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What do your running dreams actually mean?

In this episode of the I Don’t Know Running Podcast, Lewis and Mitch dive into the strange, vivid, and sometimes stressful dreams runners experience — from being late to the starting line, to legs that won’t move, to those magical dreams where you’re flying effortlessly down the trail.

We explore how sleep, training load, stress, and recovery all influence dream content, and what those dreams might be telling you about your performance, fatigue, and overall health. Is it anxiety? Adaptation? Overtraining? Or just your brain doing its thing?

We also talk about:

Common runner dreams (heavy legs, missed starts, endless climbs)

What science says about sleep, REM cycles, and motor learning

How bad sleep often shows up before bad performance

When dreams can be a warning sign vs. a positive signal

Ultra-running, sleep deprivation, hallucinations, and trail weirdness

Practical ways runners can use sleep as a training metric

We’re not dream experts — just runners sharing interesting research, personal experiences, and a few laughs along the way.

👉 Drop a comment: What’s the weirdest running dream you’ve ever had?
👉 Subscribe for more honest, relatable conversations about running — fun, frustrating, and everything in between.

Happy running. 🏃‍♂️

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