BASS PRO MIDWEEK MOTIVATION - Peer Pressure can be a good thing

Hello runner friends!

Welcome back to the Bass Pro Fitness Series

MIDWEEK M😊TIVATI😊N blog!

Now let's get started by talking about something that can motivate you like nothing else can. It's something that is usually perceived negatively but in the world of running is usually anything but. What is this "something" you might be asking at this point? Peer pressure. 

But first, let's look at the definition of peer pressure and why it's usually associated with doing something bad. As defined peer pressure is the direct influence on people by peers, or the effect on an individual who is encouraged and wants to follow their peers by changing their attitudes, values or behaviors to conform to those of the influencing group or individual. For the individual, this can result in either a positive or negative effect, or both. Social groups affected include both membership groups - in which individuals are "formally" members - and cliques - in which membership is not clearly defined. Add a running group to that list of social groups and this is where it gets good. Members of tight run groups are like family. And what family doesn't like to apply some pressure to its' members to entice them to step out of their comfort zone? Especially since the “family" we run with is the family that knows our dreams, goals, and what we are capable of. These "members" apply peer pressure out of love. Something Ed Green and Jill Brockman, two of my best running buddies, did to me at a race on Saturday. 

The conversation started innocently enough with Jill saying that I should join her at Pumpkin Holler in October for another 100-mile race (something I said I would never do again). "I'll think about it," came my reply as I laughed it off. But the seed was planted. A seed that Ed later watered by applying more pressure. And you guessed it... after some further texting with Jill that included this sentence, "Ed did the 100k at pumpkin holler last year. He claims I will love it." And to pressure me just a little more, Jill added, "I know that Ed is going to get a campsite at the start/finish line for us all to keep our gear at so you can share that with us once he gets it." Notice how Jill never said "if you decide to join us?" She was applying just enough pressure that I gave in and texted back, "I'm in! I said I'd never do this again! Hahaha! Thank you for the peer pressure." Her reply? "I love being a bad influence." "I know," I responded. And then added, "This whole group is a bunch of bad influences on each other." 

See how that little bit of peer pressure motivated me to sign up for something I am now stoked about?? And when I later asked Ed about the benefits he saw of peer pressure within tight-knit running groups like the ones we mutually belong to, he had this to say... Applying peer pressure to your friends to push themselves is what friends are for. Many of us have self doubt or balk at signing up for hard things. I think I often see more ability in my friends than they know is there so I like to nudge them to discover the potential that they are suppressing. Sometimes people just need someone to believe in them and tell them to jump. Putting your name on the start list is a great way to motivate your training and develop a training cycle. As a big race approaches I always make every run count and try and stay healthy by cutting out risky non productive runs also.

And guess what? You don't even have to be part of a running group that meets in person and has members like Ed and Jill that love being bad influences, you can reap the same effects by being part of a social network of runners. Don't believe me? Check out some of the science behind it as reported by nature:

Social networks push runners to run further and faster than their friends. Scientists this week show that such exchange of information between runners has a real and measurable impact. People run more when their friends do. And when they see their friends run faster and further, they push themselves to do so too.

In the study, published in Nature Communications, researchers from the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts, describe how they recorded the daily exercise patterns, geographical locations, and social-network ties of more than 1 million people, who between them ran more than 350 million kilometres over 5 years (S. Aral and C. Nicolaides Nature Commun. 8, 14753; 2017).

Exercise, the results showed, is socially contagious. And the contagion breaks down along distinct lines. Whereas men are affected by the running patterns of both their male and female friends, women are influenced only by their female friends. And despite the aspirational spirit of sports-company adverts and marketing, and of elite athletes and champions, most runners in this study were motivated by a less noble ambition: to keep ahead of those behind them. This is a live debate in exercise psychology: whether upward comparisons to better-performing rivals urge us to improve, or whether downward comparisons compel us to work to protect our superiority over those lagging behind.

The study offers some of the first hard evidence that health-related habits can spread — and so perhaps could be deliberately seeded and encouraged — by social influence and peer pressure. Previous research has sought such a contagious effect in factors such as obesity and smoking, but the results have been inconclusive.

The new study is a further example of the power of social data collected and made available routinely on a very large scale. Runners cannot lie about their times and distances as they might be tempted to do in self-reported surveys. (Although the competitive nature of running does drive some to cheat and ride a bike.)

So there you have it fellow runners. If you're stuck in a running rut that you need to get out of, find some friends that will turn up the pressure a little bit. You'll most likely find yourself signed up for something you might regret later but you'll have fun training for! And knowing that peer pressure normally starts with a challenge, let me be the first to apply a little peer pressure to end this. I'm signed up for the Dogwood Canyon trail run AND the Bass Pro Marathon. I challenge you to join me. All the cool kids will be there and you don't want to miss out right? See you out on the trails training! 

Happy Running!!!