In this episode of the Podcast It's a long road we will talk about running and the feelings that arise during exercise. How the body follows the path and the mind the thoughts and the importance we must show in taking care of ourselves and eliminating as many toxic things as we can from our everyday life.
Hello my friends!
Since I started training with help professional coach, I started taking the whole running thing more seriously. Not to look at it professionally but the ever increasing strength and endurance I was gaining slowly but surely made me love it even more run.
I am generally a restless spirit, as if I have a flame somewhere inside me that makes me feel like there is more to do and greater challenges to conquer. I don't allow myself to stop or slow down and constantly resist any temptation to rest. So if we exclude my professional employment, my energy finds an outlet in sports activities and specifically in running.
You won't hear for the first time that the run it is psychotherapy. The best one doesn't even cost anything. It's cheap, it gives instant gratification, it's safe and it's considered medicine. You need a pair of shoes and you and your mind are running under the sky together. Let the body follow the route and the mind the thoughts. Many thoughts, scattered but only then succeed and come into a row.
In general, running helps you escape from everyday life, from the pressure of the day and to escape from reality. During walking or running we have the natural release of endorphins and then something magical happens. The brain feels more euphoria, joy and optimism. THE physical exercise improves the circulatory system. Even simple but regular daily exercise, such as brisk walking, improves heart and brain oxygenation. With an improved state of mind comes an increase in creativity. There is no pressure, the hormone cortisol, which is secreted during periods of stress, disappears and those walls that make us negative fall down. At that moment, we begin to see things with a different eye. Stress is reduced, we feel more relaxed, more excited and more confident.
Those who exercise improve their brain capabilities. Seniors who walk daily for at least 30 minutes have a better chance of long-term retention of enhanced memory and concentration. The decrease in physical activity is also the most common cause of death in the elderly. Exercise alone adds years to life. It is no coincidence that many studies have shown that walking and physical activity are an important factor in weight regulation, in the good functioning of the heart, in the reduction of heart attacks and are the cause of the reduction of strokes.
The brain's biggest enemy is routine. As you already know, depression or even extended periods of high stress and anxiety can cause some deficiency in basic cognitive processes of the brain, such as memory, concentration, creativity. If we walk every day, all these processes will improve significantly.
Humans like the mammals that we are have movement within us. We cannot do without it and a consequence of this primordial urge towards exercise is its simplest and most important form, running. It is, I would say, a natural need of ours that is in our DNA and fills us with energy and strength. See it for yourself. It's hard to get your thoughts in order when you're just sitting on the couch watching TV. Do an experiment on yourself and go outside for a short walk or even a little leisurely run. Then I am sure that you will see for yourself the difference in thinking and perception that you will have. Don't be afraid to dare it and leave the routine behind you. And I'm sure that after about 3 weeks it will become a habit. It is proven by research that a new effort and its benefits take about 3 weeks to become a daily habit.
I often hear the excuse from many that I don't have time, my knee hurts, I can't run and many other things. Usually these are all simple excuses because we don't want to spoil our comfort and we are bored. Have you thought that although many people say they don't have time for themselves, this is actually a big lie, since no one is looking to find time for themselves? Because actually when we sit at home we usually watch TV so what we do is neglect ourselves. We are not there with him, but elsewhere. After all, as we all know, silence is golden and it depends on how everyone interprets this phrase. For some it simply means better not to speak, but for me the best interpretation is that in absolute silence we can do the most important thing. To listen to our thoughts, to put our feelings in order, to talk and connect with ourselves.
For me, this moment of absolute silence, the moment when I find myself and "talk" to myself, is the time when I run and am immersed in my thoughts, which by a general confession are at that time more clear and simple. This is the time when the best ideas come to me. In fact, if I could magically write down what I'm thinking while I'm running, I'm sure I would have written some books. When I don't feel well I go for a run, when I have cramps I do the same, when I want to make some decisions that's the time I will be able to think better. The run I would describe it as the occasion to get to know yourself better and find aspects of yourself that you could never imagine. At first when I started running and for a few years after that I couldn't run without listening to music. One day I remember going to training and because I forgot my headphones at home, I came back from my chat and didn't do the training at all. Now I have passed into a completely different phase. When I run I don't want to be distracted by anything but my thoughts. I don't want any more interference in them and I feel better if the only sounds I hear are the live ones. The sounds of nature, the sounds of passers-by talking, the sound of running. I don't know why but lately I find her running like this plain and simple.
If we consider that everything in life is interconnected and that everything connected together acquires meaning and substance, then running is also there as a miniature of life itself. You run, you sweat, you struggle, you try to get better, you set goals, you gather experiences, you grit your teeth, you don't give up, you fall, you get up, you keep going, you fall again, you get up again, isn't that what life is all about? There may be moments or matches that you will give up, but everything is in the program. In a few weeks or even months you will again be there at the starting line with new goals, more determined and with a new mood. Sometimes I laugh at myself, thinking about how I feel during some long distance races. I remember myself saying: Where did you get into, my player? it's not me for this, should I give up to end this torture? slowly, don't participate in such a race again. I must be very crazy to do that again. Oh, I wish I was at home now, drinking my coffee. But after a while and after I have finished and everything went well, I find myself planning the next race, maybe harder and bigger and setting new goals and new challenges.
