HI. It's Laura.
Today is one of those days that my mind is filled with things to talk about and not a clue where to start.
My morning started with an eight mile run and what a painful run it was. I was not in physical pain mind you, no real aches or pains, just mental ones. My body is wired such that I don't feel things the next day but the day after. So I am tired today from the ride on Sunday. Yesterday I was fine. Being tired to start a run is sometimes a good thing.
Often when I know I have a long run ahead of me, I get anxious. But this morning, being tired enough, I settled right into the zone within the first mile. This is a rare thing and not necessarily a good thing. By mile six, I just wanted to be done. Settling in so early in my run turns my thoughts over and over. And I wait for the idea that is going to pop. Today I was thinking about my legs or more specifically, legs in general. More like bodies as a whole and how much abuse they can take before they start to break down.
Which lead me to how the body breaking down from both good and bad consequences.
I have guilty pleasure that I am reluctant to share but will for the sake of this discussion. I am totally fascinated by the television show Intervention. I promise you I watch this one alone. I really don't think anyone wants to join me in this. I know The Husband is repelled by it.
Anyway the premise of the show is that they follow a person addicted to some kind of drug whether it is alcohol, heroine, crack or prescription pills. They start with where they are now, how they got there followed by the intervention itself. Most of the time, the intervention is successful. Sometimes it is not and the intervenee goes back to their drug habit.
As I watch the show, I am amazed at the amount of drugs these people take. Sometimes their habits are $1000/day! How can the human body take that kind of ravaging and where on earth do they find the money. (I am impressed by their resourcefulness and wonder if they would be a good hire if they weren't addicts.) You know a junkie is not eating anything healthy, not sleeping for the most part and just injecting or smoking poison. I am truly fascinated that they live this way and that they live as long as they do. Some of these people are addicted for 10 years.
(This is not where I thought this blog was going today I was actually going to talk about anatomy, I guess that is for another day)
A little research and a little common sense lead us to our culprit, serotonin.
So the same thing that drives the addict drives the athlete. The addict is tricked by the drug's immediate effects, serotonin and dopamine are released and the overall feeling over euphoria is achieved. Unfortunately with an addict, the body's needs increases the longer they use and more and more of the drug is necessary.
In an athlete, serotonin and endorphins are released during exercise creating the same feeling of euphoria as an addict.
I am not saying that if you want to feel good you should do drugs. Quite the opposite.
By exercising three hours a week or 30 minutes a day most days of the week, you can get the same serotonin effects without having to run eight miles every day. As a matter of fact you can break those thirty minutes down into 10 minute increments.
Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression, higher levels associated with elevated moods. How many depressed runners do know?
The neurotransmitters in the brain and serotonin are widely written about. A single Google search can yield hundreds of results if you want to learn more about serotonin and its effects on the body.
Today I just wanted to share with you some of the more creepy thoughts that enter my mind during an eight mile run.
Play hard!
Laura
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