How bad do you want it? How much are you putting in towards succeeding? What are you giving in order to achieve your goal? Lately, I've been kind of down because of my injury, a little scared about what's to come, and even thought about giving up on that 200 mile relay race that I was going to participate with 11 other people. I have less than 2 weeks and I already had thoughts of giving up. My knee yesterday couldn't even handle a 4 mile run, so how could I handle a leg that had 18 total miles? It seems impossible for me to get to that point, to run that far without hurting myself even worse... and letting my team down.
Since my 50 mile race... or even a couple weeks before the race... I've lost a little bit of the drive that I had towards my goal of becoming a world class athlete in the long distance running world. I've lost the will to go forward as far, and my words became more or less just words and nothing beyond them... I realize this now because I just reflected on my attitude and my commitment towards my goal and saw that it had considerably dropped. I was doing my blogs and working on my website, but I chose not to focus on my goals of being an elite level athlete.
Now that I've reflected on where I was and where I am now and what my goals are, I've come to the conclusion that I have not wanted it as badly as I meant. When you want something so badly but do nothing in order to get what you want... do you truly want it? or do you instead just wish it?
If you want it so badly, you would do anything you can to get your hands on it. The only thing in your head ought to be that one thing... if you really do want it. Looking back at my goals, I've seen that I haven't wanted it as badly as I thought I did, and so I am needing to make sure that I get to that point... the point where I want it so badly that that's the only thing I am thinking about (in a healthy way, of course). I shouldn't be complaining because of the lack of sleep, or because of cold weather, I need to do what I can in order to get to the place I need to be... to work on myself and grow as much as possible.
How bad do I want it? Real bad. How bad? Bad enough that I'm making sure that I train properly and get first place in the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon. It's going to be tough, seeing that I've gotten myself used to the slow and easy pace of running 50 milers... but I figure that I've given myself enough time to continue to grow and train myself to running that race... which is in a little over 5 months. I'm going to need to train like none other, but it's going to be my step... the next step towards where I need to be... to win this race. Dedication will show me how much I really want it... I watched this youtube video that talked about how bad do you want to succeed, and it said that when you want it as badly as you want to breath when you're drowning... that's when you know you really do want it. If you want it, you'll work your butt off and reach for that.
(today, I ran 2 miles out in 15:58, a 7:59 min/mile pace, and took a little break, then ran 2.1 miles in 15:35, a 7:25 min/mile pace. The taping that I did on my knee was very helpful and allowed me to continue to run without pain, although it was slightly difficult because it slightly impended my movement. I'm hoping that as my muscle grows stronger, I would be able to get out of this and train myself to be able to get back to running like I'm used to... can't wait to start training for that marathon.)
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Hope
Without hope, it becomes hopeless. Without a step, there can't be any walking. Hope gives you the idea of chance. The chance can give you an opportunity. The opportunity can give you action. Should the hope become hopelessness, then action is impossible. The only reason people can strive forward and live is through the knowledge of hope. Without hope, all can be lost. It's hope that drives everyone forward. Sometimes we look at things and see things we can't and can. With things that are under our own control, we can make a difference, and the difference can be that hope. Hope allows things to happen.
Yesterday, I ran 3.12 miles in 24:02, a slow 7:43 min/mile, and was forced to take a break because my knee hurt. After taking a small break, I ran 1.08 miles in 8:28, a 7:52 min/mile pace when I decided I needed to stop before I hurt myself even worse. I walked 2.05 miles back to my house in 35:08 limping the last mile. I taped up my knee after putting some muscle relaxer on it... and now I'm attempting on going out again and running less and taking a break before it hurts worse. I plan on just jogging a couple miles with a break in between and then come back.
I could choose to not do that and just hole myself and hope it gets better after a long time, but I'm a firm believer in strengthening yourself to go through things, and so I'm going to see if I can do that. If I feel like it's too much, then I'll stop, but without that hope, I wouldn't try, and without trying, I wouldn't know, and without knowing, where can I get?
Hope gets you places.
Yesterday, I ran 3.12 miles in 24:02, a slow 7:43 min/mile, and was forced to take a break because my knee hurt. After taking a small break, I ran 1.08 miles in 8:28, a 7:52 min/mile pace when I decided I needed to stop before I hurt myself even worse. I walked 2.05 miles back to my house in 35:08 limping the last mile. I taped up my knee after putting some muscle relaxer on it... and now I'm attempting on going out again and running less and taking a break before it hurts worse. I plan on just jogging a couple miles with a break in between and then come back.
