What Yoda can teach us about training

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Luke: All right, I’ll give it a try.
Yoda: No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.

We train to learn what we can and cannot do and we train to learn to push our limits. By training, the body responds to exercise with a coordinated effort from many systems, including working muscles, the heart, lungs, blood vessels and others. If muscles are used regularly then their mass grows and they become stronger and training learns the body to be more effective with fuel resources. By regularly training the body learns to be more efficient and to be more effective. Training gives the body strength and experience to deal with physical stress. Training teaches us determination. Do it, or do not. There is no try.

Luke: I don’t, I don’t believe it.
Yoda: That is why you fail.

Train your feet and train your mind. Disciple and training learns us to be confident and to believe in our strenght. By training and pushing in training we learn our limits and we also learn that we are able to push our limits. Next to that we learn to believe in our strength, we develop a mindset that is able to cope with challenges. If we are not confident in our self, we are not able to keep our self motivated. Without motivation, and self believe we won’t be able to push our self when things get hard. If you don’t believe in yourself you will fail.

Yoda: A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.

It takes discipline to go out 5 or 6 days a week, to run in any weather. It takes discipline and commitment to live healthy, eat good and go to bed early all in order to body to rest and to recover for the next training. But when you are committed and you can stick to the training throughout the many years, then will power is no longer a problem. You just do it. It’s raining? That doesn’t matter. I am tired? Who cares! Just do it. Mood is not important, What does it have to do with it? Nothing, You fight when the necessity arises no matter the mood! Mood’s a thing for cattle or making love or playing the music. It’s not for training. Discipline and commitment, is all it takes.

Yoda: Named must your fear be before banish it you can.
Yoda: Only different in your mind

Self-Reflection should be part of all training. We make mistakes both on and off the trail. Sometimes mistakes result from trying new things in training, from getting angry or frustrated during a race, or from losing focus on the task at hand. No matter the cause of the mistake, mistakes are a normal aspect of development and can be great learning experiences; learning from those mistakes is how we improve. In order to learn from the mistakes we need to develop the skill of self-reflection. Self-reflection is exactly what it sounds like: reflecting on yourself—your thoughts, words, and actions. Self-reflection is what drives your “current” self to grow into your “ideal” self—the runner you aspire to be. Simply making mistakes will not help you grow; you must be aware of the mistakes and your responses and plan your best responses.

Yoda: This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing.

In order to train and to run efficient we need to bring your mindful and focussed attention to your running. By clearing our mind of all distracting thoughts we will be able to bring our self fully into this present moment and run with less energy consumption; The brain accounts for less than 2% of a person’s weight, it consumes 20% of the body’s energy. During the run sense your self, your breathing, breathing is a good way to orient for mindfulness. Enlist all your senses as you keep your attention focused on where you are and what you are doing. Only When you run mindfully you will be able to remove unwanted and also negative thoughts from your mind. Mindfully running helps us to direct the body energy more efficiently and learns us to preserve energy for our movement.

Yoda: Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

The fear of failing can be immobilizing it can cause us to do nothing, and therefore resist moving forward. But when we allow fear to stop our forward progress in life, we’re likely to miss some great opportunities along the way. It’s important to realize that in everything we do, there’s always a chance that we’ll fail. Facing that chance, and embracing it, is not only courageous – it also gives us a fuller, more rewarding life. We can fight our fear with positive thinking. Positive thinking is an incredibly powerful way to build self-confidence and neutralize self-sabotage. Positive thinking doesn’t mean that you keep your head in the sand and ignore life’s less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach the unpleasantness in a positive and and fearless way. No fear!

Yoda: May the force be with you.

Boston

What goes on in the mind of somebody or of a group that attacks an multi-cultured, multi-religious event focused on achievement, celebration and charity in this brutal and cowardly way ? What cause does justify such an inhumane act ? Why does somebody willfully wants to kill mothers, children, fathers, sisters, brothers to get his voice off anger heard around the globe ?
Like all meaningless and useless aggression in the world, there can’t be legit answer to that.

We can’t and should not accept this kind of violent acts, unfortunately we have to learn to deal with it. We can deal with them by showing the world around us that we can’t accept these brutal acts. We should learn and learn our children about compassion, tolerance, patience and the hardest one; forgiveness. Even in difficult moments and hard times like these, we should try to remember and hold on the mindset that peace starts within each one of us. Only when there is peace in ourself then there is no space for anger and hatred, the fuel for violence, anymore. Only then, and it is a dammed slow process, we are able to change the world into a better place. And if we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking, one step at a time.

My heart is saddened by the loss and the pain in all those innocent women, man and children, my thoughts are with them.

Marathon Des Sables

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In 2014 I want to participate in the Marathon Des Sables, a 240km race across the Moroccan Sahara. The Marathon des Sables is by the Discovery Channel ranked as “the toughest foot race on earth”. Basically it is a six-day foot race across the Moroccan Sahara Desert, completing the equivalent of 6 marathons in those six days (approx 240km in total). The race conditions will range from a possible 40 degrees C in the afternoon to zero at night and it is covering some of the most formidable landscapes and inhospitable terrain on the planet. The rules require the participant to be self-sufficient, which means you have to carry with you everything, except water and a tent, that you need to survive.
I am looking tremendously forward to this challenge, I will work hard and be as prepared as possible. In the coming 14 months I will put a lot of energy in training, gathering tips and information and preparing myself for what could be or become maybe the biggest challenge in my life.
My blog and Facebook page will be partly become a journal and a place where I will collect relevant information concerning this adventure.
The Marathon Des Sables, what an adventure….

