Fighting the mind

How do you go about getting yourself in a good state of mind? This is something you have to learn when doing endurance sports. People who go jogging probably understand what I mean. As many people forget, besides the obvious fysical workout, it's also a mental sport. Actually, I think it's even the hardest part about it. With a good condition but a bad wave of thoughts you'll have a hard time going very far.
Now, when I go running, almost everyone wears earplugs blasting their favourite music. A good way of keeping the mind in a happy mood and distract yourself from the signals that your tired body is sending you. For a long time I did this myself and was even setting up playlist with the perfect rhythm to run on. Saturday Night from Elton John was perfect for this! This went good for a while but I also noticed that after an hour + running, when I pulled out my earplugs it always felt like an oasis of calmness came over me. In the end I even looked forward to the moment I turned off the music and could let the quiet sink in. This is of course, if you can run in non crowded places. At that point I decided I should try jogging without music at all and just enjoy the scenery and sounds of the surroundings.

By doing that you also cancel all the distraction that music gives and you're stuck with only your own thougths. I heard from others not everyone can cope with silence that well. Like when they don't have some noise around, only hearing themselves or voices from memories, they start thinking themselves into a depression. Lucky for me I can easily evade such lines of thoughts. But anyway, now you only have yourself to keep you going. After about 15 kilometres it can get a bit hard to not think about some point of pain in your feet or the distance still in front of you, so at that point it's case to be your own best friend. Not so easy! Start thinking about things that make you happy. Your plans for the weekend, a significant other, that big fish that you know is somewhere in the pond and you're gonna catch for sure next time, whatever gives you energy. What I do mostly is dreaming up small stories like the one you can read two posts below. Simply running is a great way to get inspiration, it's pure free time with no distractions. It's not like you have much else to do until you finish. It's great when you, after a while, start getting "in the zone", a sort of trance, and forget you're even training and feel that you can go on for hours. This doens't happen every time unfortunatley. Sometimes what also works is just not thinking.......at all. Only focus on your breath and keep going.
Granted, when you arrive back home covered in dirt, the taste of grass in your mouth and two days have passed since you started, it's time to stop shuting down your brain while running.

Another thing I enjoyed about jogging without music is that I'm better aware of what's around me. It could be coincidense (I think not) but I've seen much more wild animals than before. Rabbits, owls, bats, squirrels and even deers, which is pretty cool. And during winter when everything is covered in snow it's just such a nice sound hearing nothing else than the snow cracking under your feet.

The thing is, you can't enjoy silence without being exposed to sounds first. So blast your ears for now, but try to embrace the silence afterwards.

Oh, and a bonus pic, you remember the small creation made of cat bones and clay I took to the forest a few weeks ago? This is what the head of the cat looks like:

What would you say about some jazz this week? I've chosen for something from Marva Josie. She has sang for two presidents in the white house in her lifetime so you can't call her very "underground". She has a big repertoire, but for me there is one piece that sticks out. "He does it better" is not one of her better known songs, I believe it's one of her best though.

And now just shut up and enjoy.

                                                Marva Josie - He Does It Better