Ultrarunning
Fernanda Maciel's meditation method is something we can all learn and apply
Ultrarunner Fernanda Maciel credits meditation with helping her reach her peak performance and in this Mind Set Win episode, we learn how we can incorporate this valuable skill into our own routines.
Fernanda Maciel is the latest high performing athlete to share her mental tactics on the Mind Set Win podcast and this week’s theme is one that hosts Cédric Dumont and York-Peter Klöppel couldn't wait to explore further and change people's perception on.
Meditation, in particular the Vipassana technique, first became part of Maciel's daily life in 2006, shortly after she started ultrarunning up mountains and over gruelling distances of more than 100km.
Of the many benefits she experienced it was the ability to efficiently and automatically filter her negative and positive emotions that really helped her become the best version of herself.
Since incorporating meditation into her training, the Brazilian has become one of the most renowned endurance athletes in the world and completed many extraordinary challenges, including climbing Gran Paradiso and the Matterhorn in the space of 24 hours, becoming the first woman to run up and down Argentina’s 6,962m high Aconcagua and conquering Antarctica’s highest peak in record time.
Meditation has definitely helped me a lot to know my body
"Meditation has definitely helped me a lot to know my body," Maciel says. "The first thing I learned was how to observe my thoughts. I learned it and then transferred it to running."
By focussing on her breathing and being deeply aware of her body from the top of her head all the way to her toes, Maciel likens the intimate observing of her thoughts to that of having the power to see how your heart is beating and your lungs pumping.
"With running, you have so much time to think," she says. "If you can filter your thoughts and focus on the positive ones, that's the best way."
Another day in the office for Fernanda Maciel
© Mathis Dumas/Red Bull Content Pool
Just as you train to run further and faster, you can also train to think positively and not allow negativity to control you
Episode exercise
In the takeaway section of this episode, Dumont and Klöppel aim to change some of the perceptions that come with meditation.
"I often hear the same comments," Dumont says. "As soon as people hear meditation, they think of someone sitting down for hours thinking about nothing."
Klöppel, the Head of Mental Performance at Red Bull's Athlete Performance Center, is quick to highlight that meditation can come in four types that vary in intensity and duration. Let's look through them.
Fernanda on film
- The type of meditation that sometimes happens by accident. We enter a state of flow while doing something, like running or hoovering at home and it becomes a form of meditation.
- A more intentional form of meditation, but only for brief moments throughout the day. A couple of minutes here or there.
- Very intentional, where you reserve specific time in the day to meditate. Many people like to do it in the morning, for up to two hours.
- The type of meditation that requires you to go to a retreat or classes where you spend 7-10 days or longer, specifically for meditation.
To help us on our meditation journey, Klöppel also explains that regular practice is needed if we want meditation to be a skill that becomes automatic in helping us filter between our facilitating and debilitating thoughts.
Being present in the moment and just introducing meditation into our daily activities for even just a few minutes at a time, can help us start to become more connected with ourselves.
Maciel on her record-breaking run on Aconcagua
© Gustavo Cherro/Red Bull Content Pool
As mentioned above, in 2016 Maciel became the first woman to successfully run up and down the highest mountain in the Americas, the 6,962m high Aconcagua in Argentina, in 22 hours.
A challenge she describes as "crazy", it was on the third attempt that the former environmental lawyer conquered the high mountain after suffering illness and altitude sickness on her two earlier efforts.
Many professional ultrarunners had tried before her and the 43-year-old credits her meditation with contributing to her success by helping her remain calm, make the right decisions, and keep her body moving in the challenging times.
"I remember arriving and not believing I'd done it," Maciel remembers. "I thought it was possible, but also impossible at the same time, as it's so long and the conditions are so different at the top from the bottom.
"Running so high at altitude, on rocky terrain, I really felt all the meditation I had done, all my prayers and all the lessons I had with the mountain was my schooling for finishing it."
Find out more – including simple exercises to do at home – in Mind Set Win.