Having trouble with your run? The experts say that all you need to do is smile your way past it (2024)

My feet are pounding on the pavement, trainers rhythmically thudding against the ground with unforgiving and relentless monotony.

The breath burns in my lungs, each ragged inhalation followed by a far-too-rapid exhale.

Stinging sweat rolls into my eyes, wetting my top which bounces like a chain-mail vest across my shoulders and chest.

Every ache, niggle or pain I've felt in the last month is coming back with a vengeance.

There's still 10 kilometres to go.

It doesn't sound like a whole heap of fun, does it?

Well, in truth, it isn't.

But in that case, why am I smiling?

Two simple words to make you run better

I, like hundreds of Australians each and every week, recently entered a running event, in my case a 30km run along the paths and trails of the Gold Coast's picturesque spit at Main Beach.

In honesty, the 30km distance was daunting to me.

Even accounting for a healthy amount of preparation, I had never run anything further than a half marathon (21.1km) before.

So, beset by pre-race nerves, I messaged my brothers, asking for tips.

For the record, my youngest brother is a depressingly fast marathon runner who recently finished his fourth London Marathon in a nausea-inducing time of two hours and 24 minutes — that's like running your local parkrun in 17 minutes and four seconds, eight-and-a-half times in a row.

Expecting a disheartening message related to pre-race stretches, nutrition plans or pace guides, what I got back was a disarmingly simple response.

"Keep smiling."

It was tempting to scoff but, instead, I took those two words on board. What did I have to lose?

And incredibly, it worked.

Dr Vanessa Wergin from the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland, was not surprised.

"There is research out there that shows that running with a smiling face does help," Dr Wergin told ABC Sport.

"It helps your perceived effort of the situation and it also helps your performance.

"It's not only true for running but for many other sports as well."

Getting your gurn on

It wasn't just my brother who lives by this advice.

When former marathon world record holder and two-time defending Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge ran the first ever — albeit unsanctioned — sub-two-hour marathon in October 2019, he did so with this quote ringing in his ears.

"When you smile and you're happy, you can trigger the mind to not feel your legs."

Good enough for Eliud, good enough for me.

But here's where I should insert a couple of caveats.

Before doing any form of event like this, it's important to train appropriately, checking in with a trusted medical professional and perhaps a coach to set a plan to get you active and healthy and into a position to achieve your goals.

Because, let's be honest, if you've never laced up a pair of trainers before, whacking a smile on your dial isn't likely to help you thunder through a sub-three-hour marathon at the first time of asking.

Equally, that doesn't mean running with a Joker-esque grin pasted on your face the entire time, or just gurning at innocent bystanders.

It means, in my case at least, that I made a concerted effort to smile to myself throughout the race, trying to remember that I actually paid to enter it and that I should enjoy being outside on a warm autumnal day on the Gold Coast — whether my hips felt like they were about to explode or not.

And, somewhat to my surprise, it made me feel better.

Perhaps it was a reaction to people on the side of the path responding, in turn, to my smile by offering an encouraging clap or cheer.

But even aside from that, every time I plastered a grin over my grimace, things felt a little easier.

And it wasn't just my imagination —there is science to back it up.

The science behind smiling and running

In 2018, Dr Noel Brick, Dr Megan McElhinney and Dr Richard Metcalfe from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland published a paper in the journal, Psychology of Sport and Exercise.

The aim of their experiment was to compare the effects of altering facial expressions while running and whether this had an impact on running economy or performance.

They grabbed an admittedly small sample size of 24 runners who completed four, six-minute efforts with a random order of smiling, frowning or neutral facial expressions, as well as by being told to relax their upper bodies and hands, with their cardio-respiratory responses recorded continuously.

The results showed that, overall, the runners used less oxygen while smiling than in any other situation.

Indeed, most of the runners were actually more economical while they smiled — although that being said, heart rate did not seem to change.

The conclusion was that "periodic smiling may improve movement economy during vigorous intensity running" to the tune of almost three per cent.

Incidentally, a three per cent improvement, in my case, equates to about four minutes over the course of the 30km race — and I beat my target time by two.

"We see that positive body postures or sharing positive emotions does help performance in many ways," Dr Wergin said.

"On a very physiologic level there's something called embodiment of facial feedback, which is basically the assumption that every feeling or emotion that we have, we have a certain body posture or facial expression that aligns with it."

The most famous experiment to illustrateembodiment of facial feedback was conducted by American Robert Zajonc in 1989, who made his students watch a comedy with a pencil in their mouths.

The ones who held the pencil length ways, simulating the muscles used to smile, found the film significantly funnier than those who held it pursed in their lips.

"When we have an emotion, we would show that, but it also works the other way around," Dr Wergin explained.

"So if we take a certain body posture, or a smile for example, we do feel better and as a result may also be able to perform better because we know helpful emotions are linked to improved performance."

Running boom

It's not just smiling that can make a difference.

A Bangor University study led byDr Anthony Blanchfield in 2014 found that positive self talk during exercise "significantly" reduced the rate of perceived exertion in a group of cyclists and enhanced endurance performance.

In short, the mind can seemingly have a powerful effect on the body when it comes to athletic performance.

And that's good news for the increasing number of Australians who are lacing up their trainers and entering races across the country.

Official marathon and half-marathon events are selling out as people flock to test themselves, while over 70,000 runners or walkers regularly partake in one of parkrun's 479 weekly events across the country.

And it turns out, just by being in those types of events can have an impact too, with runners feeding off positive feedback from those watching on the side of the course as well as their fellow runners.

"This is what we call inter-person emotion regulation and that can also decide whether teams win or lose games, so I'm not surprised that can affect your performance as an individual," Dr Wergin said.

So, if you are thinking of heading out and hitting the road or trails this weekend, would it be worth attempting a grin as you do so?

"Sports psychology is really individual and it's very different depending on what you're generally thinking about," Dr Wergin said.

"It's an individual tool box that has to be redesigned for everyone.

"But, I will also say, it can't hurt.

"Just try it out. Have a little self experiment."