weeks 6 and 7 - Life Lessons from Running

Running Lessons
Over the last few weeks I have realized how much I am learning about life from my running attempts.

Lesson 1.
Just show up.
So much of our successes in life begins with just showing up for the event - either physically, mentally or emotionally (showing up with all three is good but sometimes not possible). I often don't want to show up, either for a run or for life. I don't want to feel the pain or the frustration or embarrassment or the fatigue or the sense of failure.
What I am learning through the discipline of running is that when I do show up despite not wanting to be there, two things happen. 1) I go a little farther without having to walk or I have less pain or there is some (however small) progress and 2) I feel great when I am finished - strong and healthy and accomplished. As I have begun to apply this to other areas of my life (especially in my faith) I have seen similar results.

Lesson 2
Be consistent
Consistency goes along with showing up and not giving up - as you can't be consistent if you don't show up or if you give up when times are hard. If you do not exercise (your body, your brain, your faith) on a consistent basis it does not change. One day a week of intense "work", will not create much noticeable improvement. You cannot expect to train for a week and then run 10 miles or train for a month and run 100. Somehow I have missed learning this concept in life up until now. I have lacked the consistency and follow-through needed to achieve great success (when great effort has been required). I give up when I don’t progress as fast or as far or as good as I think I should. Running is teaching me the value of consistency in growth —both in physical and spiritual training.

Lesson 3
We need other people.
I am able to go farther with less effort when I run with others. My best successes have been when running with others. But I have found that there is some selectively for your optimal running partner. If they are too far behind you in their fitness level, you will not push yourself to do your best. It becomes easier to walk instead of jog. However if you run with someone who is so far advanced (6 minute miler vs. 11 minute miler!) that is focused on their workout, you will quickly fall behind and become discouraged or try to keep up and get hurt or burn out too quickly. The best running partners are those that are at your level or slightly above, as well as those "experts" that stop and take the time to jog with you at your pace and encourage you along the way. It seems like I learn through osmosis just by being with someone who is "doing it right".

Lesson 4
No instant gratification.
I am a part of the "I want it now" generation. I am willing to work hard to get what I want...I am just not willing to work long. If it doesn't come together according to my plan within a week or two, well that must mean that something is awry and I should quit or do something different. Running has taught me that sometimes progress and growth take much longer that I think they should - and sometimes they take ME much longer than other people. Running has taught me patience and persistence. I am continuing to persevere through excruciating pain in my calves, feet falling asleep due to nerve pressure, not being able to run a more than a mile or so without stopping to walk, hills! and not seeing any noticeable change in my body shape.

Lesson 5
The payoff
After 18 months I discovered the elusive runners "groove". I had my first pleasurable running experience at Valley Forge National Park – beautiful rolling hills, deer grazing, peaceful, overcast but not cold. I applied all the lessons noticed previously. I showed up willing to run - even though I was with my boss who is a triathlete and I could have easily intimidated myself into not going. I was consistent - it would have been easy to talk myself out of running as we were out of town at a business trip and tired. At first, I did my usual ungainly walk/jog and repeat pattern – stiff calves, feet falling asleep, when will this be over, why am I doing this routine. Then after about 45 minutes on the trail we were jogging together (my boss slowing to my level) and it suddenly felt good. I was breathing well, my feet were not asleep, my calves didn’t hurt and I felt like I could go on forever! It felt so amazingly good. I must have run for 15 minutes like that and felt like I was in the groove….like I was actually running. Then we came to a hill and that broke my rhythm and activated the painful calves again. But now I know what I am chasing and I want to get back to that place again.

Week 5

Hills and Rain

This was a week of hills and rain. Can't say I am too fond of either but am feeling a bit accomplished after enduring both.

On Tuesday I got new "better circulation" shoes and had high hopes for their success. Wednesday our interval training consisted of running very fast up the hill by the cement ship and walking down.....for 30 minutes. I usually get winded walking slowly up that hill with my dog so it was a bit intimidating. I don't know if I ever made it completely up the hill without walking a bit, but I did do the hill 5 or 6 six times (kind of lost track in the midst of the torture!)
Feet were mostly awake.

