Breaking your mind body limitation

Have you ever ask yourself, what are you capable of? Do you know your limitation? If you did, have you tried going beyond?

When I first got involved in running which was last october 2017, it was a stand in for my love @annamocha. She signed up for a run and on the last minute she had to go outstation for a company event. The last time I ran was when I was still in high school but that interest did not sustain. My wife had confidence in me when I was doubting myself because I started crossfit exercise 2months prior. Her reassurance motivated me to take up the challenge. Sometimes we need people to believe in us first before we can start believing. It was 6km run and to be totally honest, I was not confident at all about my stamina as running was a totally different form of physical challenge. the day arrived, and it was good to see so many familiar faces .The dawn atmosphere was positively charged and the morning breeze was welcoming. The run was flag off at 645 am and I kept telling myself , all I have to do is get through this one step at a time. The starting horn sounded and I ran and ran and I remembered how my heart rate was pounding harder than usual but I just kept on running. I manage to complete the race and some of my friends was impress that i finish the race within the hour because i did not seem the type that ran. Honestly, I surprised myself too that I was able to complete it within that time. In my mind, I would walk half way through the run. Since then the passion for running started.

Since then I joined few more runs and also discovered virtual run which is a great concept. Today I encourage others to start running. My new found passion also lead me to making new friends. I dont consider myself as a competetive runner but rather a leisure one. I am now working towards my first marathon in May this year. I going for the 42km and its an insane goal for me. I just wanted to push myself to grow physically and as well as mentally in the shortest time possible.

Yesterday I challenge my physical limit, I have been conditiniong my mind since last week that I would run 30km the following saturday. I made the annoucement to my friends as a form of commitment and to reinforce my mental believe that its achievable eventhough I have never done it before. The plan was to complete the distance irregardless of the time and pace. It was to break the limit set in my mind. Come saturday, the weather was cool as it was cloudy and I put on my running shoes and ran. The route plan was to run 15km stretch and then ran back. I found it to be a good strategy because the mind can accept the familiar milestone as a tracking reference. The first 18km was good and then the tiredness set in, my hip muscke was getting tense and I slowed down for fearing of getting a muscle cramp. I continue cautiuosly from then on and approaching the 25km , i started experiencing muscle fatigue and my spinal bone and shoulder tensing up. I slowed down to walking and I kept distracting my mind by looking around for something intresting to take my mind off my tireness and pain. The familiar landmark was a sense of guide to the distance to completing my 30km. Few times, I felt like calling home and asking to be picked up but in my mind I could see myself taking a selfie gesturing my 30km completion. That is what kept me going. Through preseverance, I did it.Now, I understood my shortcomings and the experience open up mind in the areas I needed to Improve.

What I learned from this experience?

1. The body limit is condition by the mind
2. Once you Break your limit, you will discover what you are lacking and weaknesses.
3. Picture receiving the expected reward upon completing the challenge, to fuel you to finish no matter what.
   4.Learn to distract your mind from the body exhaustion and pain to keep going.
4. Going to gym to build and strengthen on the specific muscle so can slow down the muscle fatigue.
5. Eating right to fuel the body for the run the next day.
6. Have a good sleep prior to run and no party the night before. Yes, I was out celebrating with friends the night before the run and its a killer.

If you ever consider starting to run or making your run a little more intresting, why not try out virtual run. You never know you might even learn to love it. There is a fanstastic feeling about being in control of your body. You feel more confident, its a good stress reliever and most importantly the feeling of being alive.