When running is no longer a joy for 90 percent of the miles, the rest of your life is probably affected.
JOY! It all comes down to this simple aspect. Just like most things running, I've found that this quote is applicable to all aspects of life: training, work, etc. Try it for yourself. Just replace the previous quote with a life activity.
For me, the burnout occurred on a swim. I have never been a strong swimmer and have had some bad experiences growing up. So right off the bat, it was evident that if I had any joy from swimming it was no where close to 90%. Plus Master Swim classes aren't exactly easy. Check out what Ate Joy has to say about them:
I was already beat between the warm up and those drills, but he was just getting started. I couldn’t keep up with the rest of group, but it really wasn’t about keeping up. It was an eye-opener to get pushed like that though. On my own, I never would’ve pushed that hard for that long until my arms felt completely limp.
Needless to say I burned out. It was in the middle of the swim and I hit a point where I just couldn't finish mentally and physically (a sensation that many people have described to me as bonking). The days following I felt bummed out and even got a little sick. I had it set in my mind that I was doing too much and gave up swimming completely until after the marathon.
Since then, I've finished a marathon and learned quite a bit about how much our mental conditioning plays a part in our training, racing and daily lives. One thing that was helpful was this I clinic attended several weeks before the Richmond marathon. It was entitled "Running With Your Head" and given by a Dr. Ferguson (sorry I couldn't find his first name, but he was an olympic qualifier so his information is credible).
In the clinic Dr. Ferguson described the mental aspects concerning preparing for and racing a marathon. One of his key emphasis was that there are countless things that you cannot control (weather especially) on race day, BUT one of the most important things you can control is your mind. In the weeks leading up to the race I practiced mentally by envisioning how I would run, the feelings I would go through, and how to stay positive and push through when my body wanted to quit. And it helped out a lot during the marathon because even though I bonked physically, I never quite thought that I could not finish mentally.
For me this mental conditioning has applied through all aspects of my life. If I'm having a bad day, I'll close my eyes and find several positive thoughts to help pick me up. Its even helped out a lot with swimming! If you stay mentally positive or joyful then you can accomplish great things. Besides whats the point of doing what you're doing if its not at least 90% joyful.
5 comments:
I honestly don't remember half the stuff I tell you. That one about masters swim sounded good though ;)
It's not always easy to break out of a mental downward spiral, but I've found that thinking of my blessings & the good things in the my life help.
Ate Joy. That's actually a quote directly from your blog. I went ahead and added it in the post. Thanks for reminding me.
I agree, your mind is a powerful thing. Mind over Matter. When I have those days of being physically burnt out, I have to think positive and the job at hand gets done. That's what I actually do when I go for a run. I tell myself "you're almost done, can't turn back now". Before you know it, I feel invigorated and want to do another lap. Good blog Ryan...thanks.
hi,
Interesting to hear about mental conditioning in your blog. Interestingly i had another aspect of how people are conditioned to think and act in manners dictated by their surroundings. It reminds me about the deaf frog who won the race while all the other frogs dropped back lost coz they paid attention to all the negative feedback they received on their way. Needless to say that the deaf frog had no conditioning what so ever during the race to influence his sprint. Conditioning plays a vital role in our day to day lives too, we are limited majorly by our own mental limitations.
Thanks Mae! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Great thought Eddie! I like that parable of the deaf frog and him finishing because he was unaffected by the negativity. You're right we are often limited by our mental conditioning and the tick is to figure out ways to overcome that obstacle.
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