It is no coincidence what many people are saying ultramarathoners that during long and intense efforts, they feel that they are in ecstasy, in another dimension outside their body, in absolute calm and peace, operating only with the mind and no longer with the body. The pain of long distances is very great, it starts from the soles of the feet and reaches the head. It's like a wooden hammer constantly hitting you and many times you think of giving up. It becomes a spiritual and physical battle, a battle with your own self and you feel participating in all this with all your cells. The long distances show no mercy, the voices that are heard come from within you and tell you "Stop-Stop I can't take it anymore", but you resist and keep going and you are there to fight and even more so to take your place with courage at the starting line of next match anxiously waiting to hear the start. The big distances they ignore your existence, strip you of protective barriers, and reveal your deepest soul at a time when it is most vulnerable than ever. Long distances are struggles with your soul, struggles with your existence, struggles with your being. In the last few kilometers you learned more about yourself than you knew in your entire life. The joy of finishing after so many hours of tension and fatigue is so great that you may not be able to walk after finishing or the next day, but the redemption you have felt in your soul is the greatest feeling and the greatest reward you could you would have taken
The long distance running it is the only event where a middle-aged person can easily compete with a younger person. Long distance runners you will find that they are of a certain age usually. The reasons are many. Some of them are that we are talking about a competition of patience and not tension, the body and especially the mind are more ready to accept such pressures.
Is there anything better than ending up full of joy and optimism, with a smile from ear to ear because you made it on your own and with your own strength alone? It is no exaggeration to say that running makes you a better person. And you feel that every time you finish a race or a workout. And when you have such feelings and feel so good, is it possible not to transmit them to your own people?
LOVE YOURSELF
You must in no way neglect yourself, but respect him as much as anything else in the world. We have to get along with ourselves first and then with everyone else. It is not selfish or arrogant, but if we are not good with ourselves then how can we deal with others? They say "Take care of yourself so you can take care of the people you love." It's kind of like the airplane and the oxygen mask that drops in case of emergency. First you put the mask on yourself and then you help the smaller ones and the children. We may be operating somewhere on the edge at times, but we must give ourselves the right to rest. Good sleep is essential and a basic condition for good memory. Sleep deprivation actually weakens memory. In general, however, engaging in exercise and especially running willy-nilly puts you in a mold of new habits, healthier, with better eating habits, more regular sleeping hours and most importantly fills you with self-confidence, fun and appetite for life.
On the other hand, of course, I have many examples of friends and acquaintances who went to the other extreme. They also started slowly to deal with running, to download programs from the internet, to have in some phases coach, some others to say that they don't need him and later to release their own programs, since they had, as they said, experience. Their goal was to run as many races as possible. Big and small. So they entered a hole through social media to prove to everyone the outstanding physical condition they are in, after doing one marathon after another and not leaving race after race throughout the Greek territory and beyond. As we say, what moves is done. The other tells me he did 35 games all season when he discovered running a year ago. And not at a leisurely pace but with not inconsiderable times. It doesn't take a lot of brains to understand that someone had lost control somewhere. In this case, it is obvious that the amateur athlete in question does not love and respect himself at all. Our body can be a well-tuned machine, but it needs time to recover and rest. He cannot be subjected to continuous cardiac stress and physical shock without being given the opportunity to rest and catch his breath. Running is a joy and a source of life, it is an escape, it is a way of expression and thinking, but like all things it needs moderation and prudence.
Many times the reduced performance is attributed to insufficient rest and not, as some think, to insufficient training. I personally try to listen to the messages from my body and when I feel particularly tired and exhausted I prefer to leave a workout and rest, rather than subject myself to another shock. Good exercise always starts with a good rest. All the athletes and especially us runners at a certain age we must give our body the necessary breaths and enough time to eliminate all the strains from training or matches. So when you feel that a relatively relaxed training is not working for you, you do not perform well, you have relatively high pulses at rest or when you have insomnia, these are alarming signs and apart from the fact that you need rest, it is good to visit a doctor.
Have you ever considered how much harm you are doing to yourself if you do not take care of yourself? He is the most precious thing we have and we must always do the best for him. Find 10 minutes a day and immerse yourself in your thoughts, talk to yourself, without doing anything else at the same time. Get out of the routine of life and put a cuff on everything that hurts you, that channels you with negative energy and does not let you develop initiatives and thoughts. Cut the news reports. It is the most beautiful thing you will do in your life. There are other sources from which you can be informed. At least nowadays the only easy thing is updating. It is proven that people are more attracted to negative news. In a ratio of 10:1. That's why all the news reports bombard us with only negative news. Think about how much damage you are doing to your brain when it is bombarded with negative news all day long. Cut the news and you will change your life!
Thank you so much for listening to me!
Until next time, Be well be healthy and always do what we love and what makes us feel good.
Everything is a road:
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