ResLifeRoadShow

intensity

While I’ve never been particularly gifted, I guess to some degree, I’ve always been a little extreme. 

Sometimes I watch my friends go off and do ultras or a few who do the multi-day adventure races.  I’ve done bike tours and long distance runs - and there’s always a point where it’s not really fun.  Where you’re at the wall. Where you might break. Where you might cry or scream or collapse…but you push. 

But I don’t think that’s bad.

My job is like that. I’m easily putting in 12 hour days but at this point, I expect it this time of year.  And once I get in the groove, I’m doing a lot of what I like to do.  (And tonight, enjoying the fruits of harassing my colleagues to work with learning objectives…the first draft of the evaluation writing is going so much better than I expected!!) 

Last weekend I dragged the boys up to Lake Placid to celebrate a friend’s wedding.  I’m kinda new to being the grown-up in the road-trip equation.  I think kids sort of feed off of the pre-trip stress and sort of spiral in their energy and then it’s two adults (ideally) staring at the windshield praying for another 10 seconds of patience.  

There are intense times at work where it’s crazy. People are stressed, we bark at each other, we’re all running full steam ahead - and then - when it’s over, we look back and we’ve done it together. 

Are these labor pains of a good time? 

First things first

I am all-but-dissertation.  And I struggle…alot.

And I was raised Catholic, so I feel guilty, alot.

And I have this really cool career that when I stop and think about it, I’m doing a lot of really great things that I enjoy doing - its just that sometimes, it’s a little too much at one time…

And I have these three men in my life that I adore (okay, a man and his 2 mini-men) that I want to make time for…

And I have every reason to have my act together and every excuse not to.

Marshall Goldsmith was on-campus recently ( a tall, affluent white guy with a PhD and a successful book and lecture career ) - and talked about the fantasy that we all have.  “As soon as I finish this, or that…life will be less crazy.”

Life is always full.  Crazy will always be here.

But whether for vanity or for sanity or for good sense, I’ve always prioritized taking care of myself with exercise. When I was younger it was for vanity…

Okay, and now that I’m older, it’s still for vanity -

But I’ve also grown to learn that there are so many other benefits: 

Friends. As I’ve taken on bigger challenges, I knew I couldn’t do them alone.  I didn’t enlist friends to do it, but I found them in the process.  When I trained for my first marathon, I knew I would never be able to do the long runs on my own. I started with a running group at RIT and then took the risk to run at the back of the pack with this Oven Door Runner group (they meet really early and run really long distances).  I love people I’ve met in both groups.  Now, my exercise is multi-tasking - catching-up with friends, mental cleansing, group therapy, and sometimes a commute - and I’m still running at the back of the pack. 

Better health.  My family has dealt with a lot of health issues - physical and mental.  I had some early indications of the same - a few back injuries when I was in college and graduate school. I’ve managed with exercise since then.   Exercise is my Prozac.

Savoring life.  In order to get my workouts in, I have to get up pretty early (and it would never happen unless I have friends I’ve agreed to meet). While we complain for a few minutes about how early it is, we LOVE the mornings.  We see the world fresh and new and we have it to our selves for just a little while.  And when you are grieving the loss of a loved one - parent, or friend - you experience that effort of exercise a little differently.  My father died of emphysema - when climbing a hill on my bike, I am grateful for every last air pocket in my lungs.  I know health is something I will not always have, and I enjoy it while I can. 

Perspective. Speaking of hills - the most challenging terrain usually offers the most scenic views.  And if you keep your heart and eyes open, the same is true when we go through challenging parts of our lives.

I can’t do it all. I make choices.

I really, really am struggling on this dissertation thing…but its one part of my life.  Most parts of my life are doing pretty well.  But it’s very tempting to think  ‘I don’t have time to take care of myself.’  In the grand juggling that this life requires, I don’t have time not to. So if it’s spiritual or physical - or both - make the time that will feed your body (and soul). 

Back to the overwhelming hill that is the literature review. One super-crappy-first paragraph done, and a few stats crunched, a few more sources logged…oh my God, Everest would be easier than this…one foot in front of the other …

Pacing

Happy New Year. Actually, it’s preparation for the new year which for me is Move-in Day.  Working in higher ed, I get to live life on the academic calendar and its that excitement and anxiety of a new arriving class of RIT students that marks the changing of the years.

Working on an academic calendar, it might seem like summer should be a quiet time.  It’s a form of its own crazy. Busy, Crazy, Full is usually how I describe it.  A lot of things we’re trying to get done and it just doesn’t seem to want to get on a to-do list in June - it needs to be done in July. (Ugh, invites to presenters…wanted that done last week…Monday. Monday.)  A few intense 12 hours days this past week had me laid out like I had run for a few hours.