I could choose to not do that and just hole myself and hope it gets better after a long time, but I'm a firm believer in strengthening yourself to go through things, and so I'm going to see if I can do that. If I feel like it's too much, then I'll stop, but without that hope, I wouldn't try, and without trying, I wouldn't know, and without knowing, where can I get?
Hope gets you places.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Your Own Training Program
I enjoy making my own training program. I enjoy helping other people form their own training program. I believe that it's important for each individual to find their own little training program.
Today, I decided to go carve a pumpkin with my sister and our friends. I did look at a couple pumpkins before I attempted my own, and although I was inspired by some of the pumpkins I saw, I decided that I was going to carve out my own without looking at pictures. I had ideas of what I wanted, and by the time I finished it, I had gotten a masterpiece. This pumpkin, although very small in size, had quite a character.
Today, I decided to go carve a pumpkin with my sister and our friends. I did look at a couple pumpkins before I attempted my own, and although I was inspired by some of the pumpkins I saw, I decided that I was going to carve out my own without looking at pictures. I had ideas of what I wanted, and by the time I finished it, I had gotten a masterpiece. This pumpkin, although very small in size, had quite a character.
I enjoyed making this little pumpkin, and looking at it, I realized how important it was for me to carve my very own pumpkin and work hard at making something new. We often forget the importance of making our own things because we're used to doing what others have done. Although it is important to look at others, because you don't want to reinvent the wheel, it's important that you create something that is specifically geared towards you (and your tastes).
When you create something, you have the feeling of ownership, where you are obligated to whatever you created. When I made my pumpkin, I was proud of it and was scared at one point, when I dropped it on the ground. Fortunately, it didn't break and I was relieved. The same thing goes for a lot of things, including my training program. I have my own ideas on my training that is specifically designed for me, allowing me to work and improve at my best. The value of the training program isn't worth too much to anyone else, but making your own gives you the sense of responsibility as well as ownership which makes you more likely to follow it.
It's important to have that feeling of ownership, to to be a part of what you made, where you can truly understand what you are about to do. Push yourself at your own pace, and you can go far. Pretending you are someone else might end up hurting you.
Think it up, create, and work with it.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Carpe Diem
Opportunities: They can be given or they can be made.
Sometimes, you get to go to a conference that's paid for and you get to eat all this food for free and seems like you get a great deal as long as you sit in on the conference. Those kinds of opportunities are given to you.
Sometimes, you go out of your way and make a mad dash to get in the front of the store on Black Friday and become one of the first 100 people to get some certain kind of discount. Those kinds of opportunities are made.
There are two different types of opportunities, one is given, the other, made. Which one are you in control over? Obviously, it's going to be the one that is made. If you make your own opportunities, you are in charge of what happens. The outcome is decided by the one who has control over it. Some of these opportunities can only be done because you made the decisions to get to that point.
Today was another one of those intense days... where I was a little tired even without running. I woke up early, met up with my young adults group, went hiking for a couple miles, then ate, then came back, rested a little bit, then worked for 6 hours at the Oktoberfest that we had going on in Farragut. As a runner, I went back and forth, bringing in food, and doing some odd jobs. I was on my feet for a long time. Only after I sat down did I truly understand how I was really feeling. It felt great that I had an opportunity to just use my everyday life in order to work on my feet. I chose this for myself because not only would it be financially beneficial, but it would also be a physical work out, and allow me to just become a stronger individual. It was brutal, but it helped me in a lot of ways. During today, I was able to talk with a ton of people and grow closer to my friends. It was definitely worth all that hard work.
Think carpe diem... seize the day, create your own opportunities and go forward with it.
Sometimes, you get to go to a conference that's paid for and you get to eat all this food for free and seems like you get a great deal as long as you sit in on the conference. Those kinds of opportunities are given to you.
Sometimes, you go out of your way and make a mad dash to get in the front of the store on Black Friday and become one of the first 100 people to get some certain kind of discount. Those kinds of opportunities are made.
There are two different types of opportunities, one is given, the other, made. Which one are you in control over? Obviously, it's going to be the one that is made. If you make your own opportunities, you are in charge of what happens. The outcome is decided by the one who has control over it. Some of these opportunities can only be done because you made the decisions to get to that point.
