Havey L.

'The Perfect Run is sure to increase your appreciation and enjoyment on the run, and that's a big payback' - Runner's World The "perfect" run, when you are in a full flow and feeling totally unstoppable, can be elusive, but this practical expert guide, written by a celebrated Runner's World writer Mackenzie Havey, will ensure you find it time and time again and in the process transform your running performances. At some point in every runner's career they experience the "perfect" run, when they are in full flow and feel totally unstoppable. Your worries about the day and physical aches and pains melt away. Your body and mind are in complete sync and the run feels effortless. Even still, the path to achieving the perfect run remains mysterious. It often materializes in the unlikeliest of circumstances-in adverse weather or on a day when everything else seems to be going wrong. Conversely, when we try hard to create the right conditions for that perfect run, it often doesn't come about. In The Perfect Run, Mackenzie L. Havey reveals everyone has the potential to enjoy more joyful and flow-driven running, no matter your experience, pace, or sporting ambitions. This ground-breaking book features insights from elite athletes, neuroscientists, coaches, and everyday runners to provide a road map for how to cultivate the right conditions for the "perfect" run. These ideas will not only help facilitate the potential for more successful running but, more significantly, can also be translated into other areas of your life to help provide a sense of calmness, self-control, and fulfillment far beyond the running trails.

Tap into a powerful mind-body connection to optimize performance and boost happiness-on and off the running trails. What if the key to improving your running, shaping your body, and boosting your happiness was all in your mind? In Mindful Running, lifelong runner, coach, and fitness journalist Mackenzie L. Havey recounts her personal practice of meditative running and the influence it has had on her life. She taps a wide range of sources--from weekend warriors to Olympic runners, from coaches and sports psychologists to neuroscientists and meditation experts--to examine how training mental fitness through mindfulness can enhance your running practice and lead to a more contented existence. The research is clear: Mindfulness changes the very structure of the brain. Paired with physical training, mindful running has the potential to give you an edge when you're out logging miles, as well as help you hone the ability to exist in the present, endure challenges and hardship with ease and find greater happiness in all things big and small. Mindful running is a total body and mind fitness regimen with serious benefits that continue even when the race is over. Regardless of your fitness level, the Mindful Running process is the same: We focus in on the body, mind and surroundings and begin to notice what thoughts, feelings and sensations exist in that moment; we fathom that information, consider how it all fits together from a holistic standpoint, and decide if we need to make adjustments; and by following these steps we enter flow, a state that embodies present moment awareness, concentration, confidence, optimal performance and joy.