There are times that we have to just push to the limits and I guess as best as we can, try to exercise some care. Two seemingly unrelated events seem to bring this message home this week -

A late night stagger into the bathroom resulted in ripping open my foot - there’s something about training that might just warrant wearing slippers as gym bags grow teeth and large pieces of furniture love to move around in the dark of night.

I work closely with the other craziest office on campus this time of year:  I imagine it might be like working in a professional kitchen: things move fast and you’re going to get cut and burned on occasion.  Slowing down for a face to face makes a world of difference. As long as humans are involved (even really skilled ones) - I just wonder if its part of the territory.  I’m not perfect by any stretch - but I try really hard, especially with the conversation AFTER the conversation…

So, maybe the lesson is - when at the limits - try to take care - but know where the first aid kit is, just in case…

Nutrition over the long haul

Running is a particularly great exercise - it burns the most calories of any type of physical activity.  Cycling is also great exercise - it’s like flying 3 feet over the ground with your own power and you feel the freedom of a kid all over again -

I remember my first “long” rides in Iowa. I had a 15 mile flat loop that I could pound out in an hour. I also remember bonking hard after - laid out on the couch and unable to get up for quite a while.  Now that I’ve been running for a few years, I get the “black coma of death” after runs of over 2 hours.  Yeah, I hear it - ‘why would you ever run that long’ but that’s another entry.

Now for the layman treatise on nutrition and exercise: The amazing human body first taps the energy that it has in the blood - glucose - think of it as the cash in your wallet.  Once it burns through that, the body starts to tap into the fat reserves. GREAT - that’s what we all want. One problem - at this point, unless you’re putting calories IN your brain is checking out.  Mentally you may feel fuzzy, a little disoriented and having a very natural desire to stop what you’re doing and likely take a nap under a tree.  If you’re napping under a tree, you can’t hit the fat reserves - and more importantly - you’re not having fun anymore. Your brain runs exclusively on cash - or glucose. 

So, the new skill to develop is eating while moving. (For most of us, this is a challenge we are up to!) Between Gatorade (this is NOT a healthy drink - but used for the purpose it was designed - it’s still one of the best), Gu, PowerBars and a lot of stuff you can pack with you (PBJ still rocks with fast and slow sugars, bananas, diluted juice, trail mix) - you can easily feed the brain to keep the body moving -

Conservatively - if you run 6 miles in an hour (a 10 minute pace) -  estimate that we burn 100 calories a mile.  600 calories an hour. I usually carry diluted Gatorade and Gu - so, I probably consume about 130 calories an hour while I’m running .  Still a good net burn - and more importantly - I’m much nicer to be around.

‘Tis the time of the year of the Tour de France.  There’s lots of stories about how the athletes used to fuel (again, without getting into the whole doping nightmare).  One story is that they would drink coke near the end of the race. If there’s a time to have a coke - when you’re beat and exhausted, a little caffeine and high fructose corn syrup might just be a good thing.

I am blessed with the stomach of a billy goat (which I credit to doing RAGBRAI a few times), but a lot of folks have to figure out what works for them. For one friend with a few odd food allergies, trail mix offers protein, sugar and salt.  I’ve had a few pretzels in a race and I swear they were magic.  

One of the parts I enjoy about training is looking at training and nutrition - and well, my body - as part of a science experiment. 

Breakfast is a very important meal for a lot of reasons.  Break the fast.  Blood sugar levels are low and food tells the body and its systems to get ready to go. Before early morning runs or rides I get down about 300 calories - wheat toast with peanut butter and jam, a small juice and a coffee.  After a workout, it’s also important to put in a combination of protein, carbs and sugars…you can go for the G3 or another fancy sport drink - or you can opt for another favorite:  chocolate milk. 

Part of training for any event is practicing with hydration and nutrition - bon appetit!

The Miss America Wave

People are soft and squishy - something I think a lot about as we prepare for thousands of students with their cars, families and stuff during move-in, and particularly as a runner or biker out there trying to share the road with other soft and squishy people encased in really big, fast moving and not so squishy vehicles.

I’ve always made a point to give a big, gracious Miss America Wave and smile when someone gives me the right of way, gives a little space or slows down a little so I can stay safe.  I want them to wonder, ‘do I know her?’ I want them to feel that they are in cahoots with me - that we’re cool. That they’re cool for looking out for this biker or runner so that the next time they’ll see one they’ll feel more compelled to keep everyone a little safer.

Go ahead a sign a little love out there - makes the world a little better place for all of us.