Work Out

Kennemer Dunes Parallel Universe in 360°, today. Winter training ends here [ ten days rest ]

Above: The mind works along identical operative characteristics (is my experience) as the body does. Example. Trough vaccination the immune system is activated: "Vaccines are examples of antigens in an immunogenic form, which are intentionally administered to induce the memory function of adaptive immune system toward the antigens of the pathogen invading the recipient.¹" Mentally we benefit trough the deliberate activation and confrontation with subconscious material, and, as the Germans call it "durch-arbeiten" -- "to work out", and -- trough that process -- stimulate conscious "immunity" and endurance: raise hell, to raise consciousness. This is my personal experience during a life of training.

Min/max temperature: 5°C/11°C; humidity: 65%; precipitation: 0 mm; sea level pressure: 1019 hPa; wind: NW 19.3 km/h; visibility: 10.0 kilometres; Clouds: Few 1219 m., Mostly Cloudy 1432 m .; Moon: Waxing Gibbous, 99% illuminated.

"Exposure to deeply disturbing events is liable to produce long term effects as well as immediate reactions. […] A recovery phase of up to six months is considered to be within the normal bracket. Individuals showing prolonged disturbance and maladjustment extending beyond such a spell of time are ready candidates for a PTSD diagnosis. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a recognised psychiatric category. Its present status as a textbook disorder originates from its spectacular, in a sense epidemic incidence among Vietnam veterans. About a third of these veterans suffered from serious psychological problems even 20 years after the war. Their problems have been extensively examined. […] A person is classified as a PTSD victim if he or she was exposed to a traumatic incident in the past and is troubled by a cluster of symptoms which uncover a disturbed or incomplete coping process. In order to be able to live with a trauma […] it is necessary to proceed trough a number of stages. A final stage of integrating the experiences in the domain of personal growth can only be achieved after going trough an initial phase of disbelief and bewilderment, followed by a period of avoiding memories and associations interrupted by the painful and irresistible intrusion of flashbacks. PTSD is basically a state of being arrested in the latter stage where denial and overwhelming images and emotions alternate and the conflict between these tendencies debilitates and absorbs the individual to a degree which impedes a satisfying social or professional existence."

J. Extra in 'NL Arms', 'Dealing with Danger and Stress', edited by A.L.W. Vogelaar, K.F. Muusse, J.H. Rovers, page 159, first published in 1997 by RNMA, Breda, The Netherlands

After finishing Mark Divine's Unbeatable Mind Academy some time ago, -- being part of the network -- I recently received an invitation for a team/sponsor-participation to "Walk the Path of the Spartan 300, Where The Warrior’s Code Of Honor Was Born.²" Mark Divine continued in the invitation/announcement: "I am leading  [ a ] team of committed [ people ] to Greece on an 8-day ruck following the path that Spartan King Leonidas and his 300 warriors rucked to take on the invading Persian King Xerxes. Please consider joining us for this epic adventure, and simultaneously helping my new Courage Foundation heal victims of PTSD. The mission will commence on September 14th and end on the 23rd. This is not a race, but you will need to be in reasonable shape to avoid injury and thrive with the team. Each day will include Unbeatable Mind training before, during and after the event.[…] I can’t imagine a better way to challenge ourselves, serve warriors in need, and do some deep self-reflection on what it means to live a life of honor, discipline, courage, and commitment… like the Spartan 300.³"

For this trip the coming weeks we will start to raise funds. Take a look at the Courage Foundation website.

___________________

¹ "Antigen", From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

²  Mark Dvine, Email invitation, last Friday

³ Ibid

Interval

Kennemerduinen, today. Interval training [go hard, go easy; united in a balanced training]

"A good walker must connect grace with quickness and perseverance, whatever be the nature of the ground, whether hilly, sandy, or slippery. To walk well, is a great art, and deserves to be attented to by parents from the earliest years of their children; their habit here, as in most cases, is all powerful. It is an exercise which may be practised in any place, though no so well in a common excerise-ground as elsewhere. [...] I. Grace [...] A straight natural carriage of the whole body, particularly of the head, without anything artificial, or affected; a light, yet firm step with the whole sole of the foot at once; the knees straightened, whenever the foot touched the ground. The feet should be turned a little outwards. […], so that the body may not lose its balance. II. Duration, cannot be acquired except by much practice. Walks [regularly] taken, and gradually increased, and then longer excursions and journeys on foot, are requisite. Perseverance in walking and strength to carry some weight, is an important accomplishment. […] IV. Indifference as to locality. Walking over unlevelled ground is much more difficult, but at the same time a greater exercise. The same is the case in walking trough deep sand. If a hill is so steeped, that every step requires considerable exertion, then the motion is called ascending, which may be practiced with and without a load. [...]  Running, if practiced with precautions, is an exercise extremely salutary to the chest and lungs. […] Posture and body: Breast out, shoulders back, upper part of the body forwards; upper arms close to the body, elbows bent, and kept backwards. The steps light, and with the ball of the foot, not with the whole sole. The mouth shut; breathing long, uniform, and more trough the nose, than trough the mouth. […] Cool and calm days are best for this exercise. In the beginning run with, not against, the wind. When very much heated, or out of breath, stop. [...] After running, cool yourself by walking about, not by standing still, nor lying down."

