Yesterday I was posting some comments on Facebook to a friend who is getting into working out, and having the normal struggles. In a karmic confluence I read an interesting article on Runner's world that in some sense addressed the latest problem: how to deal with the fact that sometime you just feel too tired to workout.
I certainly know that feeling, there have been many morning that I didn't much feel like getting out of bed and getting moving. The odd thing was that for me those days can often become some of my best runs as far as effort.
Well in my initial comments I hit on some of the general ideas that came up in the article: focus less on pace and more on the end result, try different work outs, focus more on where you are than on where you want to be. But after that, on my drive home, I hit on another idea: physically tired vs. mentally tired.
There is a real difference between the two feelings of tired. Being physically tired is just that: your body is fatigued, often from a good workout, or from a physical job, or a physical effort like yard work or a house project, or from illness. Trying to exercise when affected by one of the above is a fool's errand. And your body will let you know that. And not only will you not get the workout you desire there is a real chance of injury or damage.
But mental fatigue is different. This is where I was really going with my comment to my friend. When your work is mentally challenging, and stressful, that make you feel tired. But your body is not fatigued. This is one of the reasons I love to run first thing in the morning, because while my mind may not be awake yet, my body is totally fresh, and I can just let my body do the work. And then the rest of the day my body can be in recovery mode, while my mind works. Ideally I should do something physical before bed as well, but that is a mental bridge that I have a hard time crossing.
To sum up: pay attention to your body, not your mind, when it comes time to decide if you are going to exercise. Your mind can trick you into feeling like you can't workout, but try hard to ignore that and focus on what your body tells you.
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