassociate
Dissociating tended slightly to be the more frequent focus of runners. I guess thatās not surprising given the majority of runners that I see are wired up with earbuds and listening to something.
Dissociative thinking was slightly more positive overall, but even more significant was that it tended to be much less negative. Maybe there is some psychological benefit in those earbuds.
Associative thinking, or focusing on our running, includes the pain and effort that weāre putting in. Those signals out of our conscious control, our body is sending to our brain. So it makes sense that it can have a negative component. The positive side of association were thoughts of accomplishment.
Whereas dissociative thoughts are more often chosen by us, in terms of music, podcasts, and audiobooks. With that intentional choice, it makes sense that weād select something to provide a positive experience.
Figure out what music amps you up or podcasts most inspire you. Try those tools on days you need a pick-me-up.
So, reader ā what do you think about when you run?
RUNNING THOUGHTS:
- Food
- Yep. What Iām going to eat when Iām done.
- Life. Jesus church. Nature family music
- Killing
- Arguments so I get wrapped ip and forget how long Iām running. Conversations about things or people that never happen.
- The breeze, scents from childhood, work, family.
- Literally everything. But after the run i tend to be more ordered but man, Iām just scattered sometimes!
- Replay conversations and scenarios that happened and how I handled them or what I should have said.
- I try and not to think about nothing. i just enjoy the scenery where i run/walk. And i really donāt focus on anything.
- Depends what is going on in my life ATM and who I am with lol. Usually food š
- How Iām off pace. Wow, I should do better. I need to run moreā¦
- I actually go in a trance and donāt remember anything during my run lol
- If Iām running by myself, Iām usually cussing myself out for getting myself into this mess. If Iām running with other people, Iām still cussing myself out, but Iām also wondering why my breathing sounds so loud and my running partners doesnāt lol.
- The rains down in Africa
- Zero
- Resting
- Everything
- Manā¦ All kinds of stuff. I usually work through my problems at first. Then I move on to the basics of Maslowās scale, like get to the next half mile š¤£
- The food at the finish line
- What Iād do when I win the lotto š
- Everything.
- Pretty empathy. My next step and then my next step and so on.
- Finishing!!
- Food
- Getting in my pace and staying comfortable
- How far that I have come in my training!!!
- Literally everything. I run city streets and I just enjoy seeing things I donāt notice while driving or riding. I speak to random folks and get excited when they cheer me on.
- The next water station.
- The beer Iām working off that I drank the night before or the beer Iām going to drink.
- The end
- Beer
- I try to think about nothing.
- What Iām going to eat afterwards
- How many more miles? Why the freak am I running in Louisiana summer heat? Eh, skip this song. Skip this one too. Oh I like this one. Shit, that song made my heart rate sky rocket. How many miles have I done? How is it possible Iāve only ran a mile and a half. Iām starved!! If I run 5 miles I can have a slice of cake. Ohh double that and I can have two! I should have peed before leaving the house.
- Listening to Karen and Georgia. #SSDGM
- Me too!! #ssdgm
- That hurts, that too, and so does thatā¦squirrelā¦itās hotā¦now that hurtsā¦ad nauseam.
- My form, my pace, how I feel, man this headband is on point, is it Saturday or Sunday? Sunday good, football today. Canāt have too many beers though cuz of my diet. Iāll just eat less calories so I can afford more beer calories, shit Iām running too faā¦
- All the things. I think of them all until they are gone, then I just run.
- Tacos, beer, how much longer?
- Math. Usually multiplication or converting US to metric.
- How much further till Iām done?
- My audio book. To-do list for the day.
- Itās so meditative for me, so just feeling the rhythm..when Iām not dying š
- My next step. The next mile
- Numbers and life
- Numbersā¦thatās me! I do the same thing.
- Tacos.šš»āāļø
- Foodš
- my breathing
- Mathematical equations, same verse of a song, over and over and over, dont walk, you can do this. Compare this run to previous run. itās usually trying to figure out my split tim, or total time from my split time, and if I were to increase my speed, what those times would be, same as decrease. Sometimes just random calculations. Anything to keep my mind off that Iām running lol
- Everything I need to get done that day and week. It definitely helps relieve my stress and stay focused.
- Eating lol
- My marriage, work, my kids, I miss my grandpa, arguments.. I should have said THIS. Oh shit someone was in that drivewayā¦was I talking out loud? Did I just run by them waving my arms around talking to myself?
