Saturday, May 14, 2011

SELF DENIAL

"I'm on my way from misery to happiness today"

On my 4th day of not running and feeling better for it. Still some lingering pain in my Achilles, my ankles and left hamstring but hopefully this rest is enough to fix the problems I've been having. I'm chomping at the bit to run again and will do a long slow one tomorrow.

On a different note. I was listening to an interesting podcast this morning. They talked about studies that have shown that athletes who were able lie to themselves were the best overall.

How they ascertained that these people were lying was by asking them questions such as "Do you enjoy your bowel movements?" "Have you ever wanted to be raped and/or rape somebody else?" "Have you ever thought about suicide in order to get back at someone?" And many more such unpleasent questions. It was supposed that everyone has these thoughts at least once so if you answered "no" to any of these you were prone to lying to yourself!

Well it seemed in follow up studies those that did answer "No" (a lot) whether they were runners, swimmers, or other such timed obsessed athletes.. well they were the ones that did the best in their sport! They were the high achievers.

Bringing this home. The people who are able to say to themselves such things as "I'm the best!" "Nobody trains harder than me!" "I'm a lean machine!" etc etc help themselves and make it a kind of self fulfilling prophecy! It's not like they totally believe it but they are able to hold these thought in the face of contradictory ones.

I heard a story by Pat Carroll where he and a friend told Darren Wilson, for a joke, that they were doing 20 X 1000 meter repeats when actually they were actually only doing 6 or something like that. But the laugh was on them when Darren being the positive guy that he was, did these without much thought and, came out and blitzed both of them in a 10K race the following month.

A little self deception can go a long way in our lives too! I'll leave you with another example, one from my youth...

When I was a teen I saw my girlfriend walking in the park with another guy and I ignored it saying "Probably her brother!" But I broke it off a week later when I walked in on them making love! I had to. I couldn't abide by incest now could I!?

16 comments:

  1. There could be something in that. Some say I'm lying when I tell them I'm going to run 20 minutes for 5k but I'm bloody well not! Good story about Pat and Darren.

    Hope you're back running soon. Ruth is having anxiety attacks (grrr) over the prolificacy of your tweeting ;-)

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  2. By the way, Amby Burfoot @exerscience
    had a recent tweet about the achilles tendon not being affected by half marathon training. But I reckon most of the study subjects were soft and didn't train hard enough!

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  3. So that's why I've never achieved the heights of greatness -I'm just too honest. I must try a little self-deception.

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  4. Scott, I've run for 18 years, believe me its really importance to spend time doing; dynamic stretching, strength training and self massage.
    If you want any help don't hesitate to contact me.
    You have my email.

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  5. Just came back from a 2hr run and the pain is back. My left buttox cheek (Glute) muscle is sore to press and the hamstring on the same side!

    Just can't seem to get over this one. Rest didn't help at all! Any thing anyone knows about this would be welcome.

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  6. And one more thing. when I drive it hurts a lot. Can't drive long without stopping and/or straightening, my sore, left leg out!

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  7. Found out what it is I have! It's called "Piriformis Syndrome". Now looking on youtube for exercises that will help relieve the pain.

    Seems like sitting and writing bin Laden masturbation jokes has only aggravated the problem. Thanks for warning me Rick!

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  8. No, that's some other syndrome Scott.

    Actually, (seriously) I might have a touch of that myself.. pain in the left glute aggravated by driving and an ache in the left hamstring. Think mine's minor compared to yours though. Thanks for the video link.

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  9. Ewen! Think I found the bomb!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFtUgS69rPk

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  10. You're a day ahead of me, I'm only on my third day of not running. I suppose it took a day longer for me to get over the self denial.

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  11. Scott this post and video gives excellent advise for treating the problem, worked for me, check out Athlete Treating Athlete;

    http://www.athletestreatingathletes.com/stretching-series/tennis-ball-mobilization-back-of-the-hip/

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  12. Thanks Scott and Rick for the video links. I like 'the bomb' even if the actor wasn't wearing girlie arm-warmers while doing the exercises.

    Glute not as painful today, but an ounce of prevention...

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  13. Sometimes I lie and that's the truth.

    I see that one symptom can be a tingling feeling in the groin if the pudendal nerve is involved. Have you been getting that (more than you normally do)?

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  14. No Robert Song! no tingling feeling in the "groin" or as I call it my "Stimuless Package" Well been calling it that since I've been married anyway!

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  15. Alot to be said for that Scott, and not just in running either I would imagine.

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  16. I think what you have is a tight iliosacaral joint. This is where your pelvis and spine meet around the top of your ass crack. Piriformis syndrome is the feeling of a knife being driven into the side of your ass cheek where the femur and pelvis meet.

    The same stretching will sort them out. I go to the physio for this and after about 3 visits is goes away.

    Rick mentions self massage as a help to running. What part should I massage - my middle leg?

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