Friday I did a trail in Almaden....a 5 mile trail with some pretty intense hills. We walked most of the hills and jogged the down and the flat parts. It was a loop trail so once we started we were committed, which was a good thing to know that the only way out was to keep going forward. It helped that it was a beautiful park with gorgeous views of Almaden and San Jose. Feet started falling asleep again....but it was still 5 miles!!

Sunday's 1 hour jog was in the rain. Kind of miserable for the first 15 minutes. Calves were tight. Rain dripping down my neck. Tired from not much sleep. Then I got in a good place and was cruising along at my "medium turtle" pace until about 35 minutes in and the left foot starts falling asleep. #$%$#! It wasn't as debilitating as the previous week - the shoes definitely helped - or I am just getting used to it. Either way I was able to keep going with only brief stops to wake up the difficult limb. I am determined not to let this stop me!

Week 4

Slow and steady wins the race.....
On Friday I met my good friend Beth at the beach for a jog. Now I know that I said I was slow at this jogging stuff...but it turns out that Beth is even slower than me. Now before you think that I am dissing her....let me continue. We start out and I hold myself back so that we can jog side by side and am feeling pretty good about myself...thinking I must be improving. About 10-15 minutes goes by and Beth is still consistently running, talking away. I am getting a bit short of breath. 25 minutes into the jog and I can no longer speak and my calves are seizing up. Beth is jogging along quite easily. I am the one who has to stop and walk. After a rest I am able to jog along with her, carrying on a conversation. 40 minutes and I notice that we have gone much farther than I can usually go and we continue on. 50 minutes and my calves are not unbearable and I am sort of able to speak....briefly... and we have jogged the entire beach trail from Beer Can Beach to the wall at the end of Seacliff. Amazing!

The bad thing about this last week is the trouble I am having with my feet falling asleep after about 30-40 minutes. Not just tingling but absolutely asleep. It was terribly frustrating on Sunday when jogging with the training group. I tried to keep running - but decided it was better to walk and look like Frankenstein to avoid falling over my own feet and planting my face on the ashphalt. I tried loosening the laces of my shoes and then unlacing them entirely over the tops of my feet. Nothing worked and it took 10 minutes for them to work normally again. I walked back to the meeting place...discouraged...frustrated...mad...and very much last.

Week 3 - Texas

I am pleased to say that I did not drag my running shoes and clothes to Texas for naught. Despite the two hour time difference, on the first morning I dragged my tired self out bed at 6:30 a.m., pulled on my clothes in the dark so as to not wake my roomies and stumbled out half awake. Uncertain of our surroundings, my husband was graciously waiting to accompanying me out into the scary wilds of south Texas. The most dangerous things in the neighborhood were water moccasins and unleashed dogs. I saw many of of the second, and non of the first - thank goodness. I have to admit I was a bit leary after our hostess warned us to stay in the middle of the road so as to not disturb the poisonous snakes that resided in the damp grass on the sides of the road. I stayed right in the middle of the road - only veering slightly for large trucks passing. Honestly, I wasn't sure which was more dangerous.

Despite working long days cleaning and painting, I jogged two additional times with a sweet lady named Pat and enjoyed her cheerful company as I huffed and puffed my tired self along. It really is amazing what a difference good company makes. I also discovered on this trip, that despite how tired I was and how nasty it was to put on the same running clothes for 3 days, that just getting out and jogging for 30 minutes energized me and cleared my head for the entire day. It also certainly didn't hurt to burn off some of that intensely fried Southern food.

Week 1- Good beginning

Off to a good start this week. I managed 4 workouts - two with the team and two on my own. I avidly look at my orange workout schedule each morning and try my hardest to follow the plan laid out by the "Master Runner".

I really find it valuable to have someone telling me what to do during a workout. I just have to show up and follow directions - the whistle - or the guy in front of me. There is very little thinking involved - other than "We must be halfway through these intervals by now". This non-thinking workout seems to work for me (at least this week).

