On the road again
On the Road Again…
It’s funny what songs and thoughts pop into your head over the course of a long run. Dependant on the length of the run, I tend to get a lot sorted by the time I return home from my training session. You often hear of people jokingly saying that they ‘solved the worlds problems’ when out for a long bout of exercise. Given the solitary nature of running, it’s easy to see that a lot of thinking goes on for some whilst for others it provides the outlet that they may need to clear their head.
When I was out running yesterday, I got to thinking about exercise and how completely individualized it is. How we come to be involved in a particular sport or type of training can be completely random, you see something you like and give it a try. Or, it can be the opposite, and come about through your surroundings. That is, you may live on a farm whereby your reasonably active lifestyle necessitates you to be reasonably active. You may even come from a sporting family. I am part of the latter two groups, but that’s not to say that I haven’t tried things just because they looked cool too!!
Whenever somebody starts a new exercise plan or physical pursuit, it’s always interesting to see what is driving that new action. Is it because they have a physical job and are finding that they are getting really sore and tired at the end of the day? Is it because the kids are finally off their hands and they want to lose a bit of their baby weight? Or is it because they are training for a specific event? Asking these questions is crucial as it enables us to understand what their motivation is and it also gives us some back ground on their timeframe.
At the moment I am training for my sixth marathon on October 30th. I have found that having specific times to achieve for different training sessions has been really helpful, not only in motivating me, but also in keeping me on track and honest in my pursuit towards my goal of the elusive 3 hours!!
We know there are different drivers for physical pursuits. In historical times, physical pursuits and fitness came about through necessity rather than desire and I found the story of the origins of the marathon to be particularly interesting in this respect. Pheidippides (530 BC–490 BC), an Athenian herald, was sent to Sparta to request help when the Persians landed at Marathon, Greece. He ran 240 km (150 miles) in two days. He then ran the 40 km (25 miles) from the battlefield near Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over Persia in the Battle of Marathon. With the word "Νενικήκαμεν" (Nenikékamen, "We have won") he collapsed and died on the spot from exhaustion.
Here’s hoping the conditions aren’t too hot in October and I don’t suffer the same fate as Pheidippides!
What motivates you to exercise and why do you do the activities that you do?
