This post is much later than I promised in my last entry but trust me, it's mainly due to telco connection/ technical issues and not really because I'm slack! Everything is now fixed (hopefully) and so I'm back to recording this journey into the unknown. I'll try not to be cynical about the potential of computer problems re-appearing.
Anyway, enough of the geek stuff, back to the journey. Amongst lots of good training sessions recently, I've been listening to some podcasts and reading books on 'mind training for the endurance athlete'. My goals still seem to be a long way off, still seem improbable. Yet not impossible! The more I read the more I realise how much I have to do and learn, but all that does it makes me more excited......
The Mind Training stuff has reinforced what I've discovered since starting the journey. Over the last few months I've learnt if I keep a positive attitude to my training, if I approach every situation as an opportunity to learn more about myself by pushing myself, if I never let my mind talk my body into giving up before it has absolutely has to, then the Impossible will become the Improbable and then the Improbable will become a reality.
Its a cliche to say 'its all in the mind', to say 'What my mind can conceive my body can achieve' and all the other well known positive affirmations. Yet I've learnt the cliches are also truisms.
As an example, recently I have been concerned with my running. For ages now I have only been able to run for a few minutes at a time. I could fastwalk for hours but only run for a short while before having to stop and walk. This was annoying me but I didn't know what to do.
The podcasts etc suggested it was all in my mind. It said to 'reframe' my mind, to believe my body could do more, and to find a new way to view it. So I decided to enjoy my running. I told myself I love the feeling of being out of breath, of the feeling of tiredness when running. I came up with a running mantra that matched my footfalls. The mantra reminded me to run using good form, to run with relaxed muscles and to love the feeling of running. I said to myself in time with my footfalls - 'Smooth...Relaxed.. I LOVE...distance....running'.
As well, whenever I thought I'd gone as far as I could, I started 'scanning' my body to learn how I was really feeling. How did my legs feel? my lungs? my feet, ankles, glutes, chest, eyes, lips, jaws, throat, shoulders, arms etc etc. I told myself to discover how I felt, and no matter what it was, to enjoy it.
Guess what.
Overnight - and on every run since- I've been able to run HEAPS longer than previously. I went from struggling to run 6 minutes without stopping to running 30 minutes, 40 minutes or more. And I could back it up with more and more running in the same session.
Today I ran/walked about 13kms in 1:21:15. - Started with a 30min run, 5 min walk, 7 min run, 5 min walk, 6 min run, 4 min walk, 11 min run, 3 min walk and finished with a strong 13 min run. Awesome.
Yes, its not as far as I want to run, but that initial overnight improvement was staggering. So yes, the cliche's really are truisms - it really is all in the mind.
Its shown me I must make the next step, I must decide to control my mind to achieve my goals. Can I do it? The answer, of course, is in the day-to-day experiences of this journey! The answer IS the journey.
Other people have done it. The great Percy Curetty, a man who redefined distance running in his 50s (among other great things) said he never believed what his mind told him, he told his mind what to think. When his mind said he was in pain, he told it to enjoy the feeling, to learn from it. By doing this he found he could do things other people said were impossible.
A good lesson to learn. So now its time to see what my body can do, its time to over-ride my mind, to learn, to really live the adventure, its time to discover myself by living the journey.
Wow! Better get going....
More later, journey on....
James
Word Count - unknown.
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