Seasoned runners will often tell you despite their commitment to the cause, even their mind wanders when they’re taking to the treadmill or the pavement. This small, but highly destructive act, means you’re less likely to concentrate on what you’re meant to be doing (simply placing one foot in front of the other in a rhythmical pattern) and you’ll fixate on unhelpful external factors, like fatigue and the demands of physical exertion.

But a recent shift towards allowing your body and mind to work together in harmony, commonly known as mindful running, is helping to eliminate the distractions. By focusing on breathing first and foremost, it helps transport you to a new zone which can in turn reduce feelings of anxiety, depression, stress and pain.

Using time-honoured meditative tropes, you can let go of the external factors influencing your mindset and begin to feel more grounded, unaffected by these worries stresses and strains. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth at least five time before you set off and you should notice a new mindset taking over.

Once you’re moving and have settled into your run, you can then begin to ask questions of your body, purely related to how it feels at that time. External factors are not welcome in this mindful running space, so ask yourself how your body feels. Does it feel balanced? Is there somewhere which feels tight? How is your form? How is your breathing? Once you are concentrating solely on the run, connected to your physiology and psychology, you are more likely to enjoy the activity and are less likely to suffer from an impromptu injury, because you are far more aware of your self.

As an additional benefit, once you’re in the perfect mindful running space, you will be able to soak in your surroundings and, who knows, notice something you’ve been missing while you were too busy fixating on something unrelated to this run, and this run alone.

However while you’re enjoying this brand new head space, the last thing you should worry about is your nutrition, which is why Pulsin’s range of protein Supershakes should be your go to fuel source.

Taken half an hour before you head out, the Cacao Maca Energy Supershake boasts 20g of complete plant-based protein and a perfect complex of B vitamins. Blending pea, pumpkin seed and rice protein and mixed with either water or milk, it’s vegan friendly, gluten-free and non-GM, can boost metabolism and reduce fatigue thanks to the natural presence of iron.

And if you don’t have to worry about lacking the fuel to continue while you’re pounding the pavement, you can simply concentrate on running, not running on empty.

Sources headpsace.com