- a runner. Perfect form tilā i passā¦aaannd relax.
- Goals
- I wish I could think about that instead of when will the pain stop.
- The planet and how we have destroyed it, geo-engineering, co2 production, the nightmare of factory farming, roundup, GMOās, you knowā¦ the usual šššš
- Food. Water. In the summer, finding shade & possibly sprinklers. In the winter, itās āmy hands are cold without gloves. My hands are sweaty with gloves. Make it stop.ā
- My time, speed, pain, do I have enough water, should I eat something now, pain, is that creepy guy looking at me? Lol
- I try to just focus on the music or podcast I happen to be listening to.
- Everything! Goals, kids, work, vacations, ā¦.
- Not dying. Lol
- The music or podcast Iām listening to, prayer, work, food, the nature around me, the weatherā¦.a little bit of everything.
- I think itās funny how deep some of you are. If Iām not planning on where to go on my route, what Iām going to eat, figuring out how to ration my water or where the nearest fountain is, bemoaning how hot or tired I am, Iām just listening to my book. Iām definitely not having deep thoughts or communing with nature. lol
- The better question is what DONT I think about when I run š
- Food.
- How much longer ? You can do this ! Only so many minutes left lol
- How much I hate it for the first mile or so then my mind thinks about everything and anything!
- Not falling down!
- What donāt think about when I run!š
- My family in Heaven, my kids, family, and God. So thankful. šš½
- How i wish it would stop
- Most of the time o run with friends so we talk
- Usually food, whatās for breakfast or dinner
- How much I gotta pee even if I peed before my runš
- Food.
- It being over!
- Some music in my head
- I personally solve all the problems I encountered during the day, week, month etcš
- I focus on the beauty of the nature around me
- My other 99 problems š¤
- How much longer I have lol and then everything I have to do when Iām done running
- It all depends on the day, if Iām alone or running with a friend and the actual run itself!
- I pray for others; sing to myself; think of the past (happy times)
- Today all I could think about is āwhere is the turn off to that 14 mile greenwayā and āplease God donāt let me get lostā. š±š¤Ŗ
- why in sam hill am I doing this for
- Stopping. Lol
- Anything and everything. Things I need to remember to do or look up or get. How much hills suck.š
- Anything and everything ššš½
- Dying ššš
- Everything and nothing.
- Nothing, its my time to have a clear mind. And I love it!
- Goals I want to achieve and anything positive going on in my life.
- sometimes it isā¦god will this run never end, and sometimes it is āeverything and nothingā and sometimes the endorphins are everywhere and it is amazing
- I pray for folks. I listen to podcasts and consider my life.
- Everything and nothing
- My lungs hurt, my hips hurt, my legs hurt, my feet hutt, ooo look itās a squirrel
- The next telephone pole
- i try not too think and make it more of a meditative, mind clearing, present in the moment experience ā hard to do but worth it
- That I need to run faster..LOL..usually all the things that are going on in my life..
- I think about the situations that are most stressing me. Somehow when I run, they seem less severe and my stress melts away. Running puts things in perspective for me.
- Food š
- When itās going to end.
- boobs?
- Food. Family. Food. Beer. Food. Finish line.
- I pray, thank God for everything and then planā¦
- If I am going to poop myself šš¤£š
- Ha! I end up doing a lot of ārunning mathā in my head! If I go this route thatās 7 miles so if I add that loop thatāll add 2 so Iāll just need 2 after that. Etc etc.
- I think one of the reasons I love running is for the thinking time. I think about everything.
- Stress reliever! !
- Seeing wildlife.
- Sex. Duh. Iām a guy. Lol
- I listen to romance novel audio books, so sometimes thatās me too.
- Iām not very religious, but I seem to pray during runs.
- When I was running consistently..Not falling down and getting another broken bone. Now I am slowly getting back into it after two years and saying why did I stop!
- Beer and food š
- Not running anymore lol
- Donāt trip.
- everything, but i find it is better if i donāt think, try not to; try to stop the voice/ noise in your head; youāll feel better if you can master that; hard to do
- About my time, my form..proabaly too muchā¦I do much better o the days I donāt think.
- What race I will do next.
- What ever comes to my mind.
Next: More data to gather more responses, resulting performance insights, and segmented by athletic levels!
If you also think about runningā¦ join our new group Marathon Runners šā
