Hi all C25K'ers , you have the potential, what are the obstacles to unlocking it?
Listening to the radio this morning an interview floated in the background with the England rugby coach, a slightly annoying bloke (!), who quoted the above title phrase phrase about coaching players. The biggest part of reaching the best performance was identifying individual interference, and he said this was mainly about what's going on in people's heads that stops them achieving. Many posts on HU focus on the obstacles. These might be clear to the reader but less so to the writer who's seeking help, especially with motivation.
So this week, three weeks on from unscheduled open surgery (was planned keyhole but complications changed when on the table) to remove my gallbladder, I'm having a second relapse. The first was an expected response to surgery, but this repeat 10 days further on is unexpected and atypical.
Now the current interferences are definitely physical, which have put a halt to any exercise for the last 3 days. But a gremlin has crept in to the brain. The gallbladder problem was found as a consequence of other routine investigations. I had no symptoms of any problems. In fact my physical health was as good as it's been for decades having completed C25K and consolidated my running. So to have an elective medical intervention which is currently impacting my day to day health is a massive interference.
I had been patient for two weeks and on Monday did my first short slow run feeling pretty good. But is this relapse a consequent permanent interference? Time will tell, but it certainly demonstrates how the mind and body are so linked.
Oldfloss has had two very insightful posts and I certainly welcomed the opportunity afforded by her comfy cushions! So I will have to coax my mind around the possibility of living with an acquired disability, but also reconcile myself to the possibility I'm jumping the gun and need more time to heal.
I guess I need to rethink what my potential is in the current circumstances, I may need to lower the goals, a bit like learning those rules of C25K, especially slow is good!
Thanks for reading.
Here is a piece about explaining the title which was developed by a performance coach a decade ago
One of the concepts that was discussed came from Timothy Gallwey’s The Inner Games of Tennis. He proposed that performance (p) is equal to potential (P) minus interference (I), or p = P - I. Without interference performance would equal potential but as we all know that’s not always the case. What’s stopping us could be our lack of necessary skills, drive or motivation, confident enough in ourselves, fear, as well as being over-confident and not being grounded or in the present enough.
If we care to reflect, we would discover that we often stand in our own way with self-limiting, even sabotaging, more often than not unconscious, behaviours. What’s needed to get ourselves out of our own way is to meditate so we can be more grounded, build compassion for ourselves and others so we can be comfortable in our own skins and more able to appreciate and empathise with others, and be more grateful for all the good things in our life so we can replace our negative self-communications with positive ones.
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Chinkoflight
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I'm sorry to hear about your unexpected surgery. It's a well known fact (🤭) that setbacks are always followed around by gremlins. I have them all the time. You, though, have made such great strides and as you say are in better shape than you've ever been. Perhaps you are not giving your poor body enough time to heal. I think we're all guilty of expecting to get back up on the horse and falling back into doing whatever we're used to doing way too soon. I myself have been guilty of this on at least two counts. After my first baby and more recently at the beginning of the year after a small operation on my shoulder. I felt fine in myself so just got on with it but soon realised that I actually wasn't fine - my body wasn't fine - it needed time. Before I even read the piece from the performance coach I was thinking that you need to live more 'in the now'. (New Age speak 🤣) Sounds like you're going back in the past - when you've been fit and running - and living in the future - is this going to be a full on interference in my life? In the Headspace runs from NRC we are encouraged to live in just this moment and I encourage you to listen to Headspace. You can find the app easily on your phone.
Hi 59er, you're absolutely right and the now is very important and that is the best way to focus on what's within your own span of control. I guess I didn't make it that clear, but looking at potential rather than interference may help in the short term planning and goals to be adjusted to the new here and now me rather than thinking where I have been in the past. Reality check in short hand! Some of the gremlins can then be dismissed!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts around potential, interference, and gremlins, Chinkoflight ! It reminded me a little of the book "How to Be Sick" by Toni Bernhard, which is really a book about living with chronic illness (or not being able to do as much as our minds/gremlins might want us to do!). It was very helpful to me when I struggled with my hypothyroidism when it was undertreated thanks to bad medication (yes, the manufacturer no longer exists - "subpotent" is a word I never wanted to learn...).
It is a huge "live in the now," as 59er reminded us, combined with seeing if we can bring some joy into that now. When I slept 10 hours per night and had to take a 2 hour nap can I at least enjoy having a bed, having the time to do that, etc. Somehow that refocused me - and got me out of the worry "what if this'll be like this forever?" Fortunately, for me, it ended when I got proper medication again - and it still helps me to deal with fatiguing quicker than "normal." I just enjoy a (shorter) day time nap 😉 (not all the time, I still fight that reality sometimes 🙃...)
Thanks for the really helpful reply. I will look up that reference, sounds as if it might be a help. I've always been an onwards and upwards person which has helped my motivation and teamwork. Taking stock, in the moment(now) has been a short process, to move on! ..........😏
PS I hope the meds continue to do the job. I also have had a lurking thyroid problem picked up. Blood tests !!!!! ... but hopefully the Dr. will decide I've had a big enough NHS rebate for now before he comes up with some more interventions for asymptomatic observations!
