Last night I saw this with my mom. It was magical. We talked about why the color of the light is red, and how amazing and beautiful it was. I wish I took the photo, but my iPhone didn't do the justice, so I found a good one at Unsplash.
I had a lot of energy in me today.
For breakfast, I had three eggs and vegetables, and a bread filled with pecan crumbs and steamed red bean.
I didn't run at all yesterday, because I felt like I was overtraining. I didn't have that energy in me. (Looking back my spreadsheet, I ran 9 days straight before yesterday, so it is kinda understandable why I felt that way)
So, at about 4:30PM, after long day of problem solving, I went to the gym, and I was ready.
I started at 8km/h, slowly warming up. I increased the speed to 10km/h when that felt too slow. And when I felt I warmed up properly, at about 6min, I decided to have some fun. I decided to increase 0.1km/h every minute, and see how that turns out.
At about 14km/h, I had to stop increasing every minute, because my body was not adapting to speed fast enough. So I took some minutes, and then increased again, when I felt my body got used to the speed.
I was at about 7km, and I thought to myself, 'Let's run 10km.' At the end, I got into flow, that I increased speed to 17km/h. It felt great, and after I run at that speed for about 2min, I hit 10km.
I felt very ecstatic and free during today's run. I never felt this kind of running high while running on a treadmill. I learned that I can induce this flow even when running on the treadmill by focusing on the form, speed, and measuring herat rate (the old way, by putting my fingers on my neck, and counting, while eyes looking at treadmill clock for 10 seconds and multiplying by 6).
The author of famous book Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, says that when a person is engaging in a task that is not too difficult nor easy, with a goal and focus in mind, flow, deeply immersive experience, occurs. Running is such a wonderful thing where runners at every level can tap into this state of flow, by running at a speed that is not too difficult nor comfortable for themselves.
Best way I've found to tap into flow state when I run, is to start very slow, and increase speed little by little, only when I feel my body is comfortable at the current speed. Like I did today on the treadmill. And, actually, that's what Kenyans do when they go for EVERY run. Even for easy run, they start at laughingly slow speed, to warm their bodies up properly, which shocked me. One time I ran with women who won Tokyo, Seoul, Boston, etc., and they started their easy run at a speed that I could keep up by just walking fast. When 'running' or hopping this slow, they check their body and check their form, breathing, and muscles of their body. They are great at not forcing it. They take their time. They play the long game.
I hope you try this next time you go out for a run, or run on the treadmill :)
(Fifty runs till may #19)
Today was probably the longest I ran on a treadmill this year, and it was not boring at all. I am happy I am having fun with treadmill, b/c it is helping me to run consistently and stay healthy and fit.
What about you? Which do you enjoy more, Running outside vs. Running on treadmil? Do you find running on a treadmill boring?
Happy running and meditating!
Sung, a running turtle
Please leave comments for what you think and if you have any questions on running or meditation. Thanks!
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