New Spins on New Year Resolutions

Whether you make New Year Resolutions or not, it is hard to avoid the concept after the start of a new trip around the Sun. In some sense, not making a resolution is a resolution in and of itself. Instead of being antagonistic or overly idealistic, the best way to approach resolutions is to reframe them as an evolution of the self instead of a revolution that is doomed to failure.

What is a New Year's Resolution? Simply put, it is a commitment to one's self to change.  Historically, many cultures made annual offerings to the gods. The Romans made offerings to the god Janus, after whom January is named. Janus is the god of transitions and time, beginnings and ends. The tradition has carried forward to modern times, an informal custom thought about for a day or two and then soon forgotten. But why does it last then, if no one ever seems to keep to their commitments?

Every year, there are a few among us who manage to escape the futility of their resolutions. How do they manage to break free? You can't change other people, and you can barely change yourself, and yet... some people manage to change. How?

My theory is that these people change not by a revolution sparked by a resolution made at a single point in a time, but rather by a slow, gradual evolution that compounds over time. Instead of focusing on the goal (the "resolution"), they focus on the process that is either broken and needs to be fixed, or is absent and needs to exist.

In my own life, I went from couch potato to runner (and still occasional couch potato). I cannot deny there was some discrete day that I did go, buy running shoes, and go for a run. But I did not have a crazy goal of running a marathon that day. I just wanted to run a few miles and not feel defeated by it. And so I did. The next time, I ran a little bit more. And then some more. Until over time, it was not a resolution to run external to me, but rather a part of my identity: runner.

What makes me a runner though? Simple enough: the habit of running. The simple routine of putting on gym clothes, lacing up my shoes, and hitting the pavement (or ugh, treadmill). That's it - no grand ideas, no big aha! moments, just my headphones and the rhythmic pounding of the pavement.

Over time though, the habit compounds. I ran a 5k, then a half marathon, then several half's, then a full, and now several fulls. Nothing amazing to seasoned runners, but nothing short of miraculous to the guy six years ago buying a pair of shoes and hoping to knock out a few miles.

Don't make resolutions; make habits. For as the saying goes, you make your habits and then your habits make you. If you are going to resolve to do anything this year, resolve to a make a new positive habit and see where it takes you. Good luck!

Disclaimer

2018 Houston Marathon Reflections

I completed my third marathon this past Sunday, finishing the 2018 Houston Marathon in 4:43. Even running with a friend, I still had a lot of time to let my mind wander as the miles went by (especially the later ones!). I figured I should write down those thoughts - how I felt about the race, what I appreciated about it, what I learned from the experience - with the hope that it helps others out there as well as prepares me for my next race.

The starting line was near the George R. Brown (GRB) convention center. My buddy Joe and I reached the pre-race area at about 6:30 AM. The race started at 7:00 AM. I had been originally assigned to Corral A, but after having to retrieve a forgotten pair of gloves and a not-so-quick pit stop, we fell back to Corral D. The later corral did not get to the starting line until about 7:30 AM. Luckily, despite temperatures in the thirties, I felt pretty comfortable in my long-sleeve technical shirt and shorts. After slowly walking up to the starting line, we got off to a smooth start.

For the first 11 miles or so, we ran within our planned range of 8:45 to 9:00 minutes per mile. Just before mile 11, my parents surprised us by cheering us on from the sidelines, as we turned off University Blvd to head towards Westpark / Galleria area. Joe started to have knee trouble and I could feel my calves start to slowly ache, but at the halfway mark, I was still within my expectations at 1:58.

That's when the wheels started to come off. First my calves went, followed by my quads. I was soon reduced to a run-walk combo, running a few minutes until the cramps returned, then walking until I felt them fully subside. Fortunately, mentally I was good and felt that I had good energy levels. Just didn't have the legs underneath me. I settled into a 14:00/mile pace for the last 10 miles or so until happily crossing the finish line right outside GRB.

What did I learn / relearn from this race?

• You perform how you practiceKnowing that the course was flat with favorable temperatures, I was hoping to improve on my PR of 4:14 with hopefully a sub 4:00 time. However, skimping on training because of winter weather was my undoing, and it showed in the latter miles.
  
• Be honest with yourself about preparation
  I