Motivation, our hidden power

Every run starts with the first step, and to actually make that first step it takes a special kind of energy: our motivation. Motivation is the inner willpower, the inner driving force, to achieve a goal and the hidden power behind the energy that moves us forward in life. It is the inner voice that says: take action! Do it now. I don’t think it is the same as enthusiasm although I see a relation between them. Where enthusiasm is an emotion which sets an idea in our mind it does start our actions, it is motivation that fuels our actions. It is motivation which gets us started and what keeps us going, it helps us to overcome obstacles and dealing with discomfort,

He is able who thinks he is able – Buddha

It all starts in the head. How do we archive what we want ? What does it take to finish, to have success ? First of all you will need a goal. If you do not set your goal, it is very difficult to achieve your outcome. Next to your defined goals you will need a strategy. For example; it is my goal to run and finish a marathon, and my strategy to reach this goal is whatever training plan I use. So far so good, but what will happen if you lack motivation ? Nothing. Nothing will happen. You will not even take the first step, or you won’t be able to deal with obstacles on your road .

Our motivation is that what makes us move, and that what kicks us in the *ss to go out. You may have the best talents or the best skills but if you do not have motivation you will not reach far. Motivation is the force which drives you to do what you are doing. Enthusiasm fueled with motivation moves us forward in life. Motivation can be considered a driving force; a psychological drive that compels or reinforces an action toward a desired goal.

We only reach the finish, our goal, if we take action, every run starts with the first step. Action is only possible when you are and when you are able to stay motivated. Only when you have the right amount of motivation you are able to reach your goal.

Maybe it is all in the mind? To quote Buddha: “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become”. Our mind is directing our life in the way we create the life around us . By the thoughts and directions we take with our mind everything is created. All action starts in the mind. And only if we are able to avoid negative thoughts to interfere with the stream of creative power, which our mind gives us, we will able to stay motivated. Motivation is about balance, it is not wanting something very badly, but about wanting something completely. Wanting with heart and soul. Balance. When we lack motivation, something inside us is saying, I don’t want to reach that goal. Something inside tells us that we don’t want this goal completely or that we can’t reach our goal. At this point we get an imbalance in our self, and we lack the needed alignment between enthusiasm, motivation and our strategy. At that point our much-needed fuel, motivation, our energy, will get lost and we won’t reach our set goal.

It is all in the head. So how do we stay motivated ? What helps us to keep ourselves motivated ? I really don’t know. I think it’s a personal thing, what motivates me does not motivate you. It comes from deep inside our mind our soul. What I do know is that what de-motivates me; negative thoughts. Negative thoughts that come into play when things get hard, when during running legs start to hurt or if I get tired. Imbalance de-motivates.

So what motivates me to go out in any weather and run for hours ? It’s the powerful feeling that creeps up while running. It is the feeling and the reward afterward. It is curiosity, competition with myself, pride, ego, risks, happiness, etc. But in the end it is my mind, my will to reach my goal, in balance, with heart and soul.

Go out and run, stay motivated !

The joy of dealing with discomfort

Elbe

Discomfort is an inescapable part of running and long distance running in particular and every runner needs to learn to deal with it. Any seriously longer run hurts and how well you are able to deal with discomfort influences the outcome of your run. Elite runners often say that their ability to push through excruciating bouts of discomfort is integral to their race performance.

Dealing with discomfort starts with accepting discomfort as part of your exercise and let your body adequately adapt to it. During longer runs, you will experience a variety of pains and at some point, pretty much everything will hurt. Pain and discomfort , like the tide comes and goes. By time discomfort will diminish and disappear, and the next moment it will be back at another part of your body. Luckily most of the pains are temporary and fade shortly after your run.

Nature shows us that perseverance
allows for transformation so that we
may reach our true potential

Some measure of discomfort is normal (provided it’s not a sign of a serious issue), muscles burn, joints ache and exhaustion it is al part of the fun. Just deal with it! During difficult moments, put the pain in perspective. Keep in mind that the discomfort is temporary, and each step forward is one closer to your goal. Don’t dwell on how much you hurt. Rather, focus, and push yourself. Pain and physical discomfort not related to an injury comes and goes. Detach yourself and simply use it as information. Some types of pain tell you that you’re pushing yourself and that you’re getting better

Persevere when the going gets tough! Stay mentally tough and do not give into periods of self-doubt and discomfort. Remember all the energy that you have put into your exercise and have faith in it. Think about how hard you have worked and how rewarding it will be to complete your run.

“After you’ve built up your base mileage,
it’s really about how much pain you can take,
You have to reach into yourself
and find that toughness. (Barton)

Being ambitious and running your best often means going all out, but certain pains are warning signs you shouldn’t ignore. Like pain that worsens as you run, Chest pain, high body temperature, vomiting. These signs are similar to a red warning light flashing on the dashboard of your car: they tell you that there is a more profound problem. Deal with it; and go to see a doctor.

Be tough but be kind to yourself. Remember it is counter-intuitive and unhelpful to chastise yourself. But also remember that you have to learn to push yourself and that you need to learn to deal with discomfort. Learn to deal with it, but be patient with yourself and let your body adequately adapt to dealing with pain and discomfort. Stay mentally tough and don’t give into periods of self-doubt and discomfort, persevere to suffer without complaining about it.

And during hard times, keep in mind that dealing with discomfort will make you stronger.

(After reading this article http://zenhabits.net/discomfort/ these thoughts came in mind during my 22k trail run yesterday and the 30k run on the Hamburg Elbe beach today.)

soft and bending

All beings, grass and trees, when alive, are soft and bending
When dead they are dry and brittle.
Therefore the hard and unyielding are companions of death,
The soft and yielding are companions of life.
Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water.
Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better;
It has no equal.
The weak can overcome the strong;
The supple can overcome the stiff.
- Lao Tzu