A Workout in Three Acts

Today it was very cold this morning.  Some of my running friends went out for a run despite the cold.  Others stuck with a treadmill workout.  I took the treadmill today although I hope to get in 4-6 outside early tomorrow--sticking to the major and cleared streets to be safe and not risk ice and falling.

When I got done my workout I was stretching a bit in the long hallway at the Towson Family Y and a friend I know from a formal training group organized by Charm City Run that I was part of several years ago came over and asked what I was training for.  She is training for the Houston Half Marathon.  When I told her I am not training for anything in particular, she asked, "So you just like torturing yourself?"  I answered that I just like to maintain a working base.  

How much of a base?  I had thought about running 16 today.  I ended up with 14.  For my virtual running pilgrimage where would this put me?  Finished 22 miles.  It would be on Old Westminster Pike in Finksburg MD.  And it would be not long after a turn on MD 140 passing by Little Vinnie's Tattoos.  That is not where I got my tattoo but is a place I've seen on numerous trips out MD 140 to places like a bed and breakfast at which Sherry and I have stayed multiple times or on the way to drop Joshua off for his summer camp with the Maryland State Boychoir.  So, I am still looking at places that are familiar to me and that provide easy links to understand how this relates to my life.

The other interesting thing was that today's workout was really a workout in three acts. The three pictures show it all.  For the first hour, I ran the 8 minute miles that were very familiar to me while I was on vacation with my family.  No complaints there.  Just nice and steady work.  I enjoyed those miles but knew that given what I was going to do for the rest of the day, I would have to pick up the pace a little bit if I wanted to meet the 16 mile goal that I had set for myself.  If I were running this on the road, this would have put me along Butler Rd.  

Since the treadmill only goes for a maximum of one hour, I had to restart the treadmill and with the restart, I tried to pick up the pace a bit.  To do that, I set the treadmill for 8.5 miles per hour instead of 7.5 miles per hour and managed to maintain it for 30 minutes.  That was another 4.25 miles.  At that point I would have  been somewhere along MD 140 heading to the final point I mentioned earlier.  Key thing at this point was that I could feel something in the back of my right thigh beginning to tighten up.  Since I am not training for any races in the immediate future, I decided that no matter how much longer I was going, running a tempo or near tempo pace for 4.25 miles was sufficient for today.

I took the pace back down to 7.5 miles per hour (the 8 minute mile again) and ran another 2.25 miles in 18 minutes to bring myself up to a total of 14 miles.  Finishing there rather than pushing ahead seemed like the best thing to do.  It was learning to say that while the tightening was not enough to force me to stop, it was enough to tell me to stop.  That is something that I think comes with maturity in running.  Don't push when I don't need to.  Accept limitations.  Look ahead to what will come later after (more miles, more races, and hopefully remaining free of serious injury) rather than only looking at today--wanting the 16 miles.  

To think back to the idea of three acts, I would say that the first act was patience, the second act was attitude, and the third act was introspection. 

Exercise in Patience

Today's treadmill workout was an exercise in patience as much as it was an exercise of my muscles or cardio system.  I got on the treadmill for a one hour workout.  I ran at 7.5 or 7.6 miles per hour the whole time.  And I reached 7.5 miles (the intended distance with a constant 8 minute mile) with one second to go.  That was because I wanted to make sure I reached the distance.  Part of the flick up to 7.6 miles per hour every once in a while was to make sure I reached my distance before the time was up (1 hour is the default workout) and part of the flick up to 7.6 miles per hour every once in a while was because every treadmill takes time to get to up to speed.  So I always have to do a little adjusting to make sure I reach my intended distance at the intended time.

In any case, running for that long on a treadmill at essentially the same pace is an exercise in patience.  I am tempted to run faster.  I have to resist the temptation to do so, however.  If I do, I open myself up more to injury.  Not that I have had any serious injury in quite some time, but why risk it.

I usually do math.  How many minutes?  How many seconds?  How many gone?  How many left?  What percentage?  When will I hit the next milestone? I even took to counting steps today and found that in a minute I take about 160 steps so that a one hour workout will be a total of about 9,600 steps.  That is pretty amazing.

