Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Easyology
Today's Run: 5.12
Run Time: 52:03
Total Miles to Date: 106.5
Thoughts on the Run:
Graphics Courtesy of RunTracker.RunnersWorld.com
There are a lot of parallels in life. Take, for instance, business. Because I knew when I started my own business that there was a lot I did not know, I made sure I became a student of success. I had many mentors and coaches who assisted me with the journey. I discovered there are two common approaches to a successful business.
One involves the intensity of a start-up. It's a lot of hard work, burning the midnight oil, constantly building the business, etc. This is a valid approach and works for many companies. Some people seem to thrive on this mode and do it constantly, while others get burned out quickly and succumb to the stress.
The other involves what one of my mentors referred to as "easyology" or going with the flow.
Few people start here, but many people I know who began intensely - my mentor included - eventually evolve to this phase. It's a realization that you don't have to force things to happen, but you can attract events by who you become. You begin to live in flow and have more faith in life.
I was recently engaged in a debate on a forum that addressed theories about religion, evolution, and other hotly argued topics. I don't believe it's my place to convince anyone of anything, so I was sharing points. Most people look for evidence in life, and for me, the evidence was clear: almost all of the successful people I met, who were living an abundant life (note my choice of words - it doesn't necessarily mean they were overly wealthy, but they had time and financial freedom and were living the life they imagined) attributed their success to living in flow, having faith, operating in a certain way of thinking.
This is something that I struggled with my own business. I certainly wasn't starting my company to "be rich" as I was already doing quite well as a Director of Information Technology at a web software company. I was passionate about fitness and wanted to make a difference and felt I could create a successful business based on those principles.
My problem was not that I jumped too soon, but that I reacted instead of becoming the right person. Let me explain ... in the beginning, I simply pursued my passion. I wrote articles, built content, created CDs, wrote my book, hosted seminars, and coached a lot of people to good health. That was the passion part. But in order to get a quality web server, to build software, to produce CD sets, to edit and publish a book, I also invested a lot. My savings. 401K. Credit cards became "business loan devices." All for a good cause, and in fact my business revenue tripled the second year from the first.
However, the problem was me. Instead of staying focused on the goal, the passion, and building my business, I became more focused on the bills, debts, and checks. A great teacher Frederick Lehrman taught me that "what you think about expands." The more you focus on debt, the greater your debt becomes. It seems like a paradox and again, some people will say, "This is crazy" but my experience is that when I learned to shift my focus away from debt, that is when we began encountering solutions to it.
To make a short story boring, I created a large debt in my business but hadn't planned ahead well enough to have the capital ready to maintain it. Suddenly, it was no longer fun. I was writing to survive, not because of my passion, so my writing suffered. I let stress interfere with the message I was sending and I stopped getting in flow. When I used to hold teleconferences, I wouldn't have a single note - I'd pick a topic and let it flow for the entire hour, and produced some great audios. When I focused on the wrong areas, however, suddenly it all became forced and I struggled with generating content.
There IS a point to this ...
Finally, I decided to "let go." I stopped struggling. I stopped forcing myself to try to make things happen. I took the philosophy of my teachers to heart: instead of trying to make it happen, why not set my intention and let it happen?
Once I reached that stage, things changed tremendously. I was able to sell my website and pay off a large portion of business debt. I was contacted by a company to write for them. My books began selling. Out of the blue, I was contacted by the founder of a company I worked at for five years and always imagined what it would be like to help start a company with him. Others will call this coincidence, but I consider it to be a result of easyology. When I let go, opportunities presented themselves because it came from the heart and not out of need or desperation.
Part of this process is why I decided to shift my focus away from the coaching empire that I was building, get back into technology and do running, writing, and the rest on the side. I wanted to get back to easology, and to take the stress out of what I do for fitness. And it's been working. Not only have we had a phenomenal and abundant ride at the company that I direct their technology department for, but I've also had the opportunity to pursue a new passion for running, write articles and grow my knowledge in new directions.
So what does this have to do with today's run?
My training has been a lot like that process. I certainly believe easyology is why my 10.6 mile run seemed to go by faster than what 5 mile runs would feel like in the past. I'm not worried about how fast or when I'll finish and instead live in the moment of the run. I enjoy the present, take it easy, and there I am.
Only, I'm not really taking it easy. I've been pushing hard and it's showed as slower times, slight injuries, a nagging cough, etc.
