Today's run was my first on a treadmill in a while. Despite the fact that many of my running friends don't like treadmill runs, I got a great workout this morning. I had a half mile warmup and then ran 10K at a 6:40 pace to finish in 41:20. I believe that is my best ever. It is a full minute faster than my best track. And I did run with a slight up incline the whole time. So, now a bad showing.
Why did I take the treadmill option? Well, it was a day when despite my surprising consistency on track runs lately (and my main alternative to the treadmill was a track 10K), I still felt the need for a very controlled experience. And today that is exactly what I had. I stayed at the 6:40 pace the whole time, except for a brief time when I sped it up one notch higher (to a 6:35 pace) to make the time even out to an average of 6:40. The treadmill provides the guidance for me and I can focus on my form, on how my legs were feeling, on my breathing, and on my cardio. And, on how controlled I felt.
So, it is using a mechanical device to provide guidance so I can focus on any number of other things that will also help me to improve.
So, thinking about how this related to the rest of life on my road to better, I come to another meeting I had with my leadership coach today at which she provided exactly that--guidance. While this issues are specifically work related, it was a reminder to me that even with six months of leadership at the business school under my belt, I still have plenty of opportunities to learn more about the nuances of leadership.
An interesting side note is that my coach described me as "strangely excited" about the transition to administration when she first met me. But she also chalked that up to my general optimism toward life. While she was wondering all along, "Does he know what he is getting himself into?" Well, I have come a long way. I am making decisions that are much different and more informed and better than what I would have made six months ago. I have benefitted from guidance from others.
And, now I am starting to provide the guidance. Guiding decision making. Guiding a new direct report who arrived yesterday and is beginning to feel her way around (who had to look in my office to determine where the "personality" is as she thinks of me as having a lot of personality--it turned out that she simply had not looked in the right place to see where all my personal "stuff" was to really understand the interesting things I bring).
And, of course, I have had lots of opportunity to receive guidance about running, guidance about marriage, guidance about education, guidance about parenting, and guidance about any number of others things in life recently and in the past. So, I take my lesson in understanding the need for guidance in my running this morning, and think of it as a reminder to examine my actions and my needs and to determine where I need guidance and when to seek it in the rest of my life as well.
Why did I take the treadmill option? Well, it was a day when despite my surprising consistency on track runs lately (and my main alternative to the treadmill was a track 10K), I still felt the need for a very controlled experience. And today that is exactly what I had. I stayed at the 6:40 pace the whole time, except for a brief time when I sped it up one notch higher (to a 6:35 pace) to make the time even out to an average of 6:40. The treadmill provides the guidance for me and I can focus on my form, on how my legs were feeling, on my breathing, and on my cardio. And, on how controlled I felt.
So, it is using a mechanical device to provide guidance so I can focus on any number of other things that will also help me to improve.
So, thinking about how this related to the rest of life on my road to better, I come to another meeting I had with my leadership coach today at which she provided exactly that--guidance. While this issues are specifically work related, it was a reminder to me that even with six months of leadership at the business school under my belt, I still have plenty of opportunities to learn more about the nuances of leadership.
An interesting side note is that my coach described me as "strangely excited" about the transition to administration when she first met me. But she also chalked that up to my general optimism toward life. While she was wondering all along, "Does he know what he is getting himself into?" Well, I have come a long way. I am making decisions that are much different and more informed and better than what I would have made six months ago. I have benefitted from guidance from others.
And, now I am starting to provide the guidance. Guiding decision making. Guiding a new direct report who arrived yesterday and is beginning to feel her way around (who had to look in my office to determine where the "personality" is as she thinks of me as having a lot of personality--it turned out that she simply had not looked in the right place to see where all my personal "stuff" was to really understand the interesting things I bring).
And, of course, I have had lots of opportunity to receive guidance about running, guidance about marriage, guidance about education, guidance about parenting, and guidance about any number of others things in life recently and in the past. So, I take my lesson in understanding the need for guidance in my running this morning, and think of it as a reminder to examine my actions and my needs and to determine where I need guidance and when to seek it in the rest of my life as well.
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