Note:
If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)
By Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)
Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in Running
There are two important words to know in motivation - extrinsic and intrinsic. In relation to this, I shall share my experience of my own actions, habits, behaviour and attitude towards activity and sports before giving in some details on N. Ganesan (5000m - 14min 57sec) and Chamkaur Dhaliwal (1500m - 3: 51.59). Both the latter runners are the current National Record holders as well. My experience of meeting them and observing them will be discussed. Finally, I shall end the article by giving a conclusion on intrinsic motivation.
When I was in the then College of Physical Education (the present CCAB), during the Sports Psychology lesson, I come to know about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
To my understanding, intrinsic motivation is when a person is able to motivate themselves internally and gets their own satisfaction for doing the task(s) from within.
On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is when a person is motivated because of something external to themselves - such as a reward for doing the task, or fear of punishment for not doing the task. Psychological studies have shown over time that intrinsic motivation is the best sort of motivation to have and it is internal. Intrinsic motivation is on self-will. Extrinsic motivation is influenced by external factors.
In relation to this, I shall discuss on my actions and behaviour of the past, give information on N. Ganesan's (5000m National Record Holder) and Chamkaur Dhaliwal's (1500m National Record Holder). The habit and values they followed which led them to succeed in their passion will also be presented. This article is from my perspective or point of view. It is in the hope that this article will motivate running enthusiasts that has prompted me to write on intrinsically motivated people.
My Own Experience
At a young age, I was able to do things by myself when it comes to physical activity. Bored, I used to go to the playground and play for 1-2 hours by myself on the swing. This action was done alone usually and there are times I had no friends to accompany me to the playground.
Earlier on, at secondary one and secondary two, I did not take running seriously. However, every day I will play soccer. I double up on this by playing basketball every day when I was in secondary two. Playing game was an important part of me for I did not know on specificity in running at that time. Only when I was told by my teacher-in-charge, Mr Coleman Baptist that I can be a good cross country runner that I started to focus on cross country. I did three times per week training. At Sec 2, I used to lose my friend by the name of Zameer Mallal. On finding out from my school-mate Ow Kok Meng, who is at present the Head of Department of Pasir Ris Sec Sch, that Zameer does exercises every day and runs every day about 5km, I started to train very hard every day henceforth. I still lost to him at Sec 3 when I did 16min 36sec and he did 16min 30sec for the 4.8km cross country race. I was practically fighting with him all the way. However, he was stronger than me at that time. In sec 4, due to intensive training, I finally did 15min 55sec and he did 16min 55sec. He was a minute behind. Anyway, it is unfair to compare Zameer Mallal with me as he was not that serious in running when he was Sec 4. As for me, the frequent and regular training finally paid off, eventually.
When I was about 17 years old, a sudden urge to go to a world-class level prompted me to train very hard. I used to run through Mt Faber every single day. I also trained with Pannirselvam, a long distance runner, and Jagtar Singh, who did 15m 06sec, holding the national record around that time. Daily I used to run with these two gentlemen for long runs.
However, over time, I landed myself in the Army and found doing running training very difficult. The Army training does have strengthening program and stamina program. However, the aerobic conditioning program is not enough for an athlete who aspires to become an elite runner. Only the last two months, I was told that I was selected to go for Perak trip to compete with other country Armed Forces athletes. I did the 10km in 36min 30 which was a personal best for me at that time. Before that race, for the two solid months, I trained very hard.
After finishing Army as an active soldier, I was accepted into the College of Physical Education as a trainee teacher. It was here that I told myself to run 10km per day alongside the Physical Education programme that they were giving. The lessons made me very active and tired as well. Most of my friends, at first, were running with me 10km. Over time, they could not take the physical stress that the course was giving. They decided not to run anymore. However, my made up my mind to do well. For 2 years, I trained hard and competed and improved. I made good use of the 2 years by training and told myself to just pass the course. Running was made the priority.
About a year and a half later, at the age of about 23, I was doing teaching as a trainee in Dunearn Sec Sch. Although I formed a cross country team, I did my own training very seriously and did not cave in to tiredness which came from the CCA and teaching History to Sec 2 students. Once my teacher trainee days were over, I was posted to Clementi Town Sec Sch to teach there. It was here that I met people like Harpreet Singh, N. Ganesan, Elangovan and Li Tienye. All were very talented athletes.
