I have been fortunate to find myself in what is sometimes know as a flow state during my training. This doesn’t happen every time… but maybe once or twice a week. I have read the books on „Zen“ running, but never found a good way to trigger this feeling.
For me, this is not when I am pushing the Watts on Zwift, rather this is when movement feels effortless and everything clicks. These moments stay with me for a long time, and I feel like they somehow bring a deeper benefit.
This can’t be turned on and off at will and sometimes feels very far away. I did notice that there appears to be some things that make it more likely….
Wild Weather
Any time there is a gale, of even better a blizzard… I am off and running. As I charge though the weather I feel really connected and find a smile on my face.
Nature
I am really lucky to live in the mountains, whilst providing a ton of monster climbs… it also provides some of the most beautiful places on the planet. For me forrest trails, hidden in an out of the way valley make me feel like I can fly.
Late evening swims
I love open water swimming, however my guilty pleasure is a late evening pool session. Often I have the place to myself at 9pm and can glide though a session. Some days the water just feels perfect and holding pace effortless.
Racing though Crowds
This is a maybe a little more strange… but often when I visit a city I enjoy to run though the town centre, jogging past shoppers and crowds.. I think this reminds me of my childhood.
Since taking on tri, I do less running races… however when I do some shorter events, I normally start further back from the tape than normal. This means that I can enjoy cruising though the crowd.
Road bike descents
I have a ton of super technical descents on my doorstep… these tend to bring on a state of controlled terror rather than flow! There are a few that I know like the back of my hand… with nice open turns.. I love barrelling down these.
Prediction
It’s impossible to predict when and how this state of motion can be found… the person that cracks that formula will be very rich! I think being lucky enough to experience it every so often is good enough for me.
