Self Sabotaging

My wife mentioned the other day in a comment and maybe once or twice over the last few years that I like to self-sabotage at least as it relates to my running. You know, things like getting an injury and then doing nothing with the injury other than pushing through the pain. I think her point is that if I did what the Doctors (the experts) say to do that I might just heal faster.

Well, since I figured she might have a point, I decided to google self-sabotage and I found some interesting links, one of which was from someone named - Anna Aparicio (Ireland's Top Female NLP and Hypnosis Coach), I had to look up NLP on her website as I didn't know what it meant, here is how it is described.

HOW CAN NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING HELP YOU?
NLP is a set of psychological tools discovered by Dr. Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the 70’s. These revolutionary technologies came about through the study of the most successful professionals in the field of Psychology and Hypnotherapy and the miraculous transformations they achieved with their clients.

Simply put, NLP teaches you to how to improve any area of your life, be happier, more confident, more motivated and communicate in more useful and effective ways, so you can get what you want.

So do I self sabotage maybe, maybe not? Regardless, the ankle is getting better, although I would be remiss to not point out that it was my wife who commented that I should have been wearing a decent ankle brace. So a couple weeks back we picked a brace that was supportive. I have been running in it (and wearing it to work) and although I don't like it much, the ankle is improving, I never knew how much weaker (as in unstable) my ankle was and how much less pain I have when I wear the brace. I can now go up and down stairs with no stability issues, just some slight pain. So I am pretty sure I will be back to running normally in just a few more weeks. I have been working to ramp my mileage but I am trying to do so sensibly and slowly.

The key is I am trying to be smarter and not just push through things when I have pain. See, I am learning, then again, before my long run on Sunday, I decided to wear brand new shoes, with the ankle brace and compression socks that I have never worn before. I could tell when I told my wife what I was wearing, she gave me the look, you know, a there you go again sabotaging yourself kind of look. Well I made it without major issue, a little skin off of a toe is normal, right? I also choose to leave the bike path to run in Lebanon Hills through the snow and ruts, maybe that was a mistake in hindsight. I wiped out on the ice, torqued the ankle a bit and basically concluded the ankle has a little ways to go, though it was nice to be back in the woods again. Oh is this what she means by self sabotaging myself?

You can read more from the Irish NLP expert at -

SELF SABOTAGE: HOW TO QUIT SABOTAGING YOURSELF

I am not sure that I would normally buy into her line of thinking but in her post, she identified "27 crippling behaviors that may have been preventing you from getting what you want", I couldn't resist answering a few of her questions. I should clarify that my answers are related to running, not other issues I might have.

1. You often use excuses usually about lack of time, money,etc, for not taking advantage of opportunities that are right in front of you
This might have a grain of truth

2. You focus too much on the fear rather than the good that will come from taking action

Not sure how this one relates to finishing a 50 injured and under trained, oh, does this mean if I entered healthy and trained then the outcome would turn out different?

10. You have a limited idea of how much you can accomplish

Probably true

12. You are not willing to do what it takes to change your situation

This could have some truth

14. You back away from uncomfortable situations that represent opportunities for massive growth

Probably true

26. You talk to yourself in a negative and critical manner

I am under trained, I should never have signed up, I am, oh I think I see her point

You can check out her blog at: http://www.dublinnlplifecoach.com