At this point, I would like to say that N. Ganesan was seen as a talented runner with good speed but he was seen to be bouncing when he was running. Before he met me, he was already the Under 17 champion. He used show gestures of respect by always acknowledging and discuss on running. He used to train punctually, very frequently and intensely. Over time, N. Ganesan was taking me as a coach in order to run faster. He was seen to be an intrinsically motivated person.
We focus our attention on topics related to running, yoga, discipline and the top runners of the world. Although we are married now, in the past, we do not talk on any topic related to girls. Not once we talked about girls. From there, I also realised that N. Ganesan was a very disciplined person. Many of the runners that I had seen would like to talk about girls in their conversation. If we do not talk about girls, they say that something is wrong with us. At that time, we felt that talking about girls will just take us away from our target. In running, one of the distraction is girls. We knew that by overcoming this distraction, we can attain anything that we want to achieve. We also know that the only way to win distraction is to have goals and keep pursuing with a focused mind.
N. Ganesan was one of the runners in Singapore who has done 14min 46sec for the 4.8km MacRitchie Reservoir course when he ran the Under 20 Boys' category. By him coming first for the A Division race, it was a huge success. I realised that Harpreet (14min 47sec), Ganesan and myself (14m 52sec), all three of us have finally done the impossible, doing sub 15min for the 4.8km MacRitchie Reservoir course. No rewards will tantamount to the achievement that we accomplished within 1-2 year of partnership in training.
When Ganesan was in the Army, he had a hard time training seriously. The only way he was able to make time for himself in running is by representing the Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association in hockey. Later, I realised that he was a very good hockey player as well. After his hockey practises, he trained with me. It went on for three months. The training was so hard that nearly got ourselves burnout. Both of us were feeling it, but I did not tell him my plight. He told me this after a year later only when I came back from Loughborough University. He told me that the training I gave was very tough. The good news was in the Singapore Open in 1992, I did 15min 31sec. Ganesan improved tremendously from 16min 46sec to 15min 41sec. In actual fact, at one point of the run, he actually overtook me. However, somewhere towards the end, I gave all I have got to do a fast time. In the process, I overtook him. We were very happy with our time. It only took 3months for Ganesan to do a 15min 41sec with the training I gave him. This was the fastest progress for anyone who came under me. It was a like achieving miracle.
After that, Ganesan was given more time to train because of his fast running. I left Singapore to study in England and I passed Ganesan to Eric Song. In 10 months, Eric Song helped Ganesan to do 15min 31sec. It was indeed a good time. However, I told him that since he had more time to train, he should go for it. Concurrently, in overseas at that time, I was doing a 15min 40sec for the 5km split of the final 10km time of 31min 46sec. I was selected for the Inter-varsity race in England which I did not participate because of Exams. Still, when I came back for a holiday in Singapore, I told Ganesan that he should have improved further. Then, I left for England again. In the inter-varsity games in Singapore, Ganesan did a sudden good time of 15min 06sec which was astounding.
Over time, while training with the later coach by the name of Paul Rainer, Ganesan left for Germany and finally broke the National Record held for several years by Jagtar Singh. It was a turning point for Ganesan.
All along when Ganesan and I were young adults, we were guessing about whether we can break the National Record or not. We later realised that because we chased our dreams, which looked elusive, finally it has become a manifestation. Our goals have finally been achieved. We were actually not bothered by anyone breaking our record in the future. We will always respect the heroic person who can do it. We had this sense of achievement.
Chamkaur Singh
While I was about to go for an overseas study trip in 1992-1994, while doing an intensive workout at Yishun Stadium, I chanced to see a young person doing 200m repeats a number of times. The runner was relentless in finishing the workout, even though he was not fast at that time. Most of the time, when I saw Chamkaur, I used to wonder why he kept doing this workout. It seemed to me that that was the only training he knew of. While training, I did not talk to him for I did not want any form of disturbance that distracted me from my workout goals. My workouts were done solo. I knew that the only person who can help is only me myself and not others.
