The Psychology of Endurance

bendyourkneekatie wrote: »

So I did my first ultra today (just 50km) and I honestly have no further insight into how/why I keep going than I did before. I struggled, my legs cramped, there were so many hills that made me want to stop or at least start walking, I contemplated quitting multiple times and yet... I didn't...
And now I have horribly sore legs, a headache, a bottle of cheap wine with the race logo on it, a plaque that says "first female", a mind fog that won't help me work on the essay due tomorrow, and an irritability that is not coping with my kids well at all. Seems like a crazy thing to have done to myself.

Given your experience of marathons I'm a little surprised that a 50K has beaten you up so much. What was it about the event that caused that?

bendyourkneekatie wrote: »

MeanderingMammal wrote: »

bendyourkneekatie wrote: »

So I did my first ultra today (just 50km) and I honestly have no further insight into how/why I keep going than I did before. I struggled, my legs cramped, there were so many hills that made me want to stop or at least start walking, I contemplated quitting multiple times and yet... I didn't...
And now I have horribly sore legs, a headache, a bottle of cheap wine with the race logo on it, a plaque that says "first female", a mind fog that won't help me work on the essay due tomorrow, and an irritability that is not coping with my kids well at all. Seems like a crazy thing to have done to myself.

Given your experience of marathons I'm a little surprised that a 50K has beaten you up so much. What was it about the event that caused that?

HILLS!!!
Hills hills hills. Even though I trained on a very similar course, I never did as many hills in one run, and never at race speed. I also didn't wear a hat as it was quite windy and hats always seem to fly off my head in the wind, but the sun came out in force during the last hour and was very strong right on my face, which I think accounts for the headache.
After a shower at home I felt much more human and managed to walk a few kms to a cafe with the best salted caramel milkshakes, then do a big grocery shop and bake some cookies. Today I don't feel unwell or tired or anything, but my legs are still awful. Why do I live in a hilly area in a house with so many stairs?

You'll be right about the hat, but I know what you mean about hills. In trail races they're relentless. My first marathon also had a mile of elevation across nine hills, so it was either up or down for 28 miles.

In the context of this discussion one of the things for me is how we anchor that pain in our why. Perhaps one of the differences between those of us who train for events is that we can attribute a session to success in the main event. That may be hill sessions, cross training or digging deep in a tempo or intervals session. It's all in aid of a clear, measurable objective.

My first marathon was a hilly one. I trained on running hard up the hills, but not so much on running hard down them. My quads were completely shot by the end. We have stairs up from the street and there was no way I could climb those. I had to climb the grassy hill to the back of the house and have my husband drag me up the two steps into the house. Then it was at least 4 days before I could leave the house because of those stairs. Amazing what a difference it makes running hard up and down hills vs. just running easy.

i don't run but i lift. and some of the lifting i've done has been pretty hard.

you can stop exercise any time and that's why it's harder to keep doing it. what i do to not quit on those real grinder reps is pretty simple. 'if this was the flu you would not have the option to quit.' i mean, it's true, right? you can't just stop having the flu.

idk if that's odd or not. but i did have the flu a few years ago, and something about those two days and nights has stuck with me ever since. i'm a born stoic, me. tell me i just have to slog through it and i'll slog through. wave pompoms and blow sparkle-dust up my butt and i'll have to quit anyway because my eyes will be rolling so hard.

my reasoning to myself with the flu thing is something like, 'you couldnt' quit from the flu, and you lived through it, right?' again, idk if i'm just a bit odd.