mental game

I have read an article in the past that the marathoners (or in my case, endurance athletes such as runners, triathletes, and the like) are the best employees. this i re-realized again yesterday during my training long run.

like any other sport, training for running needs a lot of dedication. there is a target with each and every activity. things can't be labeled easily as something you can just "go with the flow." at some point,  it can get boring. like yesterday, i realized that doing 5 rounds at UP acad oval can be really boring (just like with work, hahahaha) things go on and on, and you'd feel like nothing new happens. NOT UNLESS you make things happen for yourself (like, change the route you're running at which i eventually did). instead of boring myself around the acad oval, i decided to run along University Avenue then run along Commonwealth Avenue, just to break the monotony of running round and round like a hamster.

hamster mode

 

another lesson i've re-learned from yesterday's run was there will always be distractions from you achieving your goal. in my case, they were the bikers, skateboarders and other people at the park with me. include there also the number of people looking at me while i was running, as if i had some dirt on my face, or something. in order for me to get focused again with the task at hand (to finish my 13K "long" run), i had to zone out for a while. what did i do to keep myself FOCUSED with the task at hand? well, initially i started focusing on how my feet lands. when i get tired, i usually hear loud thumps every now and then, include also the fact that i sometimes heel strike (worst case scenario). another thing i did was to just keep (swimming) running. eventually the mind would not give excuses on why i don't want to continue running anymore (well primarily it was because of katamaran actually). 

just keep swimming/biking/running
(whatever floats your boat)

when that didn't work anymore, i borrowed a strategy i learned from Sir PatCon. He once wrote (or was interviewed about his running), and he mentioned that he prays the rosary when he runs. initially i thought that it might feel weird to pray during running. i had this belief system that praying should always be done in a quiet place, where i won't be distracted etc. but when i was actually doing it already, it gave the same calming effect despite the intense noontime/afternoon heat. given that running for me is my alone-time, it did work. 

life is a mystery

i could have also not proceeded with my long run yesterday because i went home late the other night coming from my sister's wedding. i actually thought of that, but then again i made a compromise already of waking up late AND doing my long run before attending another reunion of sorts with my relatives from the states, so there. i pushed through with what i intended to do for the week, i succeeded with my week 1 action plans and milestones (of attaining 21K mileage for the week).

not bad for someone who has not been running for quite some time actually :) 

at the end of the day, i had to admit that running is a MENTAL game; it was more of doing things because of the WHYs behind it. i kept focused on doing what needs to be done despite all the possible excuses i could come up with. 

i did it. ;)