WFR #5: Relax | Wed 31st Dec, 7:30pm | Prospect Park Weekly Form Run

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I relaxed so much over the holidays that I need to run around the park before 2025 completely vanishes. Last chance to run (relaxed) in 2025, soooooo.

When: Every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. (run leaves at 7:37 abouts).

Where: Find The Big Red Pointer(TM) (center of the map, click here).

Distance: A single figure 8 lap of Prospect Park, ~4.6139 miles.

Optional Distance Sub-group: 3 miles or less if that's helpful (please let Run Leaders know).

Today's Direction:  Left as you face the park at startup.

Pace: Welcome to all. Fun.

AQI: We're monitoring Air Quality Index here and have been asked to not run if the local index exceeds 125.

New Stuff:

I dragged this week's bubble ("Relax") to the top of the topics hierarchy and gave it a good shake. The result was this diagram. "Relax" is supported by "Breathing", "Shoulders Back", "Hands", and "Smile", while "Relax" contributes to "Recovery".

Just in case you'd like to explore, here's a pretty QR Code for Week #19:

Towards the end of Week #19 Notes (below "The Mantra"TM) there are links to all the WFR weekly topics.

This week's focus: Relax (efficiency, endurance)

TL;DR: Focus on being less focused. Hmmm how does that work?

Staying relaxed when you’re tired and your legs feel like lead is no small task, according to this Competitor Running site. "To maintain efficiency, fluidity and actually run faster with more power however, you have to be able to stay relaxed and not 'force' your pace." Just like this:

In general, relaxing is key to a more productive life and running career. According to this meditation website: "Without relaxing our bodies can over load with stress hormones causes damage to cells, muscles and organs. Without relaxing our minds will be in a constant state of fight or flight which can lead to chronic anxiety and other mental health issues. In short without a good dose of relaxation every day you could be doing your body and mind irreparable damage."

There are many good messages in this piece, such as "we suffer because we take our thoughts seriously." 

Importantly, relaxing is something you can do WHILE running. Google's AI came up with this advice list. This was a good explanation: "The idea is that only the muscles that need to contract at any given moment should be contracting; minimize the tension in other muscle groups. The less muscle mass you need to use to run at a given speed, the less O2 you use." Staying longer in the 3-strides-breathing-in/2-strides-breathing-out breathing pattern should help you run more relaxed.

So basically, only use what you have to. Consciously relaxing your muscles leads to better running AND a more relaxed mindset. If you can find a way to relax more while running, you'll find yourself going faster without as much effort.

Many many articles about relaxing for the best results running, even running fast. 

In practice, think about all the parts of your body that do not need to be activated, like the muscles to scrunch your shoulders. Focus on keeping those parts not being used relaxed and loose. Noticing and releasing tightness will conserve energy and increase your efficiency.

These are tips on running relaxed.

Think Loose; Think Form; Think Strides and Breath; Think Less. 

I do like this post by an ultra runner telling you how to clear your mind. Have you ever "zoned-out" while running and suddenly realize you've covered miles without realizing it? Hopefully those miles were done without running (too many) other people off the road (not that you'd know - unless complaints started coming in some time later). In any case... if you figure out how to recreate that experience, bottle it, and sell it!

Distraction; Mindfulness; Suppression; Substitution; Meditation

Related WFR Topics
"Breathing" #11 (bubbles), "Shoulders Back" #13 (bubbles), "Recovery" #17 (bubbles), "Hands" #18 (bubbles), "Smile" #19 (bubbles).

Reading Bubble Diagrams:

Bubbles in the pictures are individually linked to the most recent notes. They are now no longer pictures (hooray), they're auto-generated scalable vector drawings.

Topics are related to each other. Some more or less directly than others. Bubble Diagrams (e.g. this week's topic bubble diagram) illustrate how they are related. Bubbles nearest the top are more directly related to this week's topic. The path to the top illustrates a chain of related topics. Topic bubbles are expanded once in their highest position (most closely related to this week's topic) and are colored blue (or colored black if this is a topic's only appearance). Duplicated bubbles are colored green, which is no less important than a blue colored bubble at the same vertical distance from the root.

Lines that join topic bubbles have been colored. Blue connecting lines illustrate a child topic (lower) supported by its parent topic (upper... think waterfall). Purple connecting lines illustrate the child topic supporting its parent topic. Black connecting lines indicate bi-directional (mutual) topic support. Lightly colored connecting lines indicate topics that are pulled out of the way, as the level they occupy is too crowded. One day 3D (AV) will allow us to walk through bubble diagrams (like tinkling mobiles hanging from your ceilings) and currently lightly-connected bubbles will just be viewable at a different angle (by spinning the view) and not colored differently. One Day... ahhh... One Day.

📢 ANNOUNCEMENTS 📢

📱Join Heylo before Feb 1 ✅
NBR is moving to a new communication platform that’s purpose-built for running clubs.
Heylo makes it easy to find weekly runs, see upcoming races and events, stay on top of club announcements and socials, and chat with your teammates—all in one place.The transition will be completed by February 1, 2026 so please be sure to sign up before then using this link.

🎊New Members x NYE Run 🥐
Your New Member coordinators would like to invite you to celebrate your 2025 accomplishments and talk about your 2026 aspirations at our NYE run to Délice de Bernay on Wednesday, 12/31 at 7:30AM leaving from Tom Stofka Garden at McCarren. If you wish to not run, feel free to meet us around 8:15AM or so!

📢 Weekly Daddy Joke 📢

Tonight we're going to start running with the left foot. After midnight we can start (running) the new year on the right foot.