How to Trick Your Brain and Push Through?

smaihlee

I'm stuck on W5D2. The best I've done was to complete the first 8-minute leg, and during the 2nd 8-minute leg I stopped 4 or 5 times. I was elated on that day and really pumped about moving forward, but the 2-3 times I've gone out since then I felt like the heat and/or humidity made my brain go "UH-UH, NO WAY". So, I've gone out and done a good 4-4.5 MPH walk and run a few short bursts of a minute or so each. Some just jogging, and some running pretty hard.

My brain can be such a b**** to me. My brain is why I got and stayed heavy in the first place. Even though I have done SO MUCH to accomplish what I have in the last 6 months, it's like I've hit this mental wall.

I know every brain is different and what you did may not work for me. I'm willing to try just about anything, though, and I welcome whatever tips you can share with me on how you've gotten through your mental challenges. Doesn't matter if it's quirky or whatever.

FYI I usually go out on the trail around 6:15 am, when it's light enough for me to feel safe and at the coolest point in the day. It's just that I live in SC and even at this point the temps are in the 70's and the humidity can be in the 80-100% range. I've tried running in the evening and I have a hard time with energy levels and feeling full, even if it has been several hours since I last ate.

likitisplit

I am finding that what you think is mental in running is actually physical and what you think is physical is actually mental (except for injury). Your issue is that it's hot and you're not going slowly enough. I graduated in February and the Atlanta heat knocked me back to square one when it started in June.

To get through W5 D2, I would suggest carrying water. Go slow during the walk and the run. Like walk at 3.5 and run at 4.0. Or slower if you can. If you can't run slower than 4.0 and still can't make it through the run, walk slower during the break.

Pause at the beginning of the walk break, drink and stretch. Make sure you've "recovered." Make sure you're slow during the second walk and run.

It might take you a few tries to get through W5 D3. You will need to run slower than you ever have. Don't feel that any run you don't make it through is a failure: it's one more run that conditions you to the heat, hills and humidity that's a part of Southern life.

mtcastillo86

Excellent advice from vardaeml. Go slow. Go slower. I am slow. Ssslllooowww. This heat is brutal. The humidity is a killer. Go as slow as you can without falling back to a walk. The point is to keep moving. That's it.

When fall gets here and it's running season again, you'll be amazed by how much easier it is.

smaihlee

Thanks to you both for the advice. I was really hoping to be finished with the program and be able to run my first race while I'm on my trip out to the west coast with my husband and son next month. I just thought it would be really cool to have a shirt from a race in LA or Vegas, not to mention having the satisfaction of completing the race. I know I can still participate in a race, but I really want to be able to run the entire thing.

Running slow seems to be harder for my body than running fast, ostensibly due to all the extra weight I'm still carrying. Of course I tucker out much quicker when I run fast, but the slow running makes me feel really heavy and lumbering. Not to mention the whole sensation of not really getting anywhere

I know that losing more weight will eventually help with this, but right now I'm just impatient and frustrated.

tomii13

Prove your brain wrong. I think it's all mental, sans injury. Go slow, focus on breathing and pace. But when your mind starts telling you, you can't push yourself harder. Crawl if you need to, but push yourself. Your brain will give up long before your body.

So, it seems like you've been letting your brain win. It's time to prove it wrong.

The heat was a struggle of mine here in Miami, and the humidity, don't get me started. And silly me decides to run mid day. It was tough, but I made sure I drank enough water before my run, and had something in my stomach.

It worked for me.

But when my brain was wanting to give up, I just thought about the reasons why I was running in the first place. I don't care if it's as slow as a turtle in mud (read that somewhere). And then I thought, hey, if people up north can run in the freezing cold. I can do this. So remember, someone out there is doing it with a greater challenge.

I know its HARD, I found 101 excuses to give up, but I always found 101 to motivate me to keep going. And I'm in week 8! I can't believe it.

likitisplit

Running slow IS harder than running fast. It's because most people naturally adopt better form when running faster.