Today was another one of those intense days... where I was a little tired even without running. I woke up early, met up with my young adults group, went hiking for a couple miles, then ate, then came back, rested a little bit, then worked for 6 hours at the Oktoberfest that we had going on in Farragut. As a runner, I went back and forth, bringing in food, and doing some odd jobs. I was on my feet for a long time. Only after I sat down did I truly understand how I was really feeling. It felt great that I had an opportunity to just use my everyday life in order to work on my feet. I chose this for myself because not only would it be financially beneficial, but it would also be a physical work out, and allow me to just become a stronger individual. It was brutal, but it helped me in a lot of ways. During today, I was able to talk with a ton of people and grow closer to my friends. It was definitely worth all that hard work.
Think carpe diem... seize the day, create your own opportunities and go forward with it.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Mind Over Matter
When I run, I enjoy it. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't be running. I also enjoy being fast and it works out really well when you race. However, I raced that 50 mile race, the enjoyment turned into survival. What can I do when I get to that point? It's basically like when you're 30 minutes from being done of a long day of work... and it takes so long! Completely different than watching an action movie and realizing after you get out of the movie theater that a couple hours have already passed. Time seems to fly when you're having fun, but it slows down considerably when you aren't.
It's all about the state of mind you're in. If you are enjoying yourself, then it just flies and when you're done, you don't know what hit you. If you aren't enjoying yourself, you focus on the wrong things and forget about the right things and time seems to move slowly. Does time really change speed? No. If it did, we'd be living in a messed up world. The reason we let time fly by is because we are enjoying the moment and focusing on the fun. The reason we let time slow down is because we focus too much on it and our impatience works against us.
Today, I spent 9 hours on my feet working as a runner for an outdoor event, serving food and making sure everyone had the right foods. It was tough... but it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed going from person to person and just spending time with people and getting to know them as I gave them their meals. By the end of the shift, time slowed down as the crowd thinned, and as it came to a close and I went to sit down in the car for the drive back... I found out how tired out my legs were from standing and walking around all day. It was pretty exhausted, feeling so~ good to just sit.
We control our bodies so much that we can actually 'forget' how tired we are. This art of forgetfulness is only a part of what it means to have your mind over matter, but is very important. Sometimes, in a race, you come to a point where you want to give up. The only thing pushing you is yourself, and it's up to you to continue that path forward and grow.
It's all about the state of mind you're in. If you are enjoying yourself, then it just flies and when you're done, you don't know what hit you. If you aren't enjoying yourself, you focus on the wrong things and forget about the right things and time seems to move slowly. Does time really change speed? No. If it did, we'd be living in a messed up world. The reason we let time fly by is because we are enjoying the moment and focusing on the fun. The reason we let time slow down is because we focus too much on it and our impatience works against us.
Today, I spent 9 hours on my feet working as a runner for an outdoor event, serving food and making sure everyone had the right foods. It was tough... but it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed going from person to person and just spending time with people and getting to know them as I gave them their meals. By the end of the shift, time slowed down as the crowd thinned, and as it came to a close and I went to sit down in the car for the drive back... I found out how tired out my legs were from standing and walking around all day. It was pretty exhausted, feeling so~ good to just sit.
We control our bodies so much that we can actually 'forget' how tired we are. This art of forgetfulness is only a part of what it means to have your mind over matter, but is very important. Sometimes, in a race, you come to a point where you want to give up. The only thing pushing you is yourself, and it's up to you to continue that path forward and grow.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Support Your Knees
Most people have a preconceived notion about how running can tear up your knees. Most people are right when they worry about that because most people don't know how to run properly. It's important to understand how to take care of yourself by running properly and taking care of yourself through technique.
There's also another way that you can take care of yourself without slowing down the pace and working on form. That is to ride a bicycle. In riding a bicycle, because of the way the bicycle is designed, you strain the muscle, but you don't put impact on your knee. The thing is, because of the circular motion and the wheels going round and round, there isn't a jerk as the energy is a continuous motion. Now in running, we are not perfect and when we go slow, the thing is that most of us have that slight impact as we run, which is why it's important to protect your feet and run properly. Now the thing about protecting yourself is that giving yourself a cushion changes your form slightly, so it's very important to understand that and work hard to make it so that you aren't putting too much pressure on the joints.
I rode my bicycle today, and it was great. I was listening to music and was on the greenway, pushing not too fast, but enough to raise my heart rate and make it somewhat of a workout. I rode 7.55 miles in 34:29, an average of 13.1 miles per hour (which is the pace that Ryan Hall ran his American record smashing half marathon). Funny that my medium bike is his running speed.
