OK, so while doing some training yesterday a topic came up that I thought I would muse about a bit on here in a post. This has to do with knowing yourself. There are a great deal of things which have gone through my mind while pondering this so I will just go ahead and begin.
Firstly, you end up learning more about your body. I was stretching after training yesterday and chatting with Eddie, who is running it as well. While doing so, I learned a couple new stretches and felt some pain I had never had before. Muscles which have never been stretched before! There has to be a connection in stretching and being full present. You can actually start to concentrate on those areas you are stretching and feel the blood rushing to them, the heart beat around it, and the pain tingling throughout.
The other part is knowing your limits. On the one side, your limits end up changing. I can tell a massive difference in now only how I feel after running 6ks…I am not near as tired, but also in my perception of running a 6k. I look at it as not near as hard. I would have never thought that would cross my mind. You begin to hear the limits within yourself. This also comes into play in the battle of the mind. The other week, when I was running a huge amount, there began a battle of “I can’t do this” becoming prevalent in thoughts….for like 2 or so Ks. And I was only at the half marathon point. I was able to finish and felt fine afterwards, but in the midst of it, I was struggling. The revelation for this came in the form of knowing these thoughts are coming, knowing when they usually come, and having something to counteract them as they come about.
All the above comes through training not just going out there and trying to do something….there is a connection with so much!
