Overcoming fear when returning to running

This month's blog was penned by Dan Hindsley, amateur triathlete and Ambassador for Living Proof. Dan talks us through the mental script he used when trying to return to running - in the hope that this will help others who are adopting a neuroplastic approach to recovery from chronic pain but struggling with returning to sport.

For 15 years I had believed that I was unable to run due to a diagnosis of degenerative disc disease. I had already experienced a lot of success with the neuroplastic approach, however when it came to running, there was always a lingering doubt, a thought that continued to arise saying, “what if you’re wrong, what if you are going to cause yourself irreversible damage?” 

At this point in my recovery journey the space between pain ‘flare-ups’ had drastically reduced.  Most of the time I was enjoying a pain-free life. Occasionally there would be a painful episode, however I could normally link these to stressful life situations and calm the symptoms with a combination of breathing techniques, meditation and journalling. 

Despite all the success, when running, that niggling doubt kept returning. I would set off running and my overly alert brain, trying its best to protect me, would be scanning the body looking for any sensations that would confirm an underlying fear that I was doing damage. 

Any tension was over-analysed, and my body would become even more taut in a negative feedback loop that would often result in me hobbling home with my lower back as stiff as a board. 

I was convinced that this pain was a neuroplastic symptom, yet I couldn’t stop it from happening! 

A breakthrough... 

I tried to push on through the pain, but that didn’t work.  I tried telling the pain to go, but that didn’t work.  I tried getting angry with the pain, and that didn’t work. 

Things began to improve when I decided to work with the pain.  If the brain was trying to protect me then I needed to find a way to re-assure it that no damage was being done. 

Through lots of trial and error, I landed on a mental script that seemed to both provide my brain with the logical information it needed to be re-assured whilst cultivating mindfulness. 

Whilst running, whenever I felt tension in the body, I ran through this script and before long I was enjoying pain free runs!  I wanted to take the opportunity to share it in the hope that it might work for someone else. 

The script goes as follows... 

Have I given my body chance to warm up with a walk/jog?   Yes 

Have I had an impact to cause structural damage?   No 

Have I twisted or landed awkwardly?   No 

Have I over-extended?   No 

Have I run too fast or too far? (building distance by 10% a week should not cause any pain.)  No 

OK – In which case, this is just tension in my body caused by fear. 

Therefore, I need to relax and return to the present moment. 

I would then repeat this affirmation: My body is designed to run, it has evolved over millions of years to do just this! 

I would smile, look around at the scenery and focus on slowing and deepening my breath. 

I would continue to repeat this exercise over and over until it became almost automatic.   

The path to pain-free running was not immediate but I believe that the continued repetition of this script helped re-wire those old stubborn neural pathways.  

The practicalities... 

On a practical level, I built the distances very slowly.  For example, at the start of the process I would walk for 10mins, jog for 5 mins and walk for 10 mins.  I would do this on a treadmill three times per week.   

I gradually increased mileage by extending the jogging sections (aiming at roughly a 10% increase per week). 

I began to join the local 5k park runs which I loved. I continued to build the distances and completed several half marathons. I found a love of fell running and started to include sprints and hill repeats into my training sessions.   

Finally, I completed an Ironman 70.3 distance triathlon to sign myself off as ‘recovered’. 

 Covid put a stop to my full distance Ironman but not before I ran a back-pain free marathon in training.  

I hope that this little mental script can also help someone else on the mind-body recovery journey to overcome their fear and return to running!