Monday, February 21, 2011

Running - Burned Out and Rekindling the Fire

Since 2007 when I took up running I have been so passionate about the sport that I have already logged 10,935 kilometers to date. During the earlier days, I was running and/or doing my workouts almost daily. The worst that I would log then will be a minimum of 50km a week and with that figure I was already feeling guilty for being relaxed. However, of lately I have felt that my weekly mileage has been reducing. Initially I did not bother to think about it and just thought that maybe I am just aging and that I am no longer as strong as I was four years or two years back.


However, I know feel that problem is much deeper than getting of age. As in any endeavor in life our drive to do a task at hand is only equal to the fire within us to accomplish such a task. As time goes by, either due to regularity or due to having taken things for granted, the flame that drives us just die down and with it is the feeling of burned out.

While I would certainly not have any antidote for the aging part of the problem, the solution is a straight forward acceptance of the reality to adjust on the mileage of which my target mileage is now 40-45km a week.

The serious part of the problem is the MOTIVATION and FIRE to continuously do the exercise. They say that even in sex you need to spice up things to ensure the drive will be as fresh as ever. Whilst I mainly do my daily morning run at the Bonifacio Global City (BGC), I think I need to find alternative venue once in a while to avoid falling on the trap of boredom. This will not be easy as in my experience it is only in BGC that I feel the security (safety) in running with well lighted streets and ample security people almost every corner, but, I need to find other venue. (Does anybody have a suggestion here?)

Another solution for MOTIVATION and FIRE is getting oneself a new equipment/gears/clothings which I have found to work on me. My enthusiasm and motivation gets lifted whenever I have a newly purchased running shoes, shorts, shirt etc., but,  these material items can only be as often as the budget permits and cannot be on daily basis.

Last Saturday, I rewarded myself with the following ADIDAS gears hoping to rekindle the fire in me.

Running as in any part of life will always have its UPs and DOWNs but what is important is to ensure that when the flame is starting to die down all available means are used to rekindle the FIRE in running.

If in sex you have a Viagra or Cialis, what do you have for running?

3 comments:

  1. Hi Mr. Castro,

    Hope you don't burn that flame out just yet! Because you're invited to LuntiRUN: Make every route greener.

    LuntiRUN is a run event organized by the UP Industrial Engineering Club. Your participation will help the University of the Philippines’ ISKO CLEAN UP MOVEMENT. This event will be in FILINVEST CORPORATE CITY in ALABANG.

    For further details on registration and fee, visit our thread at Takbo.Ph (http://takbo.net/showthread.php/1925-LuntiRUN-Alabang-%2827-March-2011%29) or our Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/LuntiRUN/173271916044025).

    Registration may be done online at http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dExENWtFR1NBN3c4UmtWLXlQa2dKS3c6MQ

    We hope you could help us spread the word.

    Thank you!

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  2. Dear Adrian - Thanks for dropping by and will mark my calendar regarding the LuntiRUN your group has a great advocacy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Viagra/cialis don't work anymore with me and as for running, I have the same problem as you. I am getting lazy working out. I hope I get back my motivation and love of running after the PHP vacation.

    ReplyDelete