Finding that Flow

            I recently read an article in Running Times about flow and peak performance. The cover of the magazine read “Feel Invincible” and I flipped to the article, interested, but skeptical. The article ended up being great and applicable to much more than running. The author wrote that in flow, “you feel invincible, confident that your that your well-honed abilities will meet any challenge you encounter, even as the energy you expend feels effortless. You become ego-less as your awareness and movements merge. Time speeds up. This is a peak moment, the essence of being alive. Not surprisingly, many of the best outcomes in sports and other areas of life come from people in flow.” Sound familiar? We’ve all experienced flow, whether in that perfect race or while running alone on a forested trail. 

            Sometimes I tell people that I do yoga as a break from the stress of ski racing, among other things. After reading this article, I started to reassess. Since when is ski racing stressful? It’s all about having fun, right? I should be able to find the flow that I find in yoga in skiing. And that’s where the separation lies. Ski racing has expectations, goals, reputations to uphold, things that can definitely cause stress and prevent flow. 

            I got to thinking about times when I’ve experienced flow. Senior year in high school I was living in Sun Valley for the year and made it to states for XC running. I wasn’t really training for running and had just jumped into a few races throughout the fall. Suddenly, I found myself lined up with over a hundred other girls who dedicated their time only to running. I didn’t have any expectations, how could I? I just wanted to run fast and I was determined. To do what? I don’t think I knew. I ended up placing fourth and running a PR. Overjoyed I called my coach, Rick Kapala, to tell him the news. He went, “Uh huh,” as he always would when I raced well, then he’d tell me it was time to move onto the next one.

            No expectations worked for me there and worked once again during this past carnival season. At the Williams Carnival, Becky asked us our goals for the classic race. Instead of saying “Oh Christ,” like I had the first time she asked, I told her that I had no expectations besides skiing smooth. I might have even used the word flow to describe how I wanted to ski. The next day I had my best carnival finish of the year.

            I’ve been thinking a lot about goal setting and how it plays into finding flow. For some, having lofty goals makes them determined to reach them, for many others (myself included) it can result in stress. The article outlined how there is a fine line for setting goals. Not too hard, not too easy, some murky place in between. How does one set a reasonable goal, then? Having no goals isn’t right. Having some nerves before a race is a good thing and results do matter. There needs to be some kind of process before the result, though, and that’s where flow comes into play. Going from Point A to Point Result could potentially result in poor skiing in between. 

            What I’m trying to get across here is that flow is essential to racing AND training well. We must practice flow in training in order to find it in racing. Olympic marathon silver medalist and Mammoth local, Deena Kastor, has said that there is no reason to be nervous before a race. In the end, you’re just executing what you’ve practiced and prepared to do. Find that flow that you've been practicing in training and the results will follow. That's certainly a better way of looking at it. 

            A few days ago we did a track workout. Our track is only a year old but sits at 7,000 feet, not the most ideal place to run 400m repeats, but we forged ahead anyways. Before the last one, my mom told everyone to not try too hard, to just let ourselves run fast. So I didn’t force it, I just focused on running with good technique. I looked down at my watch at the end, surprised to find that I’d run my fastest repeat of the day. Overall, it was the best 400 workout I’d ever run. Am I in the best shape of my life? No. Did I find that flow? Most definitely.

Keep up the good work, Bobcats!
-Laurel