I was reading a bit of information about a philosophy of training known as "low heart rate" training. The idea is that you purposefully build an aerobic base running at a lower heart rate and don't push harder runs, trying to sprint up hills, training with weights, etc.
They listed some symptoms that may indicate this is the right type of training ... the list goes on and on ... the link I was reading is right here.
While I didn't fit all of the symptoms, a few were intriguing. I decided maybe I am pushing myself too hard. Why not focus on my ORIGINAL goal of going the distance, rather than also forcing myself to try to run hard?
Then I read these journals. I noticed my best runs were ... well, quite frankly, the ones where I took it easy.
Suddenly I realized my mistake on my long run. I was pushing hard from point to point, ready to stop and rest, when I could have probably nailed a faster pace if I just ... took it easy.
So, today, I decided to, well, take it easy.
I started my run and instead of forcing myself up the hill, I took it nice and slow. Plenty of time to warm up.
I resisted the urge to break loose on the downhill. Just nice and steady.
When the uphill came and I started to tire, I did something different. Instead of gritting my teeth and forcing myself up, I slowed down, took deeper breaths, and relaxed.
And then suddenly it began clicking. Mile 2 felt easier than mile 3. Mile 4 was a breeze. I loved mile 5. What was this? No "struggling to the end" but rather, enjoying it?
I ended up with a few negative splits ... mile 4 was slow but that also included the infamous Goliath. So what did "taking it easy" on the long hill do for me? For one, I managed to crest it without stopping. More importantly, instead of feeling spent at the top and dragging my butt for the last mile, I was able to open up and finish strong.
Overall, I enjoyed the run, and felt great - not wiped out - afterwards. Now one run is highly scientific, but it is a good start in my opinion. I'm taking easyology and applying it here, to my runs. It may mean that I adjust my half marathon pace from sub 2-hour to 2:10, and that my full marathon goal may be 4:20 instead of 4. But you know what? This is my first year seriously running, why try to take on the world? Let's build a nice base and then grow from there, and ... take it easy. Enjoy the sights.
Oh, and there is something to be said for toys as well. I was so excited to run today, despite feeling a little sore and under the weather and having to jog in the rain ... because I looked forward to trying out my new Garmin on the trail.
Until next time,
Jeremy
Run Time: 52:03
Total Miles to Date: 106.5
Thoughts on the Run:
There are a lot of parallels in life. Take, for instance, business. Because I knew when I started my own business that there was a lot I did not know, I made sure I became a student of success. I had many mentors and coaches who assisted me with the journey. I discovered there are two common approaches to a successful business.
One involves the intensity of a start-up. It's a lot of hard work, burning the midnight oil, constantly building the business, etc. This is a valid approach and works for many companies. Some people seem to thrive on this mode and do it constantly, while others get burned out quickly and succumb to the stress.
The other involves what one of my mentors referred to as "easyology" or going with the flow.
Few people start here, but many people I know who began intensely - my mentor included - eventually evolve to this phase. It's a realization that you don't have to force things to happen, but you can attract events by who you become. You begin to live in flow and have more faith in life.
I was recently engaged in a debate on a forum that addressed theories about religion, evolution, and other hotly argued topics. I don't believe it's my place to convince anyone of anything, so I was sharing points. Most people look for evidence in life, and for me, the evidence was clear: almost all of the successful people I met, who were living an abundant life (note my choice of words - it doesn't necessarily mean they were overly wealthy, but they had time and financial freedom and were living the life they imagined) attributed their success to living in flow, having faith, operating in a certain way of thinking.
This is something that I struggled with my own business. I certainly wasn't starting my company to "be rich" as I was already doing quite well as a Director of Information Technology at a web software company. I was passionate about fitness and wanted to make a difference and felt I could create a successful business based on those principles.
My problem was not that I jumped too soon, but that I reacted instead of becoming the right person. Let me explain ... in the beginning, I simply pursued my passion. I wrote articles, built content, created CDs, wrote my book, hosted seminars, and coached a lot of people to good health. That was the passion part. But in order to get a quality web server, to build software, to produce CD sets, to edit and publish a book, I also invested a lot. My savings. 401K. Credit cards became "business loan devices." All for a good cause, and in fact my business revenue tripled the second year from the first.
