Today's Thoughts: Real Performance

10059087652?profile=originalToday's Thoughts: Running Ultras is all about performing when everything goes wrong.

It is easy to perform when things are going well, but just like in life, 'real' performance is about how we act after we think, being aware, and continuing to perform when things "seem" to be wrong.

But in reality, the only thing that is wrong is this flawed thinking in the moment.

Can you perform when your thinking goes south?  

Can you be aware when thinking goes wrong?  

Can your mind perform when you want the current situation to be different?

What Can You Do?

I believe most of our thinking is just fear, and once we can understand this and have awareness of these thoughts, we can break the cycle, fear stops, and we can then create better thoughts to keep moving forward and perform extraordinary.

Race on!

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Comments

  • Awesome karen - way to play those minds games to get it done!  Remember how this felt for the next time, it will help you thru it.

  • About 30 min into a 2.5 hr run on Sunday I started feeling like I wasn't " into this run." Thanks to everyone's great comments here, I just said that's ok, keep running and see if this passes. Sure enough, I soon felt better and finished the run feeling great. AND it felt even better knowing I could've stopped but didn't. :)
  • Eric the need to know feeds into always wanting an out come, wanting to arrive some where. Life is not an arrival but a journey and we are so focused on the arrival we miss the journey, we miss the beauty of all that life offeres. When we focus on "Getting that Job, the new car, the bigger house, etc what happens is when we atain these things we are still not satisfied, because they mean nothing, there arrivals not journeys or the posessor of these new toys still feels empty as they have missed the journey and the steps, the good times, the learned things, the bueatiful things, the mistakes along the way. - Rob

  • Hey Brad - thanks for sharing your internal dialogue.  I will share some of my notes from last night's journaling: The burden is "needing to know", needing to be happier - therefore we place meaning on things and thoughts based on our current situation.

    There is no meaning, meaning = knowing, which is impossible (which is where cool impossible came from).

    What if you striped away the need to know and the need for "meaning".

    "The finish line is the enemy to a runner" - EO

  • My affection for ultra runners is for their attitude.  Your approach to running involves more than pace per mile.

  • As its always easy to do the right thing when someones looking, its hard conquering your fears when your alone, yet to truely conquer them you must be alone. Seek help, seek guidance, but you and only you can conquer your fears.

  • Real nugget of truth Rich! 

  • Real perforamnce kicks in when that little voice in your head says "you don't want to finish this run, cut it short, go home and relax" - push past that little voice and then you get real performance

  • I find myself feeling more afraid as I get older. Watching my parents age, and others around me suffer from illness and injury. I don't want to put my head in the sand and pretend it isn't happening, so I am left to accept and carry on. Not easy to do, but critical to avoid creating a "cage" of fear around myself. Eric, any additional insight into how to flip that switch?

  • Yes, fear is necessary and it will always be there. The important thing is what we make itmean and how we respond.
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