Prevent comparison and become a better runner

What are the best mindful tips on preventing comparison?

Running can be a boiling pot for self-comparison, whether it’s through Strava segments, race results or “runfluencers’” shiny social media feeds.  Self-comparison is a hard-wired evolutionary trait, which used to be crucial for survival, learning new skills and identity formation.  However, in our modern data-saturated world, it can lead to feeling “not enough”.

I see runners and other athletes struggle with all aspects of self-comparison, whether it’s who’s running faster; who’s doing a longer race; who’s training harder, longer or getting up the earliest while working and looking after a family; who’s getting more sponsors; who looks cool as a cucumber in a race while you’re bonking; who’s body looks most like a “runner’s body”.

Self-comparison can feel like a heavy weight to carry, but mindfulness strategies can be one way of refocusing on you, your path, your achievements and progress.

The science behind mindfulness in sport

Mindfulness is having a non-judgemental awareness of present experiences and bodily sensations and being able to observe the present moment, rather than getting stuck in the past or future possibilities.  The research suggests that mindfulness can benefit athletes for both training and competing as it can positively benefit mood, increase flow state and quiet a busy brain.  Athletes with higher levels of mindfulness can recover from negative emotions more quickly, have stronger cognitive reappraisal skills, higher distress tolerance and overall improved mental resilience.

How can we use mindfulness for self-comparison?

Attention training:

It takes practice to be able to stay in the present.  Our attention (what we’re observing) can be broad (e.g. observing multiple team mates’ behaviour at once); narrow (e.g. foot placement on a technical trail); and directional: external (e.g. weather conditions); or internal (thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations).  Runners and other athletes need to be able to switch between different types of attention and identify the best attentional focus for the task.  For example, if you notice comparing your running form to another runner during a race, a narrow internal focus might be the most helpful – focusing on your breath, counting foot falls, attending to your own bodily sensations.

Catch the comparison:

Try noticing and labelling comparison thoughts, whether you’re comparing to other people or yourself e.g. “I used to be able to run that distance so much faster”; “they’re cruising and I’m struggling”; “I’m eating so much more than them”.

Noticing and labelling gives some distance from the thought: “I’m noticing I’m having a comparison thought”. To reduce the emotional connection to the thought further, you could use imagery to let the words drift by, like leaves on a stream or little clouds on a breeze; or try singing the words to a favourite song, or speed them up or say them in slow motion.

Is this thought useful?

Comparison tends to reduce the world into binary categories: good/ bad; healthy/ unhealthy; winning/ losing.  Mindfulness can help shift judgement to information and encourages functional evaluation.

For example, instead of “I’m so much slower than everyone at run club”, try replacing criticism with curiosity: is this thought useful, can you label it as a comparison thought?  Then try reframing it as information, rather than judgement: “this is the pace my body can do at the moment”.  Be kind in the way you speak to yourself.  We know that being self-critical isn’t an effective long-term motivator – try talking to yourself like someone you love: “I’m running to respect my body, not to punish it”; my body is doing her best for me”.

Run Naked

No, not in your undies, but lose the tech!  The data from sport watches and apps can be a useful tool but it’s also a tool for instant comparison.  It doesn’t have to be for every run, but once in a while try running for the experience, and leave the watch at home.  Try focusing on your five senses, what can you see, hear, smell, taste, and what are the body sensations you can notice?  Or set yourself some fun mini challenges, which have nothing to do with pace or distance, like run until you’ve petted 10 different dogs; take a sketchpad and do a 5 minute drawing at the mountain summit.  If you notice comparison thoughts creeping in, have a mental reset e.g. giving yourself a high five; imagine pushing a magical red reset button.

The social media trap

We constantly have self-comparison at our finger tips but we can use social media mindfully.  Before you open an app, ask yourself what the intention is behind this action, what are you hoping to feel in this moment.  If the motivation is for validation or reassurance, pause and consider whether comparison is going to serve you right now or make you feel worse or invalidate your own efforts.  And then maybe just put your phone down and reflect on what you feel proud of, or connect with a loved one, or sit with the sun on your face and just be present in the here and now.

We’re all beautiful unique individuals with our own strengths and flaws.  Although self-comparison is a common human behaviour, comparing yourself diminishes your own efforts, progress and achievements that you deserve to be proud of.  Comparison ignores the reality that we’re all different; mindfulness respects our differences, and allows us to turn up with focus, rather than fear.