However, the problem was me. Instead of staying focused on the goal, the passion, and building my business, I became more focused on the bills, debts, and checks. A great teacher Frederick Lehrman taught me that "what you think about expands." The more you focus on debt, the greater your debt becomes. It seems like a paradox and again, some people will say, "This is crazy" but my experience is that when I learned to shift my focus away from debt, that is when we began encountering solutions to it.
To make a short story boring, I created a large debt in my business but hadn't planned ahead well enough to have the capital ready to maintain it. Suddenly, it was no longer fun. I was writing to survive, not because of my passion, so my writing suffered. I let stress interfere with the message I was sending and I stopped getting in flow. When I used to hold teleconferences, I wouldn't have a single note - I'd pick a topic and let it flow for the entire hour, and produced some great audios. When I focused on the wrong areas, however, suddenly it all became forced and I struggled with generating content.
There IS a point to this ...
Finally, I decided to "let go." I stopped struggling. I stopped forcing myself to try to make things happen. I took the philosophy of my teachers to heart: instead of trying to make it happen, why not set my intention and let it happen?
Once I reached that stage, things changed tremendously. I was able to sell my website and pay off a large portion of business debt. I was contacted by a company to write for them. My books began selling. Out of the blue, I was contacted by the founder of a company I worked at for five years and always imagined what it would be like to help start a company with him. Others will call this coincidence, but I consider it to be a result of easyology. When I let go, opportunities presented themselves because it came from the heart and not out of need or desperation.
Part of this process is why I decided to shift my focus away from the coaching empire that I was building, get back into technology and do running, writing, and the rest on the side. I wanted to get back to easology, and to take the stress out of what I do for fitness. And it's been working. Not only have we had a phenomenal and abundant ride at the company that I direct their technology department for, but I've also had the opportunity to pursue a new passion for running, write articles and grow my knowledge in new directions.
So what does this have to do with today's run?
My training has been a lot like that process. I certainly believe easyology is why my 10.6 mile run seemed to go by faster than what 5 mile runs would feel like in the past. I'm not worried about how fast or when I'll finish and instead live in the moment of the run. I enjoy the present, take it easy, and there I am.
Only, I'm not really taking it easy. I've been pushing hard and it's showed as slower times, slight injuries, a nagging cough, etc.
I was reading a bit of information about a philosophy of training known as "low heart rate" training. The idea is that you purposefully build an aerobic base running at a lower heart rate and don't push harder runs, trying to sprint up hills, training with weights, etc.
They listed some symptoms that may indicate this is the right type of training ... the list goes on and on ... the link I was reading is right here.
While I didn't fit all of the symptoms, a few were intriguing. I decided maybe I am pushing myself too hard. Why not focus on my ORIGINAL goal of going the distance, rather than also forcing myself to try to run hard?
Then I read these journals. I noticed my best runs were ... well, quite frankly, the ones where I took it easy.
Suddenly I realized my mistake on my long run. I was pushing hard from point to point, ready to stop and rest, when I could have probably nailed a faster pace if I just ... took it easy.
So, today, I decided to, well, take it easy.
I started my run and instead of forcing myself up the hill, I took it nice and slow. Plenty of time to warm up.
I resisted the urge to break loose on the downhill. Just nice and steady.
When the uphill came and I started to tire, I did something different. Instead of gritting my teeth and forcing myself up, I slowed down, took deeper breaths, and relaxed.
And then suddenly it began clicking. Mile 2 felt easier than mile 3. Mile 4 was a breeze. I loved mile 5. What was this? No "struggling to the end" but rather, enjoying it?
I ended up with a few negative splits ... mile 4 was slow but that also included the infamous Goliath. So what did "taking it easy" on the long hill do for me? For one, I managed to crest it without stopping. More importantly, instead of feeling spent at the top and dragging my butt for the last mile, I was able to open up and finish strong.
Overall, I enjoyed the run, and felt great - not wiped out - afterwards. Now one run is highly scientific, but it is a good start in my opinion. I'm taking easyology and applying it here, to my runs. It may mean that I adjust my half marathon pace from sub 2-hour to 2:10, and that my full marathon goal may be 4:20 instead of 4. But you know what? This is my first year seriously running, why try to take on the world? Let's build a nice base and then grow from there, and ... take it easy. Enjoy the sights.
Oh, and there is something to be said for toys as well. I was so excited to run today, despite feeling a little sore and under the weather and having to jog in the rain ... because I looked forward to trying out my new Garmin on the trail.
Until next time,
Jeremy
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