Did someone ever tell you, >>doubt you can do it<< ouch, and then as if to add double insult to injury adds what seems undeniable proof that it is so. “Yes, actually THAT is true” you hear yourself agree. And you are feeling like Mike Tyson just punched your lights out.
In 2006, Karnazes embarked on the well-publicized Endurance 50: 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days. Pete Kostelnik averaged 72 miles per day across the US. Eliud Kipchoge Sub 2:00 hour marathon, what a performance right? Then there are local endurance athletes, Achim Heukemes. At age 69 (he is a record holder in numerous events 10x iron man champion, endurance events across USA) he decided to do a charity run in the middle of lock down. In Front of his house there are two flights of stairs leading to the front door. 9 up 9 down and completed 7.000 laps. That’s 63.000 steps up, and 63.000 steps down. In 24 hours.
I mention him because he is a local runner, or extreme athlete should I say. And I am sure you also have someone like that where you stay. Someone who did some or other challenge that you may have thought: whow, impressive. A performance where your thoughts went from whow impressive to I could never do that. LoL. Reading to others can also lead to an effect that I shouldn’t even bother. All been done. No one will care whether I do or not. True.
But your thinking is wrong, let me explain, don’t get annoyed. Listen if that is your thought then you are in the comparison trap. You are in a race, and others don’t even realize it. It is inside your mind.
So get out of your head, or you are dead! Yes seriously, stop that thinking. Stay in your frame of possibilities. Let those thoughts flow. You don’t need to do 50 Marathons, or run across a country. And it is not about getting into the Guinness book of records. It is about perseverance, endurance and being brave.
All traits that help you become a better, stronger and smarter runner.
Challenges will lead to some or other obstacle, or problem. Sometimes numerous ones, all in the space of a couple of steps. Already the mere thought of a challenge presents itself to a problem. Leads many runners to already come up with reasons, excuse why something like that would never ever be possible
But of course that’s not you, as a listener to this blog advanced as in ahead of the rest endurance, as in being persistent
But exactly this, overcoming the difficulties are important parts of life.
You know this, that if you ignore an issue what happens? Let’s say you know that you lack some speed, you cannot maintain a desired pace. Means you know you are not running up to speed. Obviously, I am not talking to you if you are injured. Conclusion most likely is, you haven’t been training, doing speed workouts. Maybe some of you don’t even remember the way to your local track anymore. And every day it looms over your head. During a long slow run it creeps into your mind. “I should do a speed workout. I should do a strength workout.” Maybe you even have an app that reminds you of what you should be doing, an app that costs money every month ouch.
Two options.
Stay in this negative spiral, and become more miserable. Or deal with it. To tackle and handle the issue. And you know that once it is done you will feel great, plus you wish you would have done it sooner.
And with each small success, with each challenge you gain momentum you gain more trust in your own abilities to overcome future obstacles.
Those obstacles once you get in motion, they give you new experiences, make you learn and help you to become wiser and stronger. Problems make us grow and shape us. The biggest problem people have is that they hope for a life without problems. Honestly, I see this a lot, that runners come for consultation, and end up saying stuff like “I just want to be happy”.
This is an impossible goal, and would lead to a boring life without character. We will all have problems – small or large – the difference is how we deal with the problems and challenges that occur.
So why not start creating a challenge, at least you are in control of where you will end up. At least you can have a sense of direction that will serve you towards your run goal.
And then once reached: There are so many additional advantages once you have overcome your challenge. Handling hardships will give you a huge boost, an uplifting of your general state of mind. Feelings of accomplishment, pride, and exhilaration.
This blog is about you, getting you to become a better runner using mental tools for runners’. And the last thing I want is for it to be a me-me-me blog. And today it is a little about me. See, there are many famous runners’ that have achieved great things. Truly are. But you know what, is the true inspirational story not one that you can write yourself? That’s why I want to share with you some challenges I set up, me, an ordinary middle of the pack runner, from the willows Pretoria. Hey, and if I can do so can you.
And no, there is no big Instagram, or facebook look at me, I ran kind of a story. Nope, the important thing is there was always a goal, and a challenge to reach it.
Like when on the day before my 40th birthday I signed up for a two-day Ultramarathon. With trembling fingers, I entered the credit card details. Secure booking, CONFIRED. Oh boy what did I get myself into. Let me see that elevation map again, is that a long weekend, do I need special equipment.
When you accept a challenge, that sits in front of you. And you start, you dig in and then HANDLE it, you suffer so much less, and gain multiple benefits.
Carl Jung – What you resist, persists.
By then falling into a surrender mode. You know it is done. You signed up. You told others about it. Just accept it. No resistance, the progress there is smoother.
Surrender to it. Your whole body, your thin runners’ legs All physical muscles continue to grow and strengthen through the Principle of Progressive Resistance.
This principle is based on the theory that muscles must be challenged in order to upgrade and grow, and that they will progressively work to overcome a resistance force when required to do so. The opposite is also true, as physical muscles will downgrade and weaken with the absence of a challenge. You know this, one cold winter and a couple of days of holiday food, no running, buum you are heavier.
This Principle of Progressive Resistance operates the same way in every area of our lives, and that is why we all NEED to be challenged.
It is like when at home, or at work, you receive a big project and a short deadline. You tackle it and even if the project seems overwhelming, and others look at it as an impossible task, you know that not trying, that giving up, leads to disappointment, anger, and yes sometimes sadness. Add to that, you set yourself a lower standard one you have grown accustomed to.
Hey, let me be honest here. Keeping it real.
I wanted an excellent time on my last Comrades. Now let me explain this a little bit. Set up a bit of context for you. The obstacles are numerous.
To run a successful Comrades marathon, you need to train during winter. The run is held in the beginning of June, and this requires you to get solid base training during the cold winter months.
