Saturday, August 18, 2012

Run, Forrest, Run!

I've been running - prepping for the 10K run in October but I'm afraid I haven't made much headway yet. The thing I find toughest is being consistent and I think that's why I am not able to break my 3K run. Speed isn't great either and by the time I hit 3.5K, in Murakami's words, 'my legs start to scream'.

But I haven't given up. I am going to keep trying. While reading 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' I came across a passage that really motivated me and directly addressed my problem of consistence and persistence. This is what he says:

"I never take two days off in a row. Muscles are like work animals that are quick on the uptake. If you carefully increase the load, step by step, they learn to take it. As long as you explain your expectations to them by actually showing them examples of the amount of work they have to endure, your muscles will comply and gradually get stronger. It doesn't happen overnight. But as long as you take your time and do it in stages, they won't complain - aside from the occasional long face - and they'll very patiently and obediently go stronger. Through repetition you input your muscles the message that this is how much work they have to perform. Our muscles are very conscientious. As long as we observe the correct procedure, they won’t complain."

This is a lot like how our mind works too...and how channels and habits of thinking are created. We must not be slaves to our mind...and our mind mustn't be a slave to our muscles! Got to show 'em who's boss!

In more exciting news, I've bought myself a Pedometer I lovingly call speedy peedy (don't ask why). This way I can run in the open and still keep a track of things and that's a good thing.