Depression and Running in Women

Running or other types of aerobic exercise definitely make you feel better but will it make a difference for someone who is clinically depressed? This study was completed in college age women (women are more likely to suffer from depressive symptoms and college age 18-22 typically is the age of 1st onset for many woman). The article is lengthy so the summary of results is :
Young adult women who participated in aerobic exercise experienced a
significant and meaningful decrease in depressive symptoms. Women in the anaerobic
and control groups did not experience a significant decrease in symptoms. Thus, while
physical exercise is an important aspect to overall wellness, the type of physical exercise
should also be considered when working with women, who exhibit depressive symptoms.

Exercise and Depression 1 Running Head: EXERCISE AND DEPRESSION ...

Setting Goals to Stay Motivated

Setting goals is an age old motivational tool. In fact Aristotle advised, "First, have a definite, clear, practical ideal - a goal, an objective."
The most prominent research done in the area of goal setting was done by Dr Edwin Locke in the late 1960s. In his 1968 article "Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives," he stated that employees were motivated by clear goals and appropriate feedback. Locke went on to say that working toward a goal provided a major source of motivation to actually reach the goal - which, in turn, improved performance.

Locke's research showed that there was a relationship between how difficult and specific a goal was and people's performance of a task. He found that specific and difficult goals led to better task performance than vague or easy goals.

Telling someone to "Try hard" or "Do your best" is less effective than "Concentrate on beating your best time." Having a goal that is too easy is not a motivating force. Hard goals are more motivating than easy goals, because it's much more of an accomplishment to achieve something that you have to work for.

After completing my 1st 1/2 marathon I wanted to stay motivated. Following what the research suggests and what I've found worked to keep me motivated for my 1st race I set new goals. First, I signed up for another 1/2 marathon and put on my calender my new training schedule. I follow Jeff Galloway's 1/2 marathon training guide and have found that this is doable, yet challenging at the same time. For my first 1/2 I did not set a time goal, but for my second I have. I also scheduled several shorter races as I have found completing these events keeps me motivated to improve my times.

Setting goals when running will keep you motivated, improve your performance, and more than likely keep it fun.

"I Get to Run."

Feel Lucky About Your Next Run at Runner's World

I did it!

I finished my 1st half-marathon this past weekend. Reflecting on the experience, I wanted to mention a couple of things I went through.
1- Pre-race jitters. I've taken lots of exams both written and oral, had interviews both one on one and group and I must admit that the anxiety I felt the night prior to the race was more intense than any of those experiences. I struggled to keep my thoughts positive, but the things that worked were reminding myself of my training and also I used the mantra "I get to run." I also used distraction that night, I had a good book, a fun magazine, did some knitting, watched a movie. My advice especially if you are away from home is to make sure you bring plenty of distractions with you.
2- The unexpected. So for my 1st half-marathon it was pouring down rain throughout the race. How do you deal with this? I must admit if it is raining I train indoors, so this was a challenge. Along with this I found out my Ipod is NOT waterproof. So no motivating music for 13.1 miles. Positive self-talk was how I dealt with this, and once I was with thousands of people running with me the rain even seemed fun. Music would have been nice, but I realized running a long-distance lets you experience a city in a new way or for the 1st time. I found myself enjoying just looking around.
3-Unhelpful comments. I'll only mention this briefly because the best way to deal with negativity is to ignore it. If you let the comment get to you it can be devastating. I've realized that you cannot expect everyone to be positive. Stick to discussing running with the running community and with people who are positive influences in your life.

My overall experience was a good one and I've signed up for my 2nd half-marathon later this summer.

"I get to run!"

The Runner's High

I had an awesome run today, and I wondered to myself is the runner's high real? Below is a summary of a 2008 study done in Germany using PET scans in 10 runners before and after 2 hours of running.

