Thursday, June 11, 2009

What I Think About When I'm Exercising

I have no idea where this post is coming from, but whatever. That's part of the beauty of having a blog.

What I think about when I exercise depends on a million factors like:

~ Whether or not there's something big that might be completely preoccupying my thought process to begin with,
~ How tired I am,
~ Whether or not I feel like exercising, or whether it's "forced",
~ The activity I'm doing, or
~ My environment

If there's something that I can't get off my mind, it doesn't matter when I'm doing, that's what I'll be thinking about. Relationship issues, family issues, work issues - if any of them rate an 8 or above on my immediate relevancy scale, that's what I'll be thinking about.

If I'm tired, all I'm going to think about is how hard it is to be doing what I'm doing, how I'd rather be on the couch reading, or in bed sleeping, or a million other things that require no energy.

If I want to be exercising, I feel great. If I'm in the mood for a run, I run straighter, faster, with better posture and a higher, longer step. If I feel forced into exercise, I'd might as well have stayed home.

If I'm kickboxing, I think about lots of things that are very different than when I'm running. I get out a LOT of frustrations during my kickboxing classes. I kick that bag HARD if I'm angry, or frustrated. Sometimes I think I'm an ultimate fighter and how tough that would make me, or what it would be like to be in a ring with some chick and having lots of other people watching me fight. Cool. And I'm always thinking of what challenge Andy will throw at us next. Andy's our uber-good-fighter instructor. He kicks our butts regularly.

If I'm running, and I'm in the mood for it, I think about how light I feel. How I could be a marathon runner, and how other people think it's so hard to run, but I can do it. I think about crossing a finish line, I think about the other runners I meet on the trail and how I need to look ultra-confident and fit when I pass them on the trail. I think about my form and how I look to other people who see me running.

What do you think about when you're exercising?

1 comment:

OldGoogleAccount said...

I read this post yesterday and thought about it on my run today. Here is what else I thought:

"heads up" I tend to look at the ground

"why is that man standing over there and not moving"

"I could stop now but I'm not going to"

"I think I need new shoes" then I spent about 3 minutes thinking about when I bought them and approximately how many miles are on them

"Damn my right knee! WTF?"

"I love my Nike chip"

"I need to take some pics of this route for my blog"

So pretty random stuff but mostly about the run itself. I think that's pretty standard for me.

ITA that it is impossible to think about anything else when you're having a bad run or don't want to be exercising.