With Coach Alexa, Online Running Coach and in-person coaching in South Oxfordshire
Hi there, team. We Run Coach Alexa here for Reading, South Oxfordshire, and online.
Somebody reminded me today that it’s two weeks until Christmas Eve, or two weeks until Christmas Day, depending on when I get around to posting this video. I realised that I’m not even remotely prepared for Christmas. I’ve not even got the decorations out of the loft and I’ve not even started the Christmas cards.
I’ve vaguely thought about ordering some cheese, which is, after all, the most important part of Christmas for me.
Christmas Pressure and Time Constraints
I was thinking and reflecting on the fact that a lot of my patients and a lot of my runners are in exactly the same position, feeling like Christmas is accelerating towards us, like a lot of this year has been accelerating at an alarmingly fast rate.
How do we fit in training and all of the Christmas preparation that might be needed over the next couple of weeks? We might be busy with work because it’s that time of year, the end of the year, with all of our work squished in either side of trying to take a break over Christmas.
The Importance of Mentally Calm Rest
I wanted to drop in with a reminder about physically inactive, mentally calm rest time.
I know it’s easier said than done, and we’ve often got a lot on our plates at this time of year. But it is worth remembering. I’ve talked about this concept in the context of training. It’s really useful, alongside sleep of course, to help our bodies adapt to training. But it’s also really helpful for our brains.
If, like me, you’re starting to feel like you’re shifting towards a slightly more frazzled state of mind at the moment, literally making time to do something that involves no physical activity whatsoever is important. That might be sitting still or lying down, and doing something that is mentally calming.
What Counts as Mentally Calming?
For me, and for pretty much everyone actually, the science suggests that mentally calming does not include scrolling on your phone. That’s not mentally calming at all, in fact it’s exactly the opposite.
For me, it also doesn’t include much television, because I don’t find that particularly calming either.
It’s about thinking what is genuinely mentally calming for you, and then planning a little bit of it into each day.
Benefits for Brain and Body
This will really help your brain. It will help your brain make sense of all the stuff that’s going on and find a little bit of space amongst the to-do list. It will really help your body as well to recover from the training that you might be doing.
I thought I’d just drop that reminder in at this time of year.
Final Thoughts
Christmas can be wonderful. It’s full of fairy lights, which are my favourite bit, fairy lights and cheeseboards are basically my Christmas highlights. But it can be a little bit stressful as well.
So remember physically inactive, mentally calm rest time.
And happy running.