Here are some of the elements of good form: http://goodformrunning.com/

Basically, you want to be pulled up with your core engaged and your hips balanced out over your toes. Eyes up and focused ahead of you. Short, quick strides, almost like you are running in place. Everything relaxed that's not actively engaged in running.

babybl00310

Try moving on to Week 5 Day 3. I know it seems like a huge jump but I think the first 6-10 minutes of running are the worst and then you find your rhythm. My friend didn't believe me about that but she found Week 5 Day 3 easier than Week 4 and the start of week 5. After that she didn't want to run intervals again. As has been said though, the trick is to go slow even if you feel ridiculous doing it.

becauseofholly

Try moving on to Week 5 Day 3. I know it seems like a huge jump but I think the first 6-10 minutes of running are the worst and then you find your rhythm. My friend didn't believe me about that but she found Week 5 Day 3 easier than Week 4 and the start of week 5. After that she didn't want to run intervals again. As has been said though, the trick is to go slow even if you feel ridiculous doing it.

I agree. I had a hard time with W5D2, but then I moved on, and found it wasn't so bad. I think the break in day 2 killed my groove.

smaihlee

I've decided to not beat myself up about this right now and just do it when it happens. I can tell usually once I get outside (by the weather), or within the first minute of running (by my brain/body), whether it's going to be even remotely possible. My shins started hurting yesterday, so I decided to just run what I could but without pushing to the point of injury.

Right now, I'm doing 3 days a week of boot camp and a day of yoga plus a vigorous walk/run in addition to the 2-3 days of C25K running attempts. In most boot camp classes we're running about a mile over the course of the hour (either on the track or via sprints). It's a hard core cardio workout. My 6-month boot camp stint ends next Friday and I think I'll take a break. My plan is to focus on the running, and then do something different on the days in between.

I will continue to run the app and go with the cues at first, just in case, but not going to beat myself up. My goal is to run a 5K by October so I still have some time to build up to that. Really going to focus now on the whole slowing down part. That is honestly the 2nd hardest thing next to telling my brain to shut up.

PinkNinjaLaura

The first minute for me always sucks. I'm tired, it hurts, I hate it. About 5 minutes in I finally start to feel okay.

I totally get feeling like you're lumbering when you're moving slowly! But that's what it takes... just keep your feet moving. I did C25K last year and for my final workout I went and jogged a 5K course that I had mostly walked (with short jogging intervals) earlier in the season. It took me longer to jog the entire thing than it had to mostly walk it earlier in the year. It was a tough, very hilly course, and it took me 51 minutes to finish. But you know what? That's okay! Because I finished it!

I'm repeating it again this year - did W7D1 this morning - and this morning was really tough. Half my problem was physical (my legs were tired, my shins hurt, my feet hurt) and half my problem was mental. It's very hard to get out of your own head space. I do what I can to break it up into smaller intervals - like just focusing on getting to the mailbox I can see way up ahead, or whatever seems manageable. Then once I'm there I find another thing in my sight line to aim for. I don't ever look at the timer on my phone if I can help it because it's crushing when you're not as far as you think you are. I don't know what you listen to but last year I listened to audiobooks while I ran - the story kept me distracted.

silverbelle69

My mind wants to give up WAY before my body. I had gastric bypass surgery last year and the first 3 months I was hospitalized with some complications. When my mind wants to quit, I just dedicate the next 60 seconds to all of the family and friends who were there for me at the lowest point of my life when I was sooooo sick. I remind myself of everything I went thru and everything I put my family thru. And all of a sudden its just not so tough any more.

I think of everything I am thankful for. I tell myself that fitness is my new normal. I switch back and forth between focusing on breathing, focusing on my form, and focusing on the music. I remind myself that is not my body wanting to quit but my mind. I tell myself I have a choice of whether or not to stop. Sometimes I even take note of the people on the treadmills around me and secretly try to outdo them.

I think a lot of weird things, but it passes the time! :happy:

Jessimaaka

I sing something silly under my breath/in my head...whether its "The ants go marching 1 by 1" or "99 bottles of beer on the wall" I focus on getting to a certain point in the song and then pick a new point. I just finished W7 so this has helped me tremendously...7 weeks ago 60 seconds of jogging was a stretch for me. You can do this

KGill67

I remind myself that I've given birth - if I can do THAT, then I can do this!

kristafb

I'm perpetually on week 5. I can do day 1 no problem, I can even do day 2 on a good day, but like you the 2nd 8 minute run is a hard one for me. I cannot get through day 3 (the 20 minute run). Initially for me it was breathing issues, but i've sorted that with the help of my doctor and a lovely new puffer, but now my legs are tired. When I finish my hips ache for a good 24 hours after a run. I've got at least 50 more pounds to lose & I can't help thinking how hard that must be on my joints but this is the only exercise I really do enjoy so I need to keep going to lose this weight. Its the rock & a hard place scenario I guess. lol

Good luck getting through it. I'm rooting for you!