At the end of one hour today, here is how I looked.  You can't really tell how sweaty my leg is, but trust me, after an hour in a relatively warm fitness room, there were drops of sweat all over the treadmill.  And then, I bundled up with a dry t-shirt, that good old 1985 Upper Darby Cross Country sweatshirt, and the Heather Hurd 5K headband.  It was a morning of things past and things future as the tattoo is significant of both, the sweatshirt and headband are past, the shirt I wore for the workout was also past (from a former student in Ireland).  But, when I run, I run forward and that is always looking into the future.  I know how many miles I have run this year: 1832 in 256 days of running.  Assuming I run each of the remaining days on vacation that will be 260 days of running for the year (essentially 5 days per week) with each run being on average a bit over 7 miles.  That is a lot of time spent running.  I'll have to see whether I can do the same next year or not.  But I hope to continue to set and meet new goals--fitness and otherwise, so I am certainly doing to try.

There are many goals. I have talked about new year's resolutions on a FB note or my blog each year for the past 3 or 4 and I will reflect again this year in a few days.

But one thing that came to mind yesterday that I found I have been returning to multiple times lately is the prayer of St. Francis.  A friend and fellow runner/blogger put up a post yesterday that said "Better to be the one who smiled than the one who didn't smile back." It made me think of the prayer of St Francis.  It has lines like let me seek to console more than to be consoled.  Let me see to understand more than to be understood.  So, I figured a person could add "Let me see to smile at others more than to be smiled at."  

That is really a good plan for life.  Give.  Give.  Give  And when the time comes for you to need to ask others to give back if you have given consistently, there will almost always be people there.  People who can give back in ways that I may never have imagined.  People who are more than willing to give back because of all that I gave along the way.

There is a refrain--the more you put into life, the more you get out of it.  I certainly felt that this year.  There were numerous friends who had job issues, marriage issues, business issues, or running issues.  I was there for them as I could be.  And when there were times I needed to tap into other people's wisdom and kindness, I was able to do so.

I smiled and got smiled back at.

I understood and was understood.

I consoled and was consoled.

Numerous friends have talked about simply surrounding oneself with good people.  The rest will take care of itself.  While it is not always exactly that simple, it goes a long way.

Coming back to where I started with an exercise in patience--the relationships that one must build to live life surrounded by others who share values and who share goals and who are "good" do not always come in a day or overnight.  Sometimes they require weeks, months, or years of development.  But with investment, patience, and an awareness of how special the outcome can be (of a well built friendship or of well build fitness) the ultimate goal and ultimate answer will be strong and amazing. 

But while

I was running, in addition to showing patience and resisting the urge to go faster, I was ponder  

40 Days to Better: Day 39

This morning's run was supposed to be an easy 4 mile run just to get the legs to be loose.  Nothing major, now it is a matter of waiting, although I will sneak in a run on the day before the race.  And sometimes, to quote the song (for the second straight day I am quoting a song) from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Waiting is the hardest part."  Waiting the last few days before a big race is almost always like this.  Although this taper is not the same as any other taper I have ever done.  Waiting is still hard.

What I actually ran this morning was--nothing. I don't think that running with a resting body temperature over 100 is a good idea.  So, that makes this taper even more unusual than any other. 

That is an important lesson to teach my kids.  Waiting is important.  Patience is important.  Some things can take a while to become a reality.

One thing I had to wait for recently was to see what type of story was written about my combined Boston/Baltimore experience.  In the end, the part of the story that got the most attention was about my thinking about the eight year old who died.  Apparently that is an attention getter as this is the second time that something like this has gotten someone's attention for a story.  Even six months later.  I like the fact that my shoes got a mention.  But I had to wait more than a week to find out how a 30 minute conversation turned into an interesting story in the Sun.

This is also an important lesson to teach students and others I mentor or lead professionally.  Waiting.  Patience.  Making sure that everything is in place.  Then making a decision and taking an action.

Leadership is something that I have thought a lot about since I changed jobs and a lot since I have started the forty days to better.

I have looked at some changes in my leadership in the past six months.  I have talked to the people on my organizational chart a lot more.  (I was supposed to yesterday afternoon but instead went home to sleep.  My voice would not have been in good shape by the end of an afternoon of talking constantly.)  When I run meetings, I don't always sit at the head of the table any more.  I try to be part of the group, even if I am nominally the head of the group.  I also have made it a point to make sure that everyone gets a chance to express an opinion.  I have made it a point to follow up more quickly on things.  So many changes.

The book, The Answer to How is Yes, pointed out a term called social architecture.  It talked about things like choosing where to sit.  Choosing how to position the table.  Choosing how to show priority or equality.

I know I still have a lot to learn.  A lot to learn about leading.  A lot to learn about mentoring.  A lot to learn about helping others to achieve all they have the potential to achieve.

And the learning will probably continue for as long as I am in leadership positions.  This is not a once and done type of thing.  This is part of me for the long haul.