I’m not sure if this warrants being under the ultra guides and advice section, but on reading a blog post by the COO of the company I work for in my ‘real-day paying job’, I thought it was a timely reminder and concept that can be used across both business and sport.
WARNING – THIS POST MAY ATTEMPT TO GET DEEP AND MEANINGFUL!
In some regards this follows on from a number of the other training advice articles and guides we have written, most notably about going through the motions in your training cycles. However in this instance, this post will be short and sweet – We just want to pose some questions to get you thinking about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
Do something everyday that scares you is something I’ve always tried to live by, and while each ‘boundary’ is different and personal to the individual, no matter how big or small it might be, it’s your comfort zone that you’re pushing yourself from. But in our running world, is it realistic to say do something different each day?
When thinking of this concept, we tend to think in rather grand scales, such as decide to run 100 miles, instead of ticking the 100km option. But these concepts can be very small, personal battles too. Andrew in his previous article entitled ‘Running the Perfect Race’ captured this very well.
Instead of walking the next hill, why not try to run it? If it scares you because you don’t know how you might feel afterwards, just give it a go because you can learn from the experience afterwards. What’s the worst that can happen? You surprise yourself and get to the top, or you manage to run half of it – it’s still half a hill you wouldn’t ordinarily have run.
Get up at 4:30am and run an extra 5kms, instead of getting up at 5am and see it as an opportunity. These little opportunities aren’t necessarily life changing things on a day-by-day basis, but over the course of a life-time, these small changes all add up to a pretty big change in the way you approach not only your running, but the way you lead your life. They say there is glass half-empty people and glass half-full people, which one are you?
People often talk about fate, or indeed luck. Some people are more lucky than others, or fate just seems to always work out for them. For me, fate is a result of choice and opportunity. If you’re presented with an opportunity, take it and choose to say yes – you never know here it might lead you and you get lucky.
Luck is when hard work combines with opportunity. Every minute of our lives we are making decisions / trade offs and there is always an “easier/safer/lazier” option. You have to challenge yourself to take the less lazy option.
I’ve always thought it no be a great ideal to live by, but particularly like the way you apply it to ‘small’ running goals. I’ll be thinking about this on my next run. Thanks
a great philosophy to live by. Funnily enough Dan the getting up early to get more running in is something I never really did before we started doing the bay run last year at 5.
I now get up at 5am every weekend for my long run regardless of distance and absolutely love it. nothing better than seeing the sun come up half way through you run. The advantage is that push yourself to go further as you have the added time. I knocked off 40km by 9am the other week and had only planned to do 34!
5am, that’s late! Ha
Wait until you have kids Vizey, then you’ll realise that 5am is not late when you’re up at 3-4am feeding them and then getting up an hour later to train… 🙂 Then try that with two of the little blighters… 🙂
Dan are you able to breast feed??? kidding 🙂
…You just put my thoughts into words. In my previous life, let’s say pre-running life, I used to avoid things what scared me. I would rather go around them, or even sometimes don’t reach my goals at all. Didn’t bother.
Running gives huge confidence to me. If I have a job interview for a really wanted position or have to line up at the front to run for the gold. It is the same. Scares the hell out of me. But kind of need this, and want to be excited about the fact, that what we cannot control, doesn’t matter. I am able to get out the best from any situation, physical, mental, emotional.
Did you guys see the new Liam Neeson movie ? It is absolutely brilliant. There is a few lines in the movie about being scared, though they were scared to death 😀
What’s the movie title, great comments btw .
“that which doesn’t kill me, will make me stronger” by Neitzsche! I love it and when really challenged think about!
Nice Tay
I’m not usually big on quotes but here’s one from Mark Allen that continues to serve me well.
“Unless you test yourself, you stagnate. Unless you try to go way beyond what you’ve been able to do before, you won’t develop and grow. When you go for it 100%, when you don’t have that fear of ‘what if I fail’, that’s when you learn. That’s when you’re really living.
That’s when you’re really living. Indeed.
Love it!
Not that I have ever got up for a run at 4:30 am but 5 km till 5:00am fits perfectly for my 6 km runs – I might join you one day 🙂
Nearly cried when I watched the video. Sunscreen! So that us the simple secret.
Love reading all the comments, helps me get out of the self mindset and into the “today”. The more I attempt the ” now” and do as the article says, the more I believe in me.
We all need to drop the work is everything ethic and keep pace with our loved ones and our love of the outdoors. You are right, running for an hour or so and seeing the sun rise from a high vantage point over Lake Macquarie (read GNW) really makes me come alive.
Otis, you’re 100% right.
This comment “What’s the worst that can happen?” is actually one of the best pieces of advice to have rattling around in your head the next time you start up that hill-you-always-walk. Used it on Sunday, and yeah, made it to the top, in good shape too!
Great news!