Liz_Mfp

it's hot
you're not going slowly enough.
Go slow during the walk and the run.
walk slower during the break.

Make sure you're slow during the second walk and run.

You will need to run slower than you ever have.

+1
:-)

ShannonKN

Let me ditto the slow down part. Don't feel bad if you have to repeat certain runs over and over until you feel comfortable moving on, particularly when you have the weather against you. When I get to points in my run where it really is just a mental problem, I concentrate on a running friend who inspires me, find a kick-butt song on my playlist, concentrate on my breathing, and/or identify something ahead of myself and commit to not stopping until I get there (and then to the next thing ahead, etc.). There is no shame in letting yourself walk when you need to.

JesterMFP

I agree with the others who have said to go slower. I get that it feels harder to do so at the moment, but it really can make all the difference.

I also wonder if you might be overdoing it a bit with the bootcamp as well. It might be too much, (for you, your body, at this point in time) to do that and then try to complete C25k at the same time. Maybe if you tried cutting back on a day or two of bootcamp, you'd feel more able to go further with the C25k? Might be worth a try, even if just to get you past this block.

As for the mental thing, what works for me might be the opposite of what works for other people. I don't really respond very well to cheerleading tactics, even from myself; what works for me is to tell myself that I don't have to do it if I don't want to. I completed c25k last year, and at the moment, my usual run is about 5k, or a little further. I frequently doubt myself though, and my ability to complete that. So, I tell myself that I'll start off, and I don't have to go any further than I need to. I will just see how far I get. Then, if I start feeling it's hard going, I reassure myself that I'm just going to see how far I get, and then I can walk. I tell myself "just another minute" or "just to the next bend" etc.

The vast, vast majority of the time, I end up doing the whole run, and I always end up doing at least 15 mins. I often find that the runs that start off the worst, full of doubts, out of breath and tired, are the runs that end up being really great, and I bound back home full of energy.

ripemango

i like to use music to push myself through. I will purposefully tack on a long 5 min song at the end of an interval. I just focus on the song, the lyrics, staying with the beat, and it passes...ya make it through.

Don't beat yourself up. If you stay on w5 for a few weeks, that is still awesome. If you just feel like walking, then do that! The most important thing imo is that you are being active. What you are doing really seems irrelevant.

xcga33i

I tend to day dream about how good I will look in the future and how old friends I haven't seen in a long time will react. I count my steps in sets of 4, remember my dad and how he passed away at 51 and was diabetic by 30 something but didn't treat it till he was 41. I will not end up diabetic. I think about my kids and things we need to get done this summer. Sometimes when my calf pain or feet pain gets bad (my worst part of running is tight calfs). I think of the guy I passed running the other day that was a double amputee and in a power chair. Not sure if it was from diabetics or not but I tell myself it was and that will not be me.

I also think about my friend who was very active in high school that jumped in a pool head first and has been a para politic since we were 21. And how he would do anything to walk again... I think about how lucky I am to be able to run. By the time my mind gets done wondering it is usually time to walk. I love it! Good luck getting through it. Just turn on the app and don't think about the times.

smaihlee

I haven't re-visited this thread in a week. Lots of great suggestions and I appreciate everyone sharing their own experiences! I posted on the daily check-in thread, but I'm pleased to say I FINALLY broke through it! Long story short, I went out on Sunday morning and nailed it.

I did something different this time, which was listen to some "funky" music instead of my usual fare (folksy-type stuff or classic rock). I think that did a lot to "trick" my brain and I was able to focus less on how hard it was. It was actually not that horrible. Did a great job controlling my breath and pacing myself.

I have noticed in the last couple weeks that my endurance has improved in all forms of exercise, so I'm going to just be thankful and go with it!

I do agree that boot camp might be a bit much on the off days. This round of classes will be finished on Friday, and I think I'm going to skip the next round to work on running and because I will be gone for 2 weeks. I'm paying to attend 3 classes a week for a month, so I want to make sure I attend every one that I can.

We are having a lot of rain here lately, so I'm just going to get out there when I can and go for the W5D3. Hopefully will do it sooner than later, but I know I will eventually do it.

Thanks again for the encouragement and great ideas