From: 'Treatise on Gymnasticks, taken chiefly from the German of F.L. Jahn'  [ translated ] by Charles Beck in 1828 ("It is a well known fact that a subject, whether it be entirely new, or only more attended to, will exercise an influence upon language, in proportions to its importance; it will either coin new words, or transplant them from other languages, or impart a new shade or greater distinctness of meaning to some already existing [...] If the present work facilitates the introduction and management of gymnastic exercises, my wish is fulfilled, and I shall consider myself richly awarded for the trouble which the execution of it occasioned.") 

See also: Friedrich Ludwig Jahn  a.k.a. 'Turnvater Jahn' (1778 - 1852)  at Wikipedia (English)

Training/today/after_footprint/ice/sunny/30K

Friday-training/after_two_day_break/below_zero/ice/sunny/good_wind

Cold, dark, warm, light

Kennemer Dunes, today. Finishing after dark [ motivation ]

"[Except for elementary reflexes], people are not equipped with inborn repertoires of behaviour. They must learn them. New response patterns can be acquired either by direct experience or by observation. Biological factors, of course, play a role in the acquisition process. Genetics and hormones affect physical development which in turn can influence behavioural potentialities. Many so-called instinctual behaviours [though], even in lower species, contain a large learning component. […] When people deal with everyday events, some of their responses prove successful, while others have no effect or result in punishing outcomes. Trough this process of different reinforcement, successful forms of behaviour are eventually selected and ineffectual ones are discarded [...] Self-reinforcement refers to a process in which individuals enhance and maintain their own behaviour by rewarding themselves with rewards that they control when ever they attain self prescribed standards. […] According to social learning theory […] self-regulated reinforcements increase performance mainly trough its motivational function. By making self-reward conditional upon attaining a certain level of performance, individuals create self-inducements to persist in their efforts until their performances match self-prescribed standards. […] Track performances, for example, are gauged in terms of speeds. Achievement-oriented activities are evaluated on the basis of quality, quantity, or originality. Social conduct is judged along such dimensions as authenticity, concequentialness and deviancy […] Whether a given performance will be regarded as rewardable or punishable depends upon the personal standards against which it is evaluated. Actions that measure up to internal standards give rise to positive appraisals, while those that fall short are judged negatively. For most activities there are no absolute measures of adequacy. The time in which a mile is run, the scores obtained on tasks, or the size of charitable contributions, do not convey in themselves sufficient information for self-appraisal. […]  In performances gauged by social criteria, self appraisals require relational comparisons of at least three sources of information to judge a given performance: absolute performance level, one's own personal standards, and a social referent."

Albert Bandura in 'Social Learning Theory', page 16, 17, 130 131. First published in 1977 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., USA 

Ignorance

Kennemer Dunes, today. Learn [ or burn ].

Min/max temperature: 3°C/9°C; humidity: 100%; precipitation: 12 mm, sea level pressure: 988 hPa; wind WNW 52.0 km/h; visibility: 10.0 kilometres; Clouds Few 243 m., Scattered Clouds 304 m., Mostly Cloudy 548 m

"[People] interested in creating high performance teams are unafraid of incertitude and unresolved issues and are able to remain open-minded. [Prepared] to accept a condition what the poet John Keats termed "negative capability": "when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact and reason" […] It is important to maintain a state of deliberate open-mindedness -- the ability to keep imagination alive without having the urge for closure. […] Paranoid and depressive anxieties are major emotional drivers within a group-as-a-whole. At the core of these primitive regressive processes is a basic feeling of helplessness, a state of mind that produces the deepest source of anxiety in human beings […] If these regressive forces are not dealt with, the group-as-a-whole falls victim to a paranoid mindset, expressed as mistrust, untruthfulness, suspicion, hostility, immoral behaviour, rivalry, jealousy, envy, spite, and fear. […] Within this paranoid framework, scapegoats will be targeted within a group or team. Scapegoating is a way of deflecting our aggression onto safer targets, instead of directing it towards the target we are really frustrated with. People who become scapegoats act as receptacles for the projections of the unacceptable impulses experienced by the group-as-a-whole. […] As an additional "benefit" this act of projection may bind "good" group members closer together, by creating a common enemy. In many instances, scapegoats are chosen because of some special or unique characteristic that makes them different from the other members of the group […] some low-status individuals frequently become associated (forced by the group) with the unacceptable, unseemly, or foolish aspects of the group."

Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries in 'The Hedgehog Effect', page 145, 146, 147, 151. First published in 2011 by John Wiley and Sons, USA

Knowing ignorance is strength.
Ignoring knowledge is sickness.

If one is sick of sickness, then one is not sick.
The wise are not sick, because they are sick of sickness.
Therefore they are not sick.

Lao Tsu in 'Tao Te Ching', translated by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English. Originally published by Knopf, New York, 1972