Yes, fortunately, I haven't had any more problems after that experience... and that really had been artificial since the manufacturer slacked on quality controls...
Also, think of how much iller you might have been if you hadn't got yourself fit, how much slower your recovery might have been. Think of all the Interference you've already dispatched through all your hard work on C25K.I loved your thought-provoking, thoughtful post: thanks for sharing it and all the best for a swift recovery xxx
Such an interesting post... I need to read and re read this....I do know, though, from experience that the person we find it hardest to deal with, and to be kind to is ourselves.
You have and are still having a tricky time, very tricky, my situation was in no way comparable, but a reality check of paramedics and ambulance in the early hours of October 2020, was a sharp lesson.
Somehow, we have to try and find the correct balance... but it much easier to say than do. It takes time.
So...my advice for what it is worth is just for now... take that time. Slow is good, it really is, and sometimes, even just for a while, it really is the only way.
After my blip in 2020... I thought I would never run again... taking time was forced on me at that point. Now, I am learning, as any of my recent past posts will tell you, to take that time willingly and gratefully of my own volition.
The now, is the thing... you are going to get where you want to be, know it, believe it, but, be patient xxx
PS
I don't know if you read this Catch up Corner post from way back... but it was all about the elusive, now!
Thanks for the link. Just a month or so before I set out on this journey. All your musings are open and honest which makes them so accessible. The wisdom in my childhood growing up was 'That's life, get on with it' was the most sensitive it got!
Oh goodnes... I think I was blessed... a Mum, a Nan and a Great Gran... and the most wonderul father... they taught me so much, although when I went to University... I had a bit of a shock!
Such an interesting post and all the thoughtful replies. Thank you for putting your thoughts down. I hope you can find your path through it all. I think you have been brave and stoical. Wishing you all the best.
I absolutely loved your post…. so much to challenge one’s thinking.. Firstly to reiterate that you have been through much physically & need to be kind and gentle to yourself with a slower comeback!
I think setbacks (when we are in the older age bracket) lead to a gremlin fear …”Is this it? is this when my running days come to an end?”
Of course it’s rubbish but it lurks there impeding the better question “ What do I need to do to get back to running” …
& to follow that up with “Whatever it takes”!! I may need to start from scratch, I may need to look up Chi running to learn how to run slowly…I may need to do more strength & flex or other cross training.. BUT whatever it takes even if it means waiting for my body to catch up I WILL run again!!!
Thanks, I am a fan of chi running, I have a version that my wife laughed at because my head appears to slide by past the hedge - a reverse moonwalk, I call it a shuffle run with super short stride length!🤣. It's how I started C25K . I'm a fan of whatever it takes, that and not afraid to laugh at myself.
About fifteen years ago I had major eye surgery to correct vision from an airgun pellet accident when I was a kid (the seventies!!!!). It resulted in full vision in my eye after years, but it also resulted in high pressure in the eye cavity. At that point in my life, I was super fit. I went to the gym and did pilates regularly and was used to doing exercise as part of my life. The eye pressure prevented me from bending down or lifting anything heavier than a kettle and I had to absolutely not strain in any form. This felt like a life sentence at the time and to begin with I got really rebellious and pushed it, which resulted in several hospital visits and a realisation that I was going to have to learn to live with my new normal or risk losing my vision permanently. It took a while, but I slowed down and learned to listen to my body carefully and eventually could tell if a certain action was straining my eye and therefore was a bad idea. I really missed the carefree ability to go down the gym and do a work-out or to stretch out in yoga etc whenever I felt like it, but it was a new experience to really listen to my body and not just tell it what to do.
I think that this ability which I would not have found otherwise has helped as I've got older. It has enabled me to be more aware of my nutritional needs and to really appreciate being able to exercise when I can, rather than seeing it as an obligation. Luckily I had more eye surgery about five years ago to remove the inplanted lens and now I am able to do all the bending and lifting that I want. It was frustrating to have to slow down and take it at my body's speed, but overall I think that it taught me much that I wouldn't have known otherwise. - I am sure you will be up and about in no time, but thought my story might help in case you experience setbacks.
Hi Mothmoss, what a story and thank you so much for sharing. I've spent a lifetime taking my body for granted, and have never listened to it so much since the last 8 months! I think I'm in that phase, is this the new normal ( a good phrase) or is there anything I can do to aid recovery in an active way rather than completely passive. After 4 days this week of feeling not good at all, I volunteered for Parkrun welcoming first timers. I dressed to run because I felt good this morning. So after everyone started I decided to set off with the aim of doing half distance (2 lap course) . I felt good enough to do the whole course but Rome wasn't built in a day. It takes time. Your share is a real boost as I drink my post run coffee! Have a great day.
Wow, fantastic that you got to do the run by listening to what you felt up to. It does make achievements so much more enjoyable when you can't do everything all the time.😁
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