One Step at a Time.

Stand Tall.

‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ -Lao-Tzu

So let’s take that journey a single step at a time.

Finally finished the week’s worth of training with a javelin and 4x300m running session earlier.

Today’s running session marked another milestone for me. If you follow back on my twitter feed you will see that I haven’t been able to run consistently under 50s for these 4x300m sessions. Today, the average was 48.4s, cutting down the average time by 2.4s from 2 weeks ago when I last did the same session.

4x300m with 5 minutes of rest in-between is meant to work your body into the anaerobic zone, causing acidosis (blood and muscle acidity due to anaerobic metabolism). When this occurs, what you experience is like your legs shutting down, feeling like each weighing a ton and a screaming kind of pain that sets off as you try to keep on going. And the thing is you have to work it hard enough for this to occur, so that your body can adapt and build buffering capacity to counter this.

I used to be quite afraid of these sessions, as when it hits you on the 3^rd and 4^th rep, the pain is really quite something to deal with. Now however, I’ve learnt to handle it by focusing on taking one step at a time.

Instead of worrying about my legs even before the session starts (it usually feels like jelly by this time of the week), I just go ahead and start the run, focusing on one rep at a time, feeling as it goes along. And if something is wrong (like ligament soreness, muscle strain, cramp or something else nasty), I will have the wisdom and discipline to stop. If it is alright, I will keep going on to the next one.

By emptying my mind (as Bruce Lee said in my previous post), not fearing or anticipating but being in the moment of the run, I am able to handle the session as it goes along. Instead of trying to get away from the pain, I focused on it, focusing on the burning sensations and acknowledging it, and somehow I no longer am afraid.

This subtle shift in thinking has not only improved my performance, but in a way taught me a whole lot about living.

Too many a times do we worry about things in the uncertain future, only to find out that the future is uncertain and always will be, so why worry? Be in the moment and acknowledge it, for that is where the magic is.

Also I’ve gotten back into pole vaulting and working on my javelin technique. Attached a short video below of a standing throw. Got to work on blocking my left leg rather than collapsing it.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I focused on the pain, the only thing that’s real…