Running - Unlearning to Relearn

The biggest obstacle I have in running is unlearning.  I thought I knew how to run when I was three...I was wrong!

This confusion isn't all my fault, although I personally must take responsibility for my lack of knowledge...All other sports growing up, I just learned by playing...running is different!  I've had to research, learn, relearn, and apply training strategies.

Granted, you don't have to do these things to run, but if you want to get faster, dramatically faster, research, trial and error, and relearning what you thought you already knew is a must, especially in the marathon world!

When I started running, just over five years ago, I couldn't run a full lap around the track without stopping.  The truth is anytime pacing is an issue it is because of a false reality of where we thinkwe are our physical fitness.  I thought, just run the same pace that you use to run the mile in high school and you'll be fine!  Haaaaaa...there are some problems with my strategy.  First, I wasn't 18 anymore, I was nearly 30.  2nd, I wasn't just slightly overweight, and I certainly wasn't in shape from playing other sports.  I was 321lbs of sedentary flesh...ENOUGH SAID!

So the day I went to run, I struggled...I struggled mightly, but eventually I made it around the track, and the next day a bit further...and this cycle continued!

Eventually, simply by repeating this process I got to where I could run a mile just like I did in high school.  Soon I was actually faster then my 18 year old counterpart!

And so I continued this process, never overly focusing on pace, or workouts, but simply running, and relearning how to run steady longer distance.  I also began researching how to become a better runner.

Some of the things I learned included breathing techniques, heart rate, nutrition, pacing, race strategies, workouts, strength training, etc.  There were and still are many things, and I mean many many things from other sports I had to unlearn.  To me endurance was running around the bases trying to stretch a double into a triple...In fact I am still trying to unlearn them...mentally, I know these new running & endurance strategies are true, but physcially implementing them is a struggle.  For instance:

One of the most basic elementary truths of endurance sports is that the marathon is not won in the first 20 miles!  Yet, I have failed in my last two attempts of running negative splits (2nd half faster then the 1st), and why?  I failed because I didn't think like a runner, I thought like a football player...And in case your wondering, MARATHONS are not like FOOTBALL GAMES.

However, physiologically I am wired to think jump out to an early lead = win!  After all this is the cornerstone of team sports.  Nearly every sport you can deal your opponent a massive blow by scoring runs or points and jumping out to an early lead, you simply have to "put the nails in the coffin", or in the words of the Sensa on Karate Kid, "FINISH HIM"...With the marathon, this is not the case!

Patience is one of the biggest elements to endurance athletics...something I have had to learn the hardway!  Let's just hope suffering through the last 10k of my last marathon was enough to drive home this point.

Yoda probably had the best explination for anyone starting out in running, triathlons, or any other endurance sport when he said, "No! No different. Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned."

What are the hard lessons you've learned in endurance sports?

Sometimes We Are Afraid to Admit It!

Sometimes We Are Afraid to Admit It!

As a father I want my kids to succeed.  I am sure this desire is similar to the way God feels about each of us…He wants us to thrive, to do well, and enjoy life, because after all our lives are a gift from Him!

Also as a father I have seen the effects of fear on a very basic, raw, easy to understand level.  For instance, when children are afraid to go to their own room because of "monsters", they usually just want a parent / friend that will go make sure their worst fears are not reality.  They don't rational what will happen to this co-monster hunter,  if there happens to really be a monster, they intuitively know there isn't a monster, they just want someone they can place their trust in...Sometimes as parents it's our job to go with our children and disarm their fears!

Fear exist because evil exist!  Our imaginations create scenarios of what could be or "what if's" based on the evil that has impacted our lives...It's my opinon that fear is greatest when:

A.) An individual has experienced great trauma or

B.) An individual has seen something (real life, television, pictures, etc.) and the fear increases as their own imagination increases.

The problem with fear is:

Fear is crippling…

Fear distracts us from accomplishing our mission, our objectives, or reaching our goals.

Fear handicaps our gifts, talents, and even ability, and produces temporary paralyses.

Fear keeps us from accomplishing what God has created us to do!

Perhaps this is why God’s word the Bible says “Do not fear” over 350 times…I’ve even heard it suggested that the Bible says “Fear not” 365 times, once for everyday! 

What fears are keeping us from accomplishing our mission today?

I remember when I was a child.  Whenever fear would creep it’s ugly head in all I needed to defeat it was a companion.  The strength, or wisdom of my company had nothing to do with me overcoming my fears, it was simply their presence!  We serve a God that never leaves us, nor forsakes us…He is omnipresent (ALWAYS PRESENT)…He walks with us and goes before us!

Today He would say to you, “FEAR NOT”!

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Deuteronomy 31:8

Tomorrow Never Comes!

Tomorrow Never Comes! - Breaking Unhealthy Habits

Don’t fall into the trap of oh well, I will do better tomorrow!

