Physical or Mental

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cecrossley
cecrossley Posts: 46
in Fitness and Exercise
What is your opinion:

Once you are in some semblance of shape, when doing some sort of endurance work out, be it running, biking, whatever, what is the first to fatigue for you: legs, lungs, or head?

I find that I'll start telling myself I'm tired and I should consider walking for a while, then I do a check and am like, "well, I'm really not breathing that hard now.... now that I'm on a downhill, my legs really feel fine..."

Does anyone else have problems beating their own head to push yourself to the next level?

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  • jmgj27
    jmgj27 Posts: 531 Member
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    Totally. When I'm focussed on the run I can do 10km at a decent clip without thinking about it (I guess actually I mean when I'm focussed on something other than the run!). If I'm distracted (by other people chatting often), I focus on the fact that my legs hurt or that I've only done 4kms and have so far to go etc. I ran at around 9.5km phr for absolutely ages and was convinced that I couldn't go much faster until the day that I realised it was a purely mental barrier. Now I run at 10.5km phr - 11.5 km phr. Crazy what you can do if you put your mind to it!
  • kjosey1
    kjosey1 Posts: 36
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    Of course! You're body will do anything you're mind tells it too......obviously we can't fly or do superhero moves, but you get the picture lol. I recently ran a half marathon and prior to running it, I had only ran 7 miles at the most. My goal was to run the whole thing without stopping, and right before the race my sister said "remember your body will do anything your mind tells it to." And she was exactly right. When I hit mile 10 I wanted to stop so bad and I physically didn't think I could run another mile, but I remembered what she said and used that to push through the last 3 miles. I think that some days I'm just lazy and don't feel like pushing myself, but our bodies were made to be physically active so I definitely feel it's mind over matter.
  • Holton
    Holton Posts: 1,018
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    OMG YES! It is always my head telling me to quit. And unfortunately I sometimes listen! I am learning to make myself push beyond the head talk and try to think of other things. It is a difficult habit to break!

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