It is very encouraging to have the "Master Runner" coming up beside you voicing words of encouragement - "Looking good, keep going" or instruction - "Lower your shoulders - you look like Quasimodo" (no he didn't really say that). I try not to think of the fact that he runs up and down the line of the 25 walkers/runners multiple times during the workout. While we are walking/jogging at our conversational pace, he is bouncing effortlessly along like a gazelle.

It is also motivating to work out with other people. It is not that I need to be faster or "better" than anyone, but it is a shared sense of purpose and camaraderie. It is motivating to know that however fast or slow (I am definitely on this end of the spectrum) that we all want to improve our fitness.

I am facing my first challenge next week. I am heading to Texas with a group of people from my church to work on a rebuilding project. My constructions skills are just about equivalent to my running skills so I am looking forward to improving both over the next 7 days. My goal is to get in three workouts during the week that I am gone. I'll let you know next week if I achieved that goal.

Training Day Has Arrived

I have hated running my entire life. In high school I would lay awake at night anxiously thinking of excuses to avoid running in PE - and I was often absent on run days. I would huff and puff my way around the track with aching calves with a red face and be utterly embarrassed as my graceful classmates would glide by me effortlessly. It was not that I have been a complete couch potato - I enjoy playing tennis and biking and dance-type classes. Give me a Jazzercise class and I can go for hours.

For some reason after I hit 40 I started thinking about running. For many months I pushed away these unaccustomed and surprising thoughts. Going to Zumba, walking the dog and an occasional bike ride were just fine - why would I want to torture myself? But those thoughts would just not go away - and I kept reading about the health and fitness benefits of running and saw how fit my running friends were and how they seemed to thrive on this torture. Maybe I should give it a try. I successfully pushed these traitorous thoughts aside for about a year (I can be quite stubborn), but finally gave in.

For the last year and a half I have slowly - with several starts and stops - been working at becoming a runner. Most of the time I still hate it and have quit for months at a time. My body is usually hollering out in protest that "Stop, this body is not a runner!" However there are days, when I run just a little farther without having to stop or when I persevere even though my calves are killing me and get the the end of the run, that I feel a huge sense of accomplishment. I also love the energy that I have and the more positive mind-set that I have on days when I run.

So, since I have been doing this for 18 months or so, you would think I would have the hang of it now - be ready to run a marathon - or a half marathon at least. Nope. I am the Slowsky Turtle of running. I am still working on getting past 2.5 miles of walk/jog on the gym treadmill in 35 minutes - and less distance than that outside.

In order to push through this barrier I have signed up to do a group training for a 5k race in Aptos in June. Most people - even those that have been sitting on their butts watching cable TV for the past 15 years - could train easily for a 3 mile run in a few weeks. To me - Slowsky Turtle - this will be a monumental undertaking. I am not aspiring to win this race or even have some really notable time. My goals are to run the course more than I have to walk and to not finish last.

I am a great planner. I have all my workouts in my calendar and a hard copy posted by my computer. I have the right shoes and socks and moisture wicking running attire. I know that I will be highly motivated and disciplined for the first week or so.... It is in the long-term implementation that I often have issues. So in addition to the group training twice a week and running on my own two additional days - I am going to keep a weekly blog of my running experiences.

Now I don't really know who would be at all interested in reading about my thoughts and challenges with training for a 5k (my goodness this is not an Ironman!). Yet the process of writing about this journey will be motivating for me and (hopefully) will keep me going when I want to quit.

Stop and Start in 2009

STOP LECTURING…START LISTENING

STOP ANSWERING…START ASKING

STOP WORRYING…START PRAYING

STOP FROWNING…START LAUGHING

STOP CONTROLLING…START RELEASING

STOP REACTING…START RESPONDING

STOP PUNISHING…START DISCIPLINING

STOP RULING…START ENFORCING

STOP TEACHING…START TRUSTING

STOP ENDING…START BEGINNING

STOP TALKING…START HEARING

STOP DECIDING…START EMPOWERING

STOP DOING…START BEING

* From Parenting Teens by Mark Gregston