When it comes to diet and exercise we all fail from time to time.  You maybe surprised by the number of times I hear the excuse (OR EVEN USE THE EXCUSE), well I ate this, so I decided that I will start tomorrow.  Maybe we are facing a craving on day 1 of our “new diet” or were just trying to be healthier.  Then we find ourselves giving into a craving & figure well I guess I will just eat everything I crave today and tomorrow I will really get “hardcore”!  Tomorrow I will start!

My own thought is that this excuse / PATTERN is probably the number 1 healthy lifestyle trap…it sabotages a high % of people with good intentions for regaining their personal health!

When we make a mistake or give into a bad habit or craving it’s like falling off a bicycle.  When we fall, we MUST GET RIGHT BACK ON…if we wait until tomorrow we will find another excuse, or perhaps the fear of failure will sabotage our efforts again.

Don’t allow pain to set in and sabotage your goal!  Admit you messed up, confess it to God and MOVE ON!  NOT tomorrow, TODAY!

Get back on and KNOW THAT YOU CAN DO THIS THING!

Pray and ask God for the strength to endure your temptations…

Then sacrifice the desire to Him and allow His love to satisfy your cravings!

The Hardest Part of Leadership (For Me Anyways)!

God birthed within me a passion, a burning desire to see others succeed.  There is nothing I want more then to see others live out their dreams, reach their potential, and live abundantly!

Whether I am coaching, teaching, or pastoring I have a deep desire to see others succeed!

Typically success means changing something…whether it is big or small, tweaking something just enough can bring on success.

The problem is, change is difficult.  For many, change may even seem impossible.  Identifying the problems or obstacles needing change is easy…behavior modification is hard! 

The most difficult thing for me in leadership is when people say they want to succeed, identify the problem, start to make the change and then relapse!  The truth is success will not happen until the desire to succeed outweighs the desire for whatever change needs to take place.

Simply put

- If my goal is to achieve physical health, I can no longer ignore eating right and exercising.

- If my goal is family health, I can no longer ignore my family.

- If my goal is financial health, I can no longer buy things I cannot afford.

My opinion is that our time is the most valuable thing we spend!

Are you unsuccessful in an area you NEED to succeed in?   

Be honest with yourself…ask two simple questions…

What don’t you have time to do?

What do you have time to do?

For me these two simple questions moves my core values from self-perception to reality.  When I answer these questions honestly, I can no longer SAY what I believe my core values are, because what I am investing my time in shows what’s important, these ARE my core values!

For me I always have to evaluate this by comparing how I am investing my time:

Time for God vs. Time for self?

Time for family vs. Time for self?

Time to workout vs. Time for self

Success cost time…lots and lots of time!

For me success is healthy relationship with God, family, and taking care of my physical health.  Your success probably looks much different then mine, and that is ok…

To wrap this up…the hardest part of leadership for me anyways, is when my own desire (as a coach, teacher, pastor, father, or friend) to see people succeed outweighs their own desire.

The Comfort Trap

The Comfort Trap

Today I realized something…in the past several months, perhaps even the last year I became comfortable in my physical training.  I would run further, but not faster…running further is really not much of a challenge for me, it’s the running faster part that becomes very uncomfortable. 

Following the Rock N’ Roll DC Marathon I came to the realization that I needed to run faster to improve my race times!  Today I ran just over 7 miles, at 8:27 pace.  This was a “recovery” run!  This is the pace most of my runs were run at last year.  The problem with that is last year I had to many “recovery” runs…

Recovery runs are comfortable, slower paced, they are intended to get your body moving and blood circulating…They are healthy, active, and very important for recovery.  The truth is many people never push their bodies beyond this, and for many people that is just fine!

It took me at least four years to get to the point that running at just over 7 mph for hours at a time (Yes, literally hours 2, 3, and sometimes 4 hours) was comfortable.  In fact it is relaxing, healing, and soothing…there are days that it feels difficult but for the past year it was relatively easy day after day.  I’d typically throw one or two harder workouts in, but for the most part 4 or 5 days a week was easy paced, relaxing running.

This is why my times did not improve as drastically as I wanted them to! I did improve…just not like I wanted to!  Thinking about this today made me wonder something…

How many times in life do we just settle into the comfortable pace?  How many times have we fallen into the “Comfort Trap”?

Whether it’s at work, home, or in our spiritual life, we settle into our routine and stop growing!

It’s time to get uncomfortable.

Remember:

Times of great pain bring even greater growth!

Times of sacrifice bring great reward!

Battle the desire to be comfortable and accomplish the great things God created you to do.

What areas have you become comfortable in?

Are these areas that are important to you?

How can you grow in these areas?

We can fall into the “comfort trap” in many different areas of our life. Maybe we’ve been caught in the comfort trap when it comes to being a parent, spouse, employee, boss, or anything else, we must remember when we allow ourselves to become comfortable typically it means we aren’t accomplishing much.