The Runner's High: Opioidergic Mechanisms in the Human BrainHenning Boecker1,2, Till Sprenger3, Mary E. Spilker1, Gjermund Henriksen1, Marcus Koppenhoefer1, Klaus J. Wagner4, Michael Valet3, Achim Berthele3 and Thomas R. Tolle3



The runner's high describes a euphoric state resulting from long-distance running. The cerebral neurochemical correlates of exercise-induced mood changes have been barely investigated so far. We aimed to unravel the opioidergic mechanisms of the runner's high in the human brain and to identify the relationship to perceived euphoria. We performed a positron emission tomography "ligand activation" study with the nonselective opioidergic ligand 6-O-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)-6-O-desmethyldiprenorphine ([18F]FDPN). Ten athletes were scanned at 2 separate occasions in random order, at rest and after 2 h of endurance running (21.5 ± 4.7 km). Binding kinetics of [18F]FDPN were quantified by basis pursuit denoising (DEPICT software). Statistical parametric mapping (SPM2) was used for voxelwise analyses to determine relative changes in ligand binding after running and correlations of opioid binding with euphoria ratings. Reductions in opioid receptor availability were identified preferentially in prefrontal and limbic/paralimbic brain structures. The level of euphoria was significantly increased after running and was inversely correlated with opioid binding in prefrontal/orbitofrontal cortices, the anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral insula, parainsular cortex, and temporoparietal regions. These findings support the "opioid theory" of the runner's high and suggest region-specific effects in frontolimbic brain areas that are involved in the processing of affective states and mood.


HAPPY RUNNING!

Try Distraction for a More Enjoyable Run

As a runner, have you ever had the experience of focusing on how your body feels and getting discouraged because you are focusing on your side stitch or how your legs feel tired or similar unpleasant sensations?
If you find yourself doing this one way to change this is dissociation. Really it is distraction from bodily sensations and thinking of something else. Some suggestions are below:

Music – This can generate positive thoughts, improve your mood, and distract you from the physical demands of your sport. It's important not to get too distracted especially if you are in a busy area with traffic.
Counting game – Count the number of red cars you see, or the number of cyclists that pass you. You can be inventive, I have a friend who grew up in a rural area and counted utility poles. Try whatever works for you.
Alphabet game – Work through from A to Z for a chosen category, such as men's names or TV shows.
Rainbow game – Try to notice as many colors as possible while you run. See if you can get ROYGBIV.
Active fantasy – Imagine yourself as a lottery winner and decide how to spend your winnings.

Avoid thoughts relating to your work, jobs you have to do and anything problematic or stressful, as this can increase tension.

You oviously can be inventive on this. The ultimate goal is to make your run more enjoyable.

The Long Run- Ugh!

Anyone who has trained for a race knows that Saturday or Sunday is your long run day. I titled this post ending with an UGH to point out that your mindset going into a long run is crucial. If I think of my long run with an UGH or similar negative I find that it is hard to even motivate to get started. And if I manage to actually start, I am less likely to do the mileage I set out to do and those miles I do finish are painful.

In psychology cognitive behavioral therapy is well known and often used to change one's thinking from the negative to the positive. We all at times have what we call thinking errors. And usually each individual is more prone to think a certain way. For example, overgeneralization is a common thinking error. If something bad has happened once we may say it will happen again. So in running if you had a day that you were tired and could only run 3 instead of your planned 5, you may say to yourself, "I couldn't even run 5 on Tuesday, I'm not going to be able to run more on the weekend." If you go into the weekend with this mindset of course you won't run more.
Another common thinking error is all-or-nothing thinking (black and white thinking). You think of things in absolute terms, such as never, always, every. So you might say to yourself, "I'll never be able to do this.", when you think of running a certain distance whether that be 1 mile or 26.2 miles.
If you tend to think like this or have these thoughts before or during a run one strategy is to challenge these thoughts. Ask yourself is it really true that you cannot do this, do you have proof? Most likely the answer is no you don't have proof. Replacing your negative thoughts with a more positive thought will change how you think and ultimately how you feel. So saying something like, "I am up to this challenge." or, "I'm going to do my best." will help you finish or move you towards your goal.
So really I should title this post The Long Run-Yes!