Itoften happens, among the posts on the
RunLovers Club on Facebook
(come on, what do you mean you’re not a member?) to read something about the big little roadblocks that runners encounter in their running practice.
What may (or may not) surprise you is knowing that these are blocks that athletes of all levels go through, from the novice amateur who leaves home to do his half-hour activity every three days to the professional who competes in the Olympics and trains for six hours every day.
These are all surmountable blocks, but at first they seem insurmountable and may even be thought to put off those who face them.
I CAN’T DO IT
It is the most common and the most understandable of all. Who hasn’t thought that? We are swamped with things to do in our hectic lives, and sometimes we carry stress even into physical activity and running, which should instead be moments of leisure and tranquility. If we start out on a run that we had envisioned a certain way and instead feel like it’s going horribly, there’s no need to demoralize ourselves and say things like “I’m a wuss” or “I’m never going to get better.” Apart from the fact that it will certainly not change our running for the better, it will make us less aware of what our capabilities are. The key to “making it through” is consistency-a drop falling drop does not consume the rock, but many drops created the Grand Canyon. So if you find yourself in such a situation, try telling yourself something like “one more effort” or “come on, if you make it that far you can stop,” because even stopping is okay in some cases. Some great athletes use what is called the ten-minute rule, and trust me, it’s fine, just fine, even for us amateurs.
I MUST BE PERFECT
Okay, we say this to ourselves a little less frequently than “I can’t do it,” but it can happen, and even then we can be faced with an insurmountable wall if things don’t go the way we planned. It is part and parcel of the competitiveness we have with ourselves, and it can lead us to misjudge how far we have succeeded so far. If you have prepared a race with an outcome in mind to achieve and surpass and on race day there is wind, rain, too many crowds that doesn’t allow you to run the way you wanted to or you just can’t do it to the best of your ability and you come in with a less good time than you had hoped for, well, you can either get angry or pat yourself on the back and say, next time I will be more careful here, here and here. If you have to do the repeats and your watch reads three seconds more or less than what the coach said, there is no point in invoking the god of athletics, because even Kipchoge himself will tell you that “perfection cannot be achieved,” but improvements can.
THE OBSESSIVE COMPARISON
This is a big problem because it seems to affect more than just us as it relates to the performance of the people we compare ourselves to. Whether they are our friends or whether they are role models we look up to, pitting ourselves against each other can be a very good way to understand where we can improve, but it can also be detrimental, especially if our yardstick is based on someone who has characteristics too different from our own. Each of us is made differently, and there is little point-except for the purpose of motivation and spurring-to look at the performance of others. Because Mario or Mary did a certain thing and succeeded in a certain time, it is not certain that I can and especially should do the same. Of course, if Mario or Maria’s example pushes me to get out of the house and try something new and helps me by giving me a little extra motivation welcome, but it should not become an obsession, because that always hurts, even when it brings improvement.
You may have noticed that all three of these mental blocks are interrelated and can often occur simultaneously and coexist. Recognizing them, accepting that they occur, and knowing how to get around them will allow us to resume enjoying each ride.
(Main image credits: Vadymvdrobot on DepositPhotos)