That’s obviously if, like me, you live in Europe. Then to travel to the Comrades you need a bit of money, flights, for me plus my support crew (daughter’s) and for the time in South Africa you need some pocket money. Hotel car rental.
Then the long flight, 10 hours 4 hour wait, then another flight.
And the pressure, telling my childhood friends to wait for me at the finish line.
Why am I mentioning it? Well, it adds on the pressure. To plan, save, reserve hotels, get all logistics in place, there is a sense of purpose. Between August and May, you need to get some serious miles in. Plus, you need to qualify for the race. So it takes a lot of months of preferably injury-free run time.
Now imagine this. That’s a lot of pressure to perform, everyone will see your success or your failure. Failure as in not achieving your time, or perhaps not being able to finish the race. So it is not pressure to go for gold, I am not such a fast runner, more like a middle of the pack runner. But still I had a goal, a plan, and of course ambition.
And to cut a long story short after two Comrades where I was not satisfied with the time, I was so excited about finally crushing it. Getting time, I had trained for.
But No, I didn’t make it. That is it. Sorry I wish I could tell you something else. A hero story coming back after struggling. No. I failed. Many things, reasons etc. are all not important, are they?
Now it can be hard to believe that there are positive feelings in the middle of a situation like that, but it is possible after some time of reflection.
Denial will not help. All that does is create a dark cloud that hangs over your head.
When you hear other people’s story or overcoming a challenge. The steps they took to move through the situation were how they experienced their failure or success.
Great qualities, as it builds character. More than that,
Conflict. Within yourself. What priority you are giving in to.
Self-discipline: how committed you really are.
Hard-work ethic
Solving problems
Leadership
Parenting
You feel extra motivated when you feel strong.
A challenge develops mental toughness. Better stronger runner
A challenge stands down fear
A challenge inspires courageous acts
A challenge test your limits
A challenge focuses attention, remember we had this on a earlier blog
A challenge builds self confidence
A challenge matures perspective
A challenge calls for indomitable spirit
A challenge empowers freedom
Freedom from what?
Monkey on your back
Shackles of running in the slow lane
Self-limiting belief
The masses
The comfort zone
Fear
Opinion of others
Settling for less
For my 45th Birthday, I did a charity run, raising money for refugee kids. Running a total of 12 marathons on 12 consecutives days, in 12 countries.
Gain self-trust when you overcome challenges
Overcome challenges 🡪 gain self-trust 🡪 gain self-confidence
Self-Confidence Builds Self-Esteem
Having self-trust and confidence results in having higher self-esteem.
When you value yourself and have healthy self-esteem, you feel secure and worthwhile. You are more optimistic about life and experience positive relationships with others. Also, you feel confident about your abilities.
You’re also open to learning new information and receiving feedback, which can help you acquire and master new skills.
On my 50th Birthday which means German Winter Cold I thought let’s run 50 Kilometers. Thank goodness I don’t live in Milton Keynes anymore would have meant 50 Miles.
50 Miles, wouldn’t it? That means, 80.4 Kilometers ouch. Lucky me.
It doesn’t need to be something attention grabbing. The challenge sometimes can be a simple task. When driving back from shopping, I often give a >>stop the car<< command. And then a simple but vital detail: Always keep a pair of running gear in the trunk of your car. Then you are on your way to discovering a new route, a run challenge to reach home.
A challenge can be getting off the couch DAILY. A challenge can be running 3o days, or 3 days a week, or for a whole year. And then you start a running streak. And next thing you know you have over a year of running daily under your belly, in your run journal.
Listen if you want to one day look back at a great run story. Great meaning a story you are proud of. If you currently cannot even run 5 Kilometers. Then you start running 3 Kilometers. If you cannot yet run more than twice a week, you start right there. You build up. You start from where you currently are. If a 10 Kilometer sub 50 Minutes is your target, and today you need over an hour, analyze your weakness. It might be time, it might be pace, your nutrition.
Maybe you are overstating an error that is fixed over a period of time.
If run performance is lacking it might be lack of strength.
Or you were in hero mode, you have gone for too much too soon. If you jump from a difficult half marathon right into a marathon.
But, slow and steady wins the race. Hey this can then be a buildup; 10 percentage mileage increase every 3 weeks.
Look at it this way, if you run 15 Kilometers a week, you increase to 16,5 Kilometers. The point is, there is usually a solution if the challenge is big enough.
If there is a health issue, of course get it fixed, take time to get better. But if you are just running around aimlessly.
Challenges ensure that you don’t wake up 5 years from now and realize your running gear is so far in the back corner of your closet, you don’t even remember them, and your running shoes have become your work in the garden shoes.
And you realize, this is not what I had in mind. This is not where I wanted to end up.
Get your thinking cap on. Set up a challenge, who knows where it might lead to, whom you might inspire, motivate perhaps it will set you up for even greater goal, goals you can only see when you reach the next hill.
Psalm 31:24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!
Thanks for reading to today’s blog Talk to you again next week, right here, share this blog with someone who you know needs to hear this. God Bless You, and remember, take it easy!
Yup, clever isn’t it? Your 365 Day Run Streak, one whole year of running Why who or what would you want to do that? And if your first thought is “I couldn’t do that” then definitely you should get the book. The link to the video you know what.. just go to youtube, enter “heiko stribl” and concentrate or you will get sidetracked and end up somewhere you don’t want to be.
If you feel you could use some brain training, which will ensure that your story is a proud one, the check-out www.heikostribl.com , a comprehensive online course showing you step by step how you train your brain to get that running edge you secretly want. I know you do. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us 1 Corinthians.
Hey, I sincerely hope you enjoyed today’s blog. If you did, please do share it with someone who might just need readers to this type of content.
My name is Heiko, God bless you and remember, take it easy.