When I ride my bike, the thing that happens is that the strain is on the muscles, forcing them to become stronger without damaging the joints themselves. It's important to strengthen them because after the race, I was pretty much useless and my knees weren't able to take running because of the little pounding that I would have to do. In cycling I trained my legs hard so that I would be able to support myself in longer runs. Eventually, I want to get to a point where running a 50 mile race is a walk in the park, but that'll be up to my training. I'll have to make sure that I work on all the support muscles in order to support myself as I run this race. It's not just about the science of what you put in your body nutritionally, but it's also about properly training your body and conditioning them to support each other towards your goal.
There's also another way that you can take care of yourself without slowing down the pace and working on form. That is to ride a bicycle. In riding a bicycle, because of the way the bicycle is designed, you strain the muscle, but you don't put impact on your knee. The thing is, because of the circular motion and the wheels going round and round, there isn't a jerk as the energy is a continuous motion. Now in running, we are not perfect and when we go slow, the thing is that most of us have that slight impact as we run, which is why it's important to protect your feet and run properly. Now the thing about protecting yourself is that giving yourself a cushion changes your form slightly, so it's very important to understand that and work hard to make it so that you aren't putting too much pressure on the joints.
I rode my bicycle today, and it was great. I was listening to music and was on the greenway, pushing not too fast, but enough to raise my heart rate and make it somewhat of a workout. I rode 7.55 miles in 34:29, an average of 13.1 miles per hour (which is the pace that Ryan Hall ran his American record smashing half marathon). Funny that my medium bike is his running speed.
When I ride my bike, the thing that happens is that the strain is on the muscles, forcing them to become stronger without damaging the joints themselves. It's important to strengthen them because after the race, I was pretty much useless and my knees weren't able to take running because of the little pounding that I would have to do. In cycling I trained my legs hard so that I would be able to support myself in longer runs. Eventually, I want to get to a point where running a 50 mile race is a walk in the park, but that'll be up to my training. I'll have to make sure that I work on all the support muscles in order to support myself as I run this race. It's not just about the science of what you put in your body nutritionally, but it's also about properly training your body and conditioning them to support each other towards your goal.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Technology
Because of the technology that is already at our fingertips, we have access to all sorts of information. Understanding this, I worked hard for a long while and created my first website http://runtofinish.weebly.com/ where I put down a lot of things regarding running and am working towards getting it to become as viral as possible, to impact the running and future running communities.
Technology has the capabilities of teaching us so many things, that it would be dumb not to use it. Some people use technology in order to play their games and never truly get anywhere because they didn't utilize the time they had on the computer or television... or anywhere else. Using technology, I've studied about what to eat, drink, and do in order to maximize my running efficiency. It's only logical that I use what was there, and on the internet, there are an almost infinite amount of information floating around. Sure, some of them would have no great value and are worth nothing, but some of the information out there can rock your world.
It's important to utilize this information that can be readily in your hands, so therefore, important to figure out which information is valuable and reliable. Because of the large amount of information appearing online, it's hard to decipher which is the useful information and which isn't. To me, it's important to look at all sides to the information and make an educated choice that would put together the pieces of information, filling my head with the most logical sets of information.
Of course, technology is but a tool, the most important thing is the people behind the tool. It's those that utilizes the tool and shares it with others that can truly help. This is what I'm trying to do with my website, to shed light on other people about the myths of running and how you can work to improve your running abilities. Utilize the technology around you.
Technology has the capabilities of teaching us so many things, that it would be dumb not to use it. Some people use technology in order to play their games and never truly get anywhere because they didn't utilize the time they had on the computer or television... or anywhere else. Using technology, I've studied about what to eat, drink, and do in order to maximize my running efficiency. It's only logical that I use what was there, and on the internet, there are an almost infinite amount of information floating around. Sure, some of them would have no great value and are worth nothing, but some of the information out there can rock your world.
It's important to utilize this information that can be readily in your hands, so therefore, important to figure out which information is valuable and reliable. Because of the large amount of information appearing online, it's hard to decipher which is the useful information and which isn't. To me, it's important to look at all sides to the information and make an educated choice that would put together the pieces of information, filling my head with the most logical sets of information.
Of course, technology is but a tool, the most important thing is the people behind the tool. It's those that utilizes the tool and shares it with others that can truly help. This is what I'm trying to do with my website, to shed light on other people about the myths of running and how you can work to improve your running abilities. Utilize the technology around you.
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