"Hmm, that's a nice house. I like the porch."

"Holy shit that smells good, please share, I'm so hungry."

And then the same two lines of a song over and over for like 2 miles.

I have a near compulsion against carrying things when I run, so no music or headphones for me. Honestly, I'm usually just pretty damn bored. I know a lot of people don't like treadmills, but I question if those people have ever run a 5 mile trails for 20 miles for the 10th time. Mentally, I find a lot of running time to be very boring. At least with swimming I can focus on technique.

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JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

Lol oh that reminds me-drives me insane when you get a song stuck on loop in your head!!

Math. I can't seem to shake it. It's just "ok so at this pace I will be at X miles at X time and then have X more miles..."

Coming from a swimming background, and a very math involved one; that's me. Constantly evaluating where I am, where I'm going etc.
In swimming that was every 50 yards generally, so every 28-35 seconds I'd get new data and evaluate it for the next turn.

I've never understood the pain disassociation train of thought. I have always found tapping into the pain to be far more effective that trying to forget that I'm hurting.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

I always listen to music - and I need to bring my phone/cards anyways since I run-commute to work.
Sometimes podcasts

But like someone else said - i do maths all the time too. Especially when its on a route you've done lots of times before and you can calculate exact arrival times at certain paces/etc

Lunch! Or whatever my next meal is

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Combination of the following:

- Whatever podcast I'm listening to
- Work and family stuff (use phone for taking notes)
- Route planning and math (hate running the same route over and over again so I'm always string together different pieces to create a new route)

A combination of all of the above

Left Side of the Brain [looking at watch]: OK, so we're at such-and-such a pace right now, the next mile marker is X-hundred yards ahead, so if we get to that turn in so many minutes and seconds we'll be doing a something minute split which should get us to the next marker after that in such time and we'll be back home at whatever o'clock

Right Side of the Brain: What a pretty sunrise! Do I smell coffee?Ooh! I hear birds!!!

And the earworm

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

This.

Rides: Is that a rock? Is that a crack or a shadow? Is that a pot hole? Is that parked car about to move?

Runs I will zone out when I am not actively training for something and obsess on pace when I am.

If you find running boring, my guess is that you're not suffering enough.

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Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
DarkSpeedWorks.com.....Reviews.....Insta.....Facebook
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And interesting observation I've made - If you start singing to yourself or to the music that you're listening to, your fueling and hydration is spot on at the moment. Make a mental list of a few songs that you really like to bike and and run to, and then try to start singing them to yourself during a race. If you can and you like it, you're executing perfectly. If you can't, something is off and you're about to hit a bad spot.

Out training, I usually listen to Zen or productivity podcasts, or listen to music with no words so I can think to a nice beat. Other people's words can block your own thinking.

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

Almost certainly true. :P I keep my long runs really easy. Then again, even at just ten hours/week, as someone who runs on the same path and without any sort of music, my brain turned to much a long time ago. It's just too long staring at an empty path for me to stay engaged.

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JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

I'm also thinking "all of the above," with personal caveats.

I get the one or two lines of songs in my head, typically trying to find songs with a similar BPM. I've found some interesting ones so far. I do math, trying to calculate average pace, percentages, distances, etc. My watch will tell me a lot of that, but it gives my brain something to do.

On longer runs or rides, "the demon" inevitably shows up. Why did I choose this stupid hobby? I could have chosen motorcycles, that would be way more fun, etc. This is when my mantra comes out.

I've found a great deal of success in various areas of my life by choosing a mantra to keep things focused. In the words of Covey, to keep the main thing, the main thing. For tri, you can find my mantra in my signature here.

"I am drive, I am grit, I am determination." I've defined these terms for myself, and I repeat them rhythmically when things get tough, virtually chanting them in my head. I swear at myself in my head, chiding myself to keep going. The mantra gives me three things to focus on and embody, without being too lofty to achieve. Anyone else do that?

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Brenden Macy
Sports & Entertainment Attorney
I am Drive. I am Grit. I am Determination.

I've recently turned off all watch notifications so as to not look at my watch and start doing math. It has actually helped me to run faster, at a more consistent pace.

Otherwise:

Riding on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars, fifteen restless riders
Three conductors, twenty-five sacks of mail.

That was just mean

Now I'm gonna hear Arlo Guthrie in my head, all fucking day

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

This is an interesting topic to me. There are essentially two types of people- those that focus externally and those that focus internally, when they run, cycle, et. Of course, this is a generalization and one could actually do both at various times. I tend to be internally focused- assessing how I feel physically, mentally, etc. It gets real towards the end of a marathon or ultra.

Once you learn both, you can use one to influence the other. If things aren't going well internally, focus on music or the scenery. If the externals are boring or unpleasant, focus on the mind instead and watch and learn how it reacts to external stimulus.

I once did an entire self-supported Ultraman going into it practicing not having any opinions on it, just watching my mind and body's reactions to it. I was well-trained, so finishing wasn't the biggest concern. It's always a small concern no matter what, but I didn't have to focus on finishing so much. I was able to watch the mind do it's crazy sh*t instead.

It was truly a bizarre and wonderful experience. So instead of thinking, "This hill sucks! How many more?!", I was thinking "This is a hill, it is difficult. This is the top of the hill, this is nice." And then things like, "This run is hot." Not this run is too hot, or my legs hurt too much. Basically anything that was comparative or about the past or future, I just didn't focus on. Only what was here and now. It sounds totally wackadoodle, but damn it was rad.

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----------------------------------------------------------
Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

I'm doing so much math when I swim and run. It takes forever to figure something out and when I look back my calculations are frequently wrong. My cognitive processing just plain sucks when I'm working hard. I want to master the art of staring blankly for long periods of time.

Lately, spurred by my reading of How Bad Do You Want It, I've really started doing a lot of self-analysis as I run. I'll hit a point where I want to stop running and then try to step outside of myself and think, literally, "Okay. How hard am I breathing? Not very hard at all. What's the HR? Z2, okay, it's low. How are my legs feeling? I mean, I guess I can feel them being a little tired, but not too bad. Doesn't really actually hurt. So why should I stop running?"

As odd as it sounds, that's helped me a lot. I'll hit something like 18mi and think that I just need to stop running, do that analysis, and realize that my legs really just have a full tired ache and that I'm basically fine. It's shocking how much the brain wants to tell you to stop even if the stimuli don't justify it.

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JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

When it's warm, and a breeze comes up, not matter how slight, to cool me off, I always say "Thank you" out loud

This catches people off-guard, sometimes

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

>As odd as it sounds, that's helped me a lot.<

That's actually the paradox. It seems counter-intuitive but paying attention to what you are experiencing in the moment (hopefully non-judgmentally, as Zen pointed out) makes it more doable. There is a practice in Tibetan Buddhism where you meditate on your own death to overcome your fear and anxiety about your death.

“Like everyone else, you want to learn the way to win, but never to learn the way to lose. To accept defeat, to learn to die, is to be liberated from it. Once you accept this you are free to flow and to harmonize. Fluidity is the way to an empty mind. You must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying.” - Bruce Lee

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin