The 105th Edition
Sometimes stillness is the most powerful thing you can carry into motion.
Something to Think About
The calmer your mind becomes, the more accurately your actions reflect your intentions.
Something to Ask Yourself
Where in your training are you creating unnecessary noise instead of simply doing the work?
Personal Lesson
There are runs where I almost surprise myself by how quiet my mind is.
Not because the run is easy. Quite the opposite. But there comes a point where I’m no longer negotiating with myself. I’m just taking the next step.
I’ve realised that some of my best performances haven’t happened when I was the most motivated or excited, but when I was the most “still”.
Not every sensation has to turn into a story.
The other day, I was on a run (struggling). And minutes after I was obsessed with a negative narrative of how the run was going I noticed my mind soften.
My heart rate wasn’t a problem to solve. The climb wasn’t unfair. The distance wasn’t overwhelming. There was only the next footstep.
Ironically, that’s also when I enjoy running the most. I’m no longer carrying the extra weight of constant judgement.
I get to experience the run instead of endlessly commenting on and judging it.
Running – Life’s Metaphor
Running constantly invites us to react.
We can react to pace on our watch, or discomfort, or other people in our way, or often our own expectations.
Life does exactly the same thing.
The challenge isn’t removing the chaos (the chaos is inevitable). It’s learning to remain steady within it.
Final Thoughts
We often think performance comes from intensity.
And sometimes it does.
But long term, I think the greatest performers possess something else.
They’re able to stay with the process.
They don’t need every run to be meaningful, or every workout to prove something about who they are.
They simply return to the task in front of them, over and over again.
When we attach a huge narrative to every training session, we create friction where none needs to exist.
“This is going to be hard.”
“I have to smash this.”
“I can’t afford a bad run.”
Those thoughts consume energy before we’ve even started moving.
Stillness gets rid of all of that.
It allows us to see training for what it actually is: today’s opportunity to practice.
To become, very slightly, a better runner than yesterday.
Perhaps that’s why the best athletes often look so composed. They’re not necessarily suffering less than everyone else. They’ve just stopped arguing with reality.
Maybe that’s something all of us can practice.
Not becoming emotionless or robotic and ignoring the signs. But becoming steady enough that our emotions no longer steer the wheel.
Because when the mind becomes less noisy, the work becomes more simple.
And when the work becomes simpler, it often becomes far more joyful.
RUN THE RUNNABLE 😉