Over time, through the former National Record holder Pandian (800m - 1min 50sec). I was told that he was training with Pandian and Coach Patrick Zehnder. Coach Zehnder was once nominated for Coach of the Year award. He developed athletes like Chee Swee Lee etc.
I joined Pandian for workouts. I found that his methodology of training was slightly different from me. Hence, we parted from training together, although we remained as friends. Pandian also, at that time, introduced me to coaches like Harichandra. I realised that Harichandra was a nice man who wanted me to stay in Singapore to be under his tutelage. He was not able to train me because of my confirmation of a place at Loughborough University of Technology. Pandian used to talk to me about Chamkaur's partnership in training with him. I got to know then that the person who used to do workouts in Yishun Stadium was none other than Chamkaur.
Over time, I saw Chamkaur at MacRitchie and he was talking to me about the 200m repeats and he told me that the workouts were not effective and he lacked stamina. Chamkaur was training very hard sometimes doing workouts and sometimes doing MacRitchie Reservoir long runs. He even ran in the one of the Singapore Marathon and came in with a time of 2hr 59min. He even came in 10th position in the local Men Open category. It was a big success and accomplishment for him.
After a period of time, consistently doing sub 4min 10sec for his runs in 1500m races in Singapore, he finally told us that he is going overseas to pursue his academic pursuit. He wanted to go to Australia. Chamkaur, I feel, wanted to achieve more success in running as well. I did not know what his goal was but I know that he was capable of sub 4min for 1500m at that time.
As I know Chamkaur, he looked like a focused person when I met him before leaving Singapore. Chamkaur used to monitor his long runs using the heart-rate monitor, although I took mine manually, after a run. He was also drinking boiled water which I believe is very beneficial for the body. The bottle that he brought was at least 1litre. When I was a secondary one or two student, I remember my Tamil teacher telling the class that boiled will kill the germs. Tap water is safe to drink but has some germs which could be present and our eyes don't have the ability to see the germs. Boiled water's killing of germs will enhance our body's energy level to an optimum. Hence, I believe that Chamkaur was very disciplined enough to look after himself well that he does not fall sick and perform well.
The best thing about Chamkaur is that he used to respect well. This is my perception of him. At that time, I used to avoid people so that my time is used for training and not for talking. Yes, there was a time when I knew a few things on training and there was the tendency in me to talk and talk non-stop to people about the right thing to do. Later, I realised that, in the first place, I should practise silence and talk less. My thought was to practise minding my own business. Over time, in fact, I started getting more friends because of this practise. However, the ignorance of a few handful of people, thinking that I was arrogant arose. To these people, I would like to say that there was a time after breaking the record, I used to talk to a number of uncountable friends unnecessarily and lost all energy and dipped on my running performance. People started to ask why my performance was down. I realised that there were too many people to explain my reasons for not doing well.
Over time, I realised that the only way to improve is to get my training done first before talking. However, because of this action, I could finish my training and usually, I end up dog tired to talk anything. Another realisation came in me that told me that if I care for what people are thinking and talking about me, there will be no improvement in me. The best I could do is to acknowledge by smiling and waving before and after the run. This made me improve my timing and I kept improving. I also told myself to communicate with people more after my serious running career.
In this context, I have noticed that Chamkaur was a person with few words. I realised that he is a very focused person because I could see from his talking less and few words. It is because of his focus and determination that I believe he became the most successful 1500m runner Singapore has ever produced.
I did not know whether I was intrinsically motivated or not until I was in the then College of Physical Education, learning this from Sports Psychology. Breaking the National Record was something internal for me to achieve, accomplish and obtain joy. It must have been the same with Ganesan and Chamkaur. Ganesan and I, when we used to train together, were above any rewards when it comes to improvement. Chamkaur was also not seen to run for material reward as he was very focused on improving time in 1500m. He exhibited great determination in one of the race which made to look at him with awe. That race was at the national stadium. Ganesan and Chamkaur focused on their intrinsic motivation for improving running time. Finally, I believe that intrinsic motivation is imperative to anyone who wants to succeed in performance enhancement. It can also help one in losing weight and maintain fitness.
Note:
By Narayanan
Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes to do marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners to do sub-4 hours for marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’ by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).
He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.
Personal Training/Elite and Non-Elite Group Coaching (2km to marathon)
