SHOWING UP! There is no better way.

MOST of the times, just the willingness to SHOW UP is all that matters.

You won’t have the answers. You won’t be prepared. Your plans will fail. You’ll flummox yourself. Stay afraid, messy, unsure, uncomfortable, challenged but STAY THE COURSE & JUST SHOW UP.

So here is how it unfolded for me.

3 months ago, just before lock-down started, I promised to be consistent & disciplined with my physical well-being. Not that I was super unfit earlier but it was important to me as I had earlier experienced the positive impact it could have on everything else as well. Having moved to a new city & job in Oct'19 – things were rather erratic last 9 months with all the moving-out and settling-in.

I have severe flat-foot and that means my leg hurts more and my knees bear the brunt. I have injured myself due to this a few times (longest being for 6 months when I couldn’t climb a single stair without pain) but clearly I didn’t learn much. So I’d start running and I would have to stop due to an injury. Strengthening was the only solution but I had never taken to it seriously.

With intent this time - I planned for it. Building core muscles, strengthening the lower-body to mitigate flatfoot related pains & building stamina were the objectives. I made my charts, identified my training modules and joined a Run Club in Bangalore in early March.

And then came COVID-19 with a bag of surprises. In addition to my Run Club pausing training, not stepping out, working from home, working for home and all the new adjustments – this phase was pretty overwhelming.

Today, about 3 months down – it all feels much better.

Some quick updates:

Running: I have clocked 260 km in 39 runs over the last 3 months with Avg pace of 5’58’’/km. That’s more than what I ran in the preceding 9 months put together. Speed has improved ~ 15-20%. I hit my personal best timing in both 5km (27:38mins), 10km (57:20mins). Ran almost every alternate day (no cheat days). Note: Runs were in the confines of my apartment complex (thankfully, we were permitted) mostly after 9pm to avoid people and prevent transmission.

Strengthening: I worked on building this for a min of 1 hour every alternate day (no cheat days). A mix of upper and lower body. Today I feel much much stronger and more confident. In the 260 km that I clocked at improved paces (meaning greater impact on the legs) - I felt almost nothing on the knee and that means something good has happened. I am injury free and that’s a big big win!

Was it easy? No | Did I feel like taking a break? Yes so many times

Some guiding thoughts that helped me SHOW UP were:

1. Good intent is not enough: Plan well, prepare well, track well. Share your goal with one person and be honest & be answerable to him/her. (I maintained a workout journal. Everyday. Got up early, slept late to accommodate the commitment)
2. Streaks have incredible impact: To count the number of days you have stayed the course is a great driver to continuing it. If you break your streak you start from zero (I am nearing 90 days and I would hate to reset it. There have been days that I have dozed off only to get up late in the night and start off with the committed workout for that day just so I don’t break the Streak )
3. Be kind to yourself: Give yourself more carrot than stick – just like you’d do with anyone else you care about. Its okay to go slow. Be patient. (I ran shorter, slower on days because I was not feeling up to it. Sometimes did lesser sets and shorter workouts too.)
4. Be your loudest cheerleader: Value yourself and be super glad of your own progress - more than anyone else! (I’ve been so excited about my improving pace, staying injury free and strengthened legs. I am also happy that I broke the spell of being-inconsistent)
5. Take it one day at a time: Don’t care about the month, the week. Just take care of today (Planned to run 100 kms in May and felt overwhelmed. Then I took it a week at a time (25 kms this week). Still better- 6 kms today. That’s easier than 100 km/month)
6. Motivation is overrated: Action is mandatory not motivation. Nothing happens unless you start. (Getting into gear/getting the yoga mat, wearing my shoes and stepping down was the toughest part. Starting was tough, every time – it only became easier)
7. Find your purpose: When completely down n out, ask yourself why you started. Purpose is powerful. (I had been careless about strengthening and inconsistent earlier and I wanted to undo that. Also, for me Physical well-being ties back very closely to my own mental well-being and that’s why I wanted to do it. Pace, Km is only a bonus)
8. Doubt your thoughts: Not everything you feel is real and true. Validate them. Don’t fall for fake alarms that are prompted by flirting emotions. (During every run, every work out – I would hit this point of wanting to stop (new reasons every-time). Slowly I learnt that those were false alarms. Once I would go past them, I would have even forgotten that I felt that way earlier)

These thoughts are as much about Running as they are about Life. If you read the 8 guiding thoughts again (this time without the commentary around running written against each of them in Italics) - you’ll know that they are also about - everything we face, all those barriers we want to break thru, obstacles & setbacks we want to overcome, pain & hardships we have to deal with, goals we want to achieve & wins we want to get.

We’ll have good days, bad days, overwhelming days, too-tired days and long days - but we have to keep SHOWING UP, EVERY TIME and with EVERYTHING WE HAVE GOT.

Try it - Show Up, sometimes it can be the bravest thing to do.

-----

Pl comment with your thoughts & inputs and whatever this evoked – I would be only too glad to know of them!

Also, pl do share this article ahead if you found it worth a read & think it could help someone in these rather disruptive times of COVID-19

-----

@LinkedInEditors, @LinkedInPulse, @LinkedIn, #LinkedIn, #ShowingUp #OwningUp #BreakingBarriers #BeingProductive #PlanToWin #Winning #BeatingCOVID #Layoffs #PayCuts #JobLosses #Unemployment #Cheerleader #Kindness # Empathy #Streaks #PowerOfStreaks # Running #CoachBenett #NikeRunClub #AdidasRunners #NRC #RunningTherapy #MentalWellbeing #PhysicalWellbeing #Wellness #Therapy #Challenge #Persevere #CrushingGoals #ManagingPain #Setback #BackingYourself #Growth #BusinessIndia #NDTV #OutlookIndia #IndiaNews #EconomicTimes #BrandEquity