For the month of December, I'm working on doing the daily series of Reverb prompts to help me reflect on the prior year and hope/plan for the upcoming year. If you're interested, join in; I found this to be a very useful exercise when I did it two years ago.
#reverb12 Day 24: Your most important habit?
What is the single most important habit you intend to cultivate in 2013?
In terms of my goals for 2013, I think the most important habit to cultivate will be getting comfortable with getting uncomfortable. Once you get used to running, it's easy to settle into an easy pace -- conversational, which is nice when you run with friends, and not too strenuous, which means it doesn't hurt.
My tendency is to pull back when things get uncomfortable. To slow down. To ease up. To think about phoning it in for the rest of the run. To consider quitting (which I don't actually do, but sometimes instead of continuing to work hard, I'll go back to an easy jog).
I need to get over that and 2013 needs to be the year when it happens. Specifically, in the first 6 months or so, before marathon training really starts.
I need to show myself that I can push hard and not crack under pressure. Running when it's hard to breathe and my heart is beating like crazy for 5 minutes won't kill me. Nor will 10 minutes. Nor will 30 minutes. Nor will 3 hours and change. It's just a matter of training myself to get used to it. And the only way to get used to it is to just do it again and again in training.
I think this reverb project has been a positive outlet for you to really set yourself up mentally to tackle this major PR goal. I will remember this post on Tuesday when I gear up to finally crack my goal of running a 10K in under an hour. There is a major incline around mile 4 and I will tell myself to push through as hard as I can rather than let the hill slow me down considerably.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I love about running is that anything is possible if you keep at it. When I think back to when I started I could never have fathomed running as far or as fast (for me) as I can now. It motivates me to think about what I could accomplish if I continue.
I have little doubt that you will accomplish your goal in 2013.
Getting comfortable with getting uncomfortable is just about the best habit that I think any of us can make, because it automatically pushes us to become better, try new things, and surprise ourselves. I love this!
ReplyDelete