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At her personal site, Mac’s wife — Coach Pam — has the story of her recent 20-mile race. She’s a life-long runner. Reading her story gives me insight into the mind of a veteran. I particularly like her approach to the end of the race, where she keeps telling herself she can walk in a few minutes, but never does. I do this to myself sometimes, too. (But only for two miles, never twenty!)
The road was hot and boring. Several wilting people were ahead of me. I passed four more guys as they took walk breaks, but I was slowing down fast. We crossed a road and I knew I was 20 minutes away, at least that is how long it took me to get there from the starting line.
I ran six minutes, my thighs burned. Two more I told myself, then you can walk a bit. But with 12 minutes of running left, I thought I should get to the ten minute mark before I walked. At that point, I thought I should just slow down my pace for a few minutes before I needed to walk. It was all mind games, but it was working.
A tiny downhill got my legs going a bit faster — keep it going for one more minute. Then let’s try a couple more slow jog minutes. One of the walkers had started running again and he passed me back — the only person to pass me the entire race. Run with him for a minute. Okay, two more slow jog minutes. And, then I saw a fence and a building — CIVILIZATION! — you can go a few more minutes, you are almost there. Now you are crossing to the school, can’t stop now, people are watching. At that point, there was nothing to do but keep running to the finish.
I love this display of mental toughness.
I know this has been said before, but I really think there are some striking parallels between the mental discipline required for running (or any sort of fitness regimen) and the mental discipline required for maintaining sound personal finance. I’m confident that I can make my new-found skills work in both areas of my life!
Mac
5 responses so far ↓
1 grimsaburger // Apr 19, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I have to say from experience that the mental toughness works a hell of a lot better when you’ve built up a minimum of physical toughness. Last week I ran 10k for the first time (in prep for a May 31 10k), and after the hill at the end I really didn’t know how I was going to maintain the semblance of a jog for the remaining 1/2 mile. It was only when I remembered that if I stopped and walked at the top of the hill, I was very likely to pass out or throw up, and I ought to keep my feet moving ahead in a constant rhythm (if not speed) to stave off both of those events. I would’ve chosen either one of those over maintaining the pace over that distance not three weeks ago, I’m sure.
The longer my runs get, the more I’m able to gauge my limits. I figure I go about 10% beyond uncomfortable on my long runs so I can go 20% beyond that next week. Incrementalism works!
2 J.D. // Apr 19, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I posted my run report for today at my personal site…
3 greenman2001 // Apr 19, 2008 at 2:46 pm
This is a really important post, JD, because it emphasizes the fact that after the New Year’s resolution, reading Body for Life, blogging, buying the gear, tuning up the bike, paying for the gym membership, joining Sparkpeople, playing with your heartrate monitor … you are alone with your body and with your mind. It is you, alone, on the tread mill, the bench press, the course, in the pool, on the road. You have got to find a way to motivate yourself, alone, while your thoughts are trying to convince you to stop. This is the challenge that’s at the heart of performance sports like those you’ve undertaken — sprinting, biking, running, swimming. Pam’s self-talk — her mind-games — are extremely sophisticated technique for reaching performance goals. I’m also glad you mentioned she’s been a lifelong runner, yet still has to motivate herself with self-talk during a marathon. There’s no magic pill you can take that makes motivating yourself in the middle of extreme performance endeavors easier. This is the hard work of hard work. Thanks for sharing this!
4 Andrew is getting fit // Apr 19, 2008 at 11:37 pm
I do this on almost every single run on the treadmill and in every race.
My training runs outside I just enjoy and go slower.
5 MizFit // Apr 21, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I totally ENTIRELY and *utterly* draw on this when I lift.
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