Quotable quote:
“If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.” Ryan Blair
“You cannot beat a river into submission. You must surrender to its current and use its power as your own.” – The Ancient One
Does it matter enough to you? We live in a fast paced, performance driven society that places great emphasis on the outcomes of our work, school, and sometimes family life. At work we have goals to meet, sales to generate, and deals to make. At school we have homework, deadlines, countless hours of studying, exams and depending on your program, clinical competency exams that are all large stressors as a student. For me, I am in Chiropractic school where I carry 30+ credit hours per trimester. Whatever your situation and season of life you are in there are variables you can control. Certain manipulatable pieces on your metaphorical chess board that can be changed to work in your favor. The cards you have been dealt are in your hands and it’s up to the US and I mean YOU and ME to make time work for us instead of time dictating our schedule. I will share a little about how I have been able to survive this season of my running journey going on in our daily lives.
School, work, business, family take a large partition of our time and for good reason. According to the Huberman Labs podcast we have 3 basic drives which are at the root of our human behavior. The three basic drives are 1. Pleasure 2. Aggression AND 3. Generation. A certain lightbulb illuminated in my mind as I began to ponder where my motivation came from. I have a high generative drive. I use this generative drive to sublimate the energy and motivation into my; training, career, hobbies including artwork and even my studying. I build my way through life. A certain ownership of my own training to build myself into the runner, student, future chiropractor and future father.
As runners we have a certain drive to build our temple of fitness. Whatever that vision may be for you, there is a tangible reason for our actions. I can share my insight into why we do what we do and maybe potential pitfalls…
Aggression: To win, To overcome, To surpass, To achieve, To prove, To possess, To sharpen, To fight,
Pleasure: To enjoy, To take in through the senses, To be Present, To feel, To build up, To share, To be at peace
Generative: To create, To build, To plan, To design, To forge, To form, To own
So what is the point of all this philosophy? Why do we care about our drives and how does this relate to running? Let me share. Now, I’ll preface by stating I am not an expert on human behavioral sciences but I will attempt to share my insight through my lens and experiences. Let’s start off by understanding the variables we can control:
Quotable Quote:
“If we can define our enemy we can defeat our enemy.” J.B.
– Sleep, diet/nutrition, water intake, planning, mentality and when we decide to do the things we need to do.
I am probably missing a few but these are common variables we can all MAXIMIZE to set ourselves up for success. We may not be facing an enemy in the literal sense but the mind has a certain way to corrupt our dreams when faced with chaos and uncertainty. Our enemy may be waking up 30 minutes earlier to create time to cook breakfast before school with a run in the morning. Or, moving the run to the afternoon because of late night studying.
Where to start: Define the beginning. Is it to win? Is it to achieve a goal? Is it to enjoy and be at peace? Or is it to build yourself into a vision? Once a starting point is defined, now you can design a training plan. I like to start by finding a race I want to train for and run a good race. I must say, if it doesn’t excite you then it’s not worth it. If it’s not GOOD to you then why waste your time? When push comes to shove and the times get tough and stress runs high, good chance you will not make time to train.
Your weapons:
Motivation– good initially but runs thin: that new pair of shoes isn’t so new after 2 weeks. Relied heavily upon when starting to train
Willpower– good to dip into on a rainy day but runs out quickly if not recharged, can’t rely on heavily. Relied on heavily after the ‘honeymoon stage’
Group training– great for accountability, builds strength, recharges motivation, shared experience, difficult to do every day
Routine– habits predispose future success, build accountability to yourself, establish a logical step in planning or training. After willpower and motivation wear thin routine takes over as the chief predictor of training longevity.
***Self-identification***- when your training becomes a part of your life, when training becomes a part of your identity ‘you call yourself a runner’ to not train is to not express your being. When we place something in our identity, we begin to construct our lives around the central identity
Out of the 4 ‘weapons’ at our disposal, routine is the most effective to create longevity in training. The hardest part of the routine begins at the beginning of the day. When the alarm goes off in the morning you slip on the shoes and head out. No questions asked. No second guesses. Training becomes the next domino to fall in your morning (or evening) routine or whenever your schedule allows for training. When we adhere to a routine it becomes our identity with consistent practice. The entity hypertrophies into our expression. Consequently, atrophy of walls, barriers, constructs and conflicts occur simultaneously. So what does this look like? Maybe now that you have a 10 mile run scheduled tomorrow morning you decide not to go out with friends to party or maybe you decide not to eat spicy foods because you know your run will be affected negatively. Staying with the same vein, you decide to take care of your homework on your lunch break so you can have more time to do an evening track workout after work or school.
Quotable quote: “The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.” Dr. Phil
Momentum, when harnessed, becomes a great strength. A good run leads to a good breakfast, which sets up a great day. But momentum at times, must be generated from within. I’ve woken up plenty of mornings feeling defeated, exhausted, and outright upset. On those days, momentum was definitely NOT in my favor from the start. This is where gratitude comes in. No matter how I feel during a run, workout, or race, I am always thankful for the opportunity, and capability to accomplish the run. Becoming aware of the gift of running everyday reminds me just how lucky I truly am that I have a functioning body compatible with movement.
Flexibility is the key to long-term success. There are times when adhering to the plan prevents further schedule disruption but sometimes we must adopt an element of malleability. What happens when something arises that you didn’t plan for? Or what if your schedule gets pushed back? You notice you have an exam tomorrow that you haven’t studied for and you should be going to bed to wake up for your run tomorrow. What do you do? Stay rigid and get in a morning run sacrificing a good grade, or study for 2-3 hours, call it a night, then move your run to the afternoon? Obviously, the exam is a rigid fixture, whereas the run can be dynamic, and manipulatable.
All in all, there are things out of our control but if we maximize our time up front, in essence, creating a window. When a dream becomes a daily habit, and further to a lifestyle we add to our central identity around our sport. Our drives (biased to generation) centrally seek to perform, whatever that may look like for you. The first domino falls when the alarm goes off in the morning. Momentum builds, and we stride to the next task with positive energy. However, when unexpected variables arise, you must be flexible enough to finish what you intend. Never stop until you are done, meaning take all the wins you can get before the day is over. To end, thank you for reading blog 1. I am truly excited to start this off on a good note.
Accroche-toi à ton rêve!!!
Ohio Sports Chiropractic and Rehab
📍 10360 Northfield Rd, Northfield, OH 44067
📞 (330) 908-0203
🌐 ohiosportschiropractic.com
