Thrive wherever life take you #3
Learn to outlast negative emotions + thriving through my biggest week of training ever
One adventure in the books:
Near the end of April I attended an ultra endurance running camp hosted by coach Chris Hauth. You can learn more about Chris, who is phenomenal athlete, coach, and mentor here.
My intentions for the camp were two-fold, get in a massive training stimulus while staying healthy and build more connections in the ultra endurance community.
In regards to training, the experience was a wild success. I ran more than 100 miles in the week on some of the best trails the county can offer. Thanks to my wonderful running friend and tour guide David Hettena, I was able to run through trails in the Marin headlands with epic views of the coast, enjoy misty mornings along lake Sonoma, summit Mount Tam, admire the redwoods in Muir woods, and even run a few miles on Stinson beach.
Every time I spend time with the athletes in this community I am inspired, humbled, and fulfilled beyond words. I observe so much kind-heartedness and humility in individuals who also have so much strength, spirit, and passion. This is a community of tough people who are “soft” in all the right ways. I also feel that running (or other ultra endurance endeavors) create fast and deep bonds. Spend 30 hours running with someone and I guarantee you’ll talk about the stuff that matters. When you are tired, you are real. There is no energy left for pretense, for pretending. Beautiful friendships are forged in the fire of shared vulnerability.
Views from Mount Tam in California
One skill I’ve been practicing:
Riding the wave.
When we are going through something difficult, our minds project forward in a way that is meant to be protective, but is often unhelpful. When we are smack in the middle of something that feels uncomfortable or challenging our brain preforms some mental gymnastics. It usually sounds something like this…
“Wow this already feels really hard, way harder than it should be, than I thought it might be, than I expected it to be. And its only going to get even harder, more difficult, more uncomfortable. If I already feel this bad how will I possibly make it through this? Maybe I cant. Maybe I should quit, stop. I don’t know how much longer I can tolerate this…”
Our brain is trying to protect us. To encourage us to back away from something it sees as threatening.
But the protective brain neglects to account for one thing: our emotions, thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations are not permanent and linear, they are temporary and variable. Just like a wave in an ocean, the difficult thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations we have ebb and flow. They build slowly but steadily, and as they build they can create doubt. But much like a wave, at some point these thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations peak and then they start to diminish. You just have to wait it out. Ride the wave.
This tool can be used in numerous contexts. Lately I have been using it on challenging runs. When I find myself in a low spot, mentally or physically, and I start projecting forward about how much worse I am going to feel in a few minutes, few miles, or few hours, I catch and correct this thinking. I tell myself that while I may not feel great right now, just keep moving as best I can and see what happens in a little while. Most of the time the negative sensation passes (eventually) and I start feeling ok, maybe even good, or really good.
What is a situation that is difficult for you to tolerate but isn’t permanent? How can you practice riding the wave?
One quote I’m loving right now:
“Imagine what you would be capable of if you got out of your own way”