Meditation

Posted on May 16, 2012 by dano

During the 40 days leading up to Easter, commonly known as Lent, I committed to a daily meditation practice.  Whether or not it’s done for a strictly religious reason, I think that Lent is as good a time as any to try something – anything – worthwhile, and for a long enough time to really let it sink in a bit.  Religious and spiritual leaders have been showing the powers of prayer and meditation for thousands of years – now modern science is getting on board too, with efforts like the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds right here on the UW campus demonstrating the positive power of meditation.  It’s not linked to one faith or another – all it is is a tuning-in to the present moment, to one’s present self.  It’s a certain kind of exercise – actually physical – that conditions the brain’s activity in a way that has lasting impacts into the rest of the day.

Some days, meditation fit nicely into my schedule as a welcome reprieve; others, it was a bit of an afterthought.  But I did it – 40 days in a row.  (Incidentally, since then I also went 40 days in a row without using my car, but that’s another story.)  I don’t think it was until after the 40 days were over that I really appreciated its power, though.  As additional days slipped away without making that time for myself, time for quiet reflection, I noticed myself less calm, feeling like I had less direction.  So I’ve looked for ways to get it back.

With summertime fast approaching, with early sunrises and late sunsets, there’s a lot of daylight in each beautiful day now.  I’m trying not to fill all the time in with “stuff” at the expense spending time not doing stuff.  Whether it’s a formal meditation or not, taking the time to sit in the yard, watch the bunnies, look at the sky… just to pause, is a healthy part of every day.  It can even happen during a workout – as long as the mind lets go of clutter for a while.  When I’m feeling right, a ride in the country is my meditation – it’s being alert to all my senses as I glide through the universe, leaving everything else behind, if only for a while.

My body clock has synchronized with the sun lately – going to bed as the sun sets and getting up with its first light.  It feels natural.  Many mornings, I begin the day with writing, when my mind seems to be the most calm and ready to make objective sense out of the things I’m thinking about.  If I can keep up this latest streak, we might just find that my infrequent blogging has been the result of more-frequent writing efforts on my book.  I know, is it all talk?  It’s been three years, and I’m not one to not finish a job I start.

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Race Report: Wisconsin half-marathon

Posted on May 6, 2012 by dano

This weekend I went down to Kenosha to run my first bona fide distance race of the season, the Wisconsin half-marathon.  Known as “the cheesiest marathon”, this one has a nice vibe, with 2400 half-marathoners and 835 marathoners traveling along the shore of Lake Michigan, and lakeside neighborhoods.

It was actually only the fourth half-marathon that I’ve completed in a competitive manner.  The handful of others all had some kind of different purpose: run the Madison Mini to pace kph, run Rock-n-sole to pace Mandee, run Des Moines with Dione for training… it had been since back in Indianapolis 2009 that I ran a half-marathon on my own!  In running this one, I developed a renewed sense of respect for the half-marathon: it’s not a short distance, and especially when approached with the goal of racing – either another person or your own personal best – is very challenging!  Walking to dinner last night and moving around this morning, my legs are seriously sore!

I decided that this would be a good opportunity to run a race without my Garmin – or any kind of watch at all, and found that approach to be very enjoyable.  I just ran at a pace that felt natural to me, in the terms in which I think about running.  At first, “easy”, but at a pace that’s natural entirely to me.  (Don’t get me wrong, I like running with others, but there is a sweet-spot pace for everyone that’s quite personal.)  Then, “steady”.  Then into the wind “slightly leaning on the accelerator”, then with the tailwind “cruising”, then finishing by “opening it up” in the last two miles.  It felt good to be free from the numbers in between.  As it turned out, my pace-by-feel gradually increased throughout the race quite perfectly!

 

 

How do I know this?  Because in another break from usual, I listened to music throughout the race.  Since I used my iPhone for music, I enabled my Garmin app to track my stats – because even though I didn’t want to know them as I went, I did want to look over them later.

The day gave the racers some challenging conditions.  After being in the 80′s earlier in the week, a cold front brought 50 degrees, rain, and strong north winds to Kenosha Saturday morning.  I put on a base layer, but as the rain stopped for race-time, fortunately avoided any other overdressing.   I started the race with gloves, but soon stashed them in the bushes and felt fine in otherwise “summer” clothes.  The lakeside course began south, then turned north – straight into the wind – for about 6 miles before turning south again.  At least seeing the out-and-back course, I was able to delicately balance extra energy output into the wind against the extra energy I’d want to put out later in the race increasing my pace.

The moment I finished, though, standing at what I’m sure is sometimes a very scenic lakeside park, I was shivering and miserable in the wind and mist.  I got some snacks, cheered in a few friends, and hit the road.  I wasn’t even able to wait for the TNT folks to get back with the special much-coveted TNT finisher pins!  We’ll pick them up later… when a warm shower and hot lunch call, a tired runner must answer.  This race is one of two TNT alumni events I’m racing this summer, and I’m proud to report that Dione and I, teaming up to raise money for these two events, have raised over $2,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!  (Donate here!)

This race has all kinds of history for Dione.  It’s the site of her marathon PR – which she obtained on a whim, traveling to Kenosha and completing the Wisconsin marathon, instead of doing a 20-mile training run solo.  What would her coach have said about running 26.2 instead of 20?  If any of my athletes are reading, consider following Dione’s good examples in many ways, but not this one.  We went back to Renzo’s, where she had had her previous pre-race dinner.  An Italian place seems like a good site for carb-loading, but I discovered that this one is famous for its deep-fried breadsticks, and cheese-loaded calzones.  Delicious!  The weekend was indeed the “cheesiest” race, in many respects.

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I’m going to Disney World!

Posted on April 10, 2012 by dano

Today, registration opened for the 2013 Walt Disney World marathon weekend – and I signed up for the goofiest race available.  Goofy’s Race-and-a-half challenge involves running the half-marathon on Saturday… and the full marathon Sunday!  sigh…

Disney World is very special to me: it’s the site of my very first full marathon, back in January of 2009.  I made the trip with my whole family, who all participated in the races for big personal “firsts.”  (Even Mom, with her first time spectating at back-to-back endurance events!)  The race is terrific, and takes runners through all the theme parks, packed with characters, music, and fun.  It also has some challenging bits: specifically, the miles in between the parks devoid of much other than flat asphalt and quiet – which I think is good for any marathon course.

WDW is also one of the toughest places to run one’s first full marathon, because with the Goofy challenge in the lineup, it’s one of the few places where you might be asked if you ran “just the full” marathon!  I will see that that sentiment is put to bed this time.

Training for Disney will be interesting because the mid-January race is really too late to be at the end of the 2012 Wisconsin racing season, and too early for the 2013 season.  I have a copy here of Jeff Galloway’s Goofy training plan, which I hope to dovetail into the later part of my 2012 racing season, which includes the Austin half-Iron tri in late October.  It’s important to look at a racing season as a whole: there will most certainly be a need for breaks in the action.

Come join us!  Take on the Goofy Challenge yourself!  Registration is open at http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/events/rundisney/wdw-marathon/

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A Lenten meditation

Posted on April 1, 2012 by dano

Each year during lent, the church I attend in Madison puts together a small book, made up of short entries – or “meditations” – that members of the congregation write to share perspectives about their faith experiences. As you might imagine, mine tends to diverge from some strictly “Christian” ideas, but when invited, I decided to contribute nonetheless. The theme was: “visions of hope”, and I’ll go out on a limb and share it with the world:

The Jesus with whom I seek a relationship is a person not entirely unlike me. He finds clarity during moments of quiet personal time. Prayer, meditation – call it what you will – it quiets a racing mind and draws focus inward. Gently stripping away a layer of self-blame, a world is revealed with problems that are a little bit smaller. But prayer is limited, it can only set the stage; even the most zealous prayer in my living room won’t feed someone downtown. So, like Jesus, I seek first a place of confidence and right relationship with God, and then step out each day into the dangerous world, where I encounter myriad other versions of a ‘right relationship with God.”

Jesus was constantly challenged by the surprises and inconsistencies of daily life, but maintained his own kind of hope; he allowed himself to be vulnerable. To find friends in the unpopular, to ask and answer questions honestly, to show compassion to his oppressors. Even in his persecution, Jesus demonstrated love and its ultimate triumph over death.

The Christianity I grew up with is hundreds of years old; Jesus’ Christianity unfolded with each step and statement he made in a volatile world. But truly, just because Christianity began long ago doesn’t mean that it can stop growing – indeed, like Jesus, I face countless new situations every day. Although Jesus studied holy texts, his life became a holy text of its own – we are both blazing trails. If all I did were throw the proverbial book at the world, I’d miss the chance to see a new covenant. In this, I find great hope.

I believe in the transformative power of compassion, of being willing to be confident enough in my creation that I am willing to be vulnerable. The more I open up, the more I find that all sorts of things can fit in – all kinds of joy, poured abundantly by a God much, much bigger than a God who stays in a building or a book, or limits love to certain individuals. The resurrection miracle gives me hope that if I allow myself to follow Jesus’ example of being vulnerable in real dialogue, real understanding, and real compassion, I will come to understand God’s real love.

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Springlike

Posted on March 27, 2012 by dano

This spring has been especially mild, and with it comes many opportunities to play outside!  Saturday I joined the TNT cycle team for a ride to Paoli, and Sunday I ran a 7-miler through the arboretum.  Sunday’s run was a bit whimsical in the afternoon, and reminded me one of the reasons why I love running in the morning: the afternoon traffic was crazy.  Cars overflowed the zoo and field parking lot, plus runners, walkers, bikers, strollers and more!  Though I had to stay on my game and dodge ‘em, I was glad to see so many people out enjoying the day.

This is my 16th day in a row without using my car.  That could be the topic of an entire post, or an entire book!  It has not actually been that hard so far – there are many ways to get from here to there.  I walk or bike to work and yoga.  The edge of town – where my Tuesday night running group meets and the guinea-pig-food-store resides, is still only 5 miles away and a short bike ride.  Even for larger shopping, tougher tasks, or rainy days, there are buses and cabs, friends’ cars to borrow (which I haven’t actually done yet either) and rides to share.  Even bags of topsoil fit pretty comfortably in a backpack!  I’ve been asking myself what life would be like if I didn’t own a car…

The fantastic weather also brings opportunities to be very careful, in the training sense.  Ordinarily, a training schedule is written out in advance, carefully calculated to build up (and reserve time for rest) in just the right intervals to peak at the right time before a big race.  This year, the nice weather has beckoned us to bike long, run long; get out there to play for several days in a row.  My legs, for one (two?) are feeling pretty tired, and I’m glad to have a couple cooler days for taking a break!  It will be interesting to see whether more people finish their summer races faster this year, as a result of a steeper training ramp-up outside this spring.  Even more interesting will be whether more people here in Madison struggle with their fall races, on account of burnout from a more intense than usual spring.  With A-races in July and late October, I’m planning for a sort of summer recess to rejuvenate midway through.

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Balance in Halves

Posted on March 8, 2012 by dano

The sun has been up – and so has the temperature.  The tulips are coming up, too, and the lake looks like it’s about to turn back to liquid any day.  Yesterday afternoon when I arrived home from work, sap was pouring out of my maple tree and my buckets were overflowing onto the ground; I spent the evening making my second batch of syrup – this time, with pretty good results.  I could have gotten my bike out, but the syrup looked so fun.  It’s turning into spring time, and that means getting back outside for all sorts of activities.  It means running in shorts, and eventually swimming in lakes, and biking – more easily for transportation and more fun for leisure.

A lot of athletes will be ramping up their training this time of year, preparing for the summer ahead at the races.  Those preparing for super-races like the Ironman have probably spent a good part of the winter doing drills in the pool and on the treadmill, building up a solid technical base upon which to build a huge aerobic powerhouse.  It takes a long time to get ready for a big race, and it takes planning and patience to get there injury-free.  Training for a 140.6-mile races takes a lot of training hours and a tremendous commitment.  Likewise, a marathon requires a lot of very specific training, and a lot of recovery time.

And that’s exactly one of the reasons why this year, I’ve decided not to.  Not to do a 140.6-mile Ironman, or maybe not even run a full marathon.  I spent a lot of time thinking about my goals, and looking over the calendar.  Thinking about the balance among racing, training, and doing other stuff.  Coloring in the days of 2012 with events and travel, fun local races, and Team In Training events.  And I thought about the things I enjoy in life: being outside, caring for my gardens, working on writing projects, following my curiosity in different ways like flying lessons.  Racing, of course, is one of these – but it’s not the center of my life.  For you, it may be – and that may be exactly what you need.  Training, for me, is a way to relax and enjoy the place where I am, and a way to make and nurture friendships.  A way to burn a lot of calories and be healthy and hopefully be a role model along the way.

But I’m not taking the year off – far from it.  I’ll do of many my local favorite races, and I’m 6 weeks into coaching my marathon teams.  I’ve picked two particularly significant races to focus on – if for no other reason for dates to build training calendars, so that I can stay motivated and know when to go hard, when to go long, and when to go home for ice cream and a day off!  The Door County Triathlon is in mid-July and will be a welcome “up-nort” long weekend camping vacation with a high-spirited tri (my second go at it) in the middle.  Before I race, I’ll be singing the national anthem!  And the Austin 70.3 triathlon will be a trip to Texas to see my brother and his family in October – and share the race course with him for the first time.  OK, so 70.3 miles isn’t “short”, but in racing reality, it’s a lot less than half of 140.6.  It will be the right distance to keep my training intense but not life-consuming.  What do you enjoy – and does it give your life balance or consume you?

I’ll be accompanied to Door County by about a dozen TNT alumni friends!  We are all heading up there for a fun race weekend together, and decided that the only “right” way to race is in purple, and to raise some money while we’re at it to put the mission behind our racing.  It’s only natural.  But – as a summer of breaking from all the intensity – I won’t be fundraising as, say, aggressively as in years past.  My website is up and accepting secure donations, and I hope if you are moved to support my team in the important and ongoing battle against blood cancers, in any amount, you’ll swing by and support me.  Here’s the link:

http://wi.lls.llsevent.org/TeamD2

 

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Flying!

Posted on March 4, 2012 by dano

Yes, exactly.  As in, real flying.  I have a lot of interests.  One of these, probably consistent with my engineering profession-choice, is a great interest in the various machines of the world: how they work, how to operate them, what they can do.  I’ve written about why one of the reasons I like Civil engineering is because some of our greatest work requires an airplane to appreciate.  Well, I also appreciate the airplane.  I’m fascinated by the concepts of how a plane moves through the air, creating its propulsion and motion by the way it manipulates the air around it.  It’s not unlike swimming – a fantastic and complex balancing act of a body moving through a fluid, which I also find truly remarkable.  Instead of struggling at the beginning of a triathlon, I take my mind to a calm place that tries to understand and appreciate the very complex nature of fluid dynamics.  Push a little here and there, and I move this way or that.  Apply certain techniques learned from a good instructor, and do them with greater efficiency.
Picking up on my fascination with airplanes (probably because I talk so much it’s not hard to discover what I’m fascinated with), my girlfriend Dione gave me a gift certificate for an introductory 1-hour flight lesson as a Christmas gift, which I took this weekend.  In a Cirrus SR22, no less, which is a beautiful modern airplane, comprised of a sleek composite body with digital displays and Garmins… (you know, this is fitting more with my tri-theme than I expected.)

A few years ago, I worked for a big construction company.  The division manager was a pilot and liked to fly in his spare time.  It was said that he enjoyed flying as a way to de-stress and relax, and some people thought that sounded crazy: flying takes all kinds of attention to all kinds of details, constantly.  But for a split-second as I was holding the controls making a turn, I recalled that manager and knew exactly what he meant: I wasn’t thinking about anything else.  No job stressors, no pets or friends or household chores; my head was full of aileron, rudder, horizon, heading, altitude, traffic, ceiling, squawk… it was a delicious moment of this awareness, and then back to full attention to the aforementioned list of immediate aeronautical needs.  Looking back on it, I could see how this activity – or any number of new or complicated or dangerous activities – can be quite therapeutic, because it does not allow the mind to wander.  There’s no room for judgment, regret, or any of the unproductive imagined stresses that can weigh down our day-to-day emotional well-being.  I cannot think of a descent at full speed on my bike where I thought of anything but the moment I was living.  I cannot remember anything at the end of a 5k but my thundering heart and burning legs.  And as I approach my daily meditation, I know that the same clarity is available to me, somewhere inside, if I can learn it.

Looking back on it, I was so focused on flying, that I hadn’t paid any attention during that hour to my two adorable companions in the back seat – although afterward we all reconvened f0r lunch to talk all about it!  Thanks for the perfect Christmas present!
Lambo, world-traveling Lamb

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External Motivation (or, Running Buddies, part I)

Posted on March 1, 2012 by dano

In my recent post about my three hundredth yoga class, I just described how all the external factors – both the ones that motivate and the ones that aggravate – all come and go as life moves along, and the only teacher that will remain is the one in the mirror.

That being said, there is certainly a special value in running buddies. Friends who invite someone to join them for a jog; coworkers who invite someone to participate in a health-related program; teammates who band together to take on a certain workout; families who challenge each other to complete a race together. Even consistency itself is a great motivator: “I like this class and I try to go every week”, or “I make running with this group a regular part of my schedule”, or just “I try to spin every Wednesday night.”

When it’s dark in the morning, it’s hard to get out of bed. I keep my heat pretty low during the night to save energy… and it’s hard to get out of bed. When I got an email asking me to join in a Wednesday morning run, I thought, “ugh, 6am – it’s still only February… and it’s raining…” But it’s not that often that a leap day comes around; you’re supposed to try new things on a leap day, right? And after all, Krista, Kristin, and Shayla have been Blog-BFF’s of mine for a long time now although we seldom run together. As a matter of fact, I have only had a handful of good consistent running-buddy friends over the years. I’d like to have more. The streets were empty and the sun came up early; the temperature turned out to be mild and the rain held off. I enjoyed the conversation and the company, and went on to enjoy a higher level of energy all day long. I’m glad I went running; I’m even more glad I was invited.

If you’ve been reluctant to try something new and just can’t seem to get yourself to do it – perhaps you could grab on to someone or something else to help you get started. Maybe you know someone else who is similarly tentative, and your combined desire to go at it together might just be the tipping point. New year’s resolutions can be very effective because the “event” – the new year – helps give an extra push that many ordinary days don’t offer. Same phenomenon when Team In Training athletes put a mission and a group of teammates behind their training. You’ve heard the motivating stories of people who have survived near-death encounters and come back to achieve great things, so I ask: why wait?

Maybe it’s a day or an event, or maybe it’s someone else who’s in it with you. Let it supplement your internal desire and make you even more motivated to move toward your goals. I’m grateful for everyone who has ever asked: “want to join me for a run?”

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Going on foot

Posted on February 27, 2012 by dano

That was a great weekend!  Somehow I found myself on my feet almost the whole time, running after one thing or the other, but feeling relaxed (for the most part) in doing so.  The Team In Training squad worked up a sweat at our injury-prevention clinic, which had them doing exercises that fired up muscles some of them had never known were in there! And although the conditions are still not quite right yet for bicycling outside (Coach Rebecca put us through the ringer in a tough one-hour spin class), we did set out on foot for our team run.

Instead of originating the Team runs all from the same place, this year we’ve decided to strike out from various locations, through various parts of town.  Some sessions will be closer for some folks, some closer for others.  Every time will be something a little bit new – indeed, each training session is a little something new.  Running through areas gives me such a different perspective from driving, and this weekend I welcomed the chance to visit some parts of the East side I don’t believe I’ve ever even seen before.

In spite of running long on Saturday, running called out again on Sunday.  Or – some kind of activity, preferably outside.  After a morning of studying and working in the house, the bright sunshine called out to us.  Then, when a neighbor invited us to join him and his adorable 1-year-old daughter for pizza downtown, we jumped at the opportunity to answer both calls.  One of the benefits of living close to town is the ability to get there quickly… in a number of different ways.  We decided to just head downtown, on foot!  It was a great choice – we had the chance to talk and see the city.  We were able to run inbound on a sidewalk along a one-way outbound-only street and see a perspective unnoticed from a windshield.  We kept on moving as others idled looking for parking.  We worked out the kinks of sitting still, and earned ourselves some extra calories to spend on really good Ian’s Pizza!  Satiated from pizza, how did we get home?  We took the bus!

Be sure to visit my new fundraising web page, at
http://wi.lls.llsevent.org/TeamD2

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Three hundred

Posted on February 21, 2012 by dano

Last night marked a milestone for me: my three hundredth yoga class!  The journey began many years ago, when the studio was in a different location and admittedly I was in a bit of a different place, too.  Although the physical location has seen quite an upgrade, and many new faces have come and gone (make some room!), I have been able to find a safe place to practice, and meet a few friends in doing so.

Even the series of poses in some classes has remained the same, as in fact they have for some six thousand years, but strangely they are new every time.  It’s not surprising, because life has ups and downs of all magnitudes, and every day is a little different.  Rather than always practice at one time or with one teacher, I have visited many.  Even as I have developed skills with many of the movements, I still seek to deepen or strengthen them, or add better symmetries or more fluid breath.  How challenging it is to be meditative while moving through these postures, even though I find meditating sitting still to be approachable, and I find the postures to be quite ingrained in my mind.  The crazy thing about this present moment is that it’s always moving.

I have been looking forward for a few weeks now to number three hundred – keeping tally as I’ve completed the classes.  295… 298, 299… and then I thought good and hard about what I imagined the anniversary class to be, and checked the schedule.  I held off 299 until a Sunday, a class that’s easy for me to skip, so that I’d stay motivated.  Then I’d go to the 5:45 Monday evening class, instructed by the owner and one of my favorite and most regular classes over the years.  I imagined the whole thing.

But then yesterday morning, I saw on the schedule that Marit had a sub – disaster!  Except not, as I thought about it, because who is the “best teacher” but me, as they often remind me.  Even trusted teachers will come and go, but the only one that will always remain is the one in the mirror.  I chalked it up as Karma’s way of reminding me that even the “monumental” yoga classes aren’t supposed to be anything different than the “ordinary” ones (and fortunately, likewise the opposite).  What I get out of it isn’t supposed to come from the outside.
If you’re curious, visit Inner Fire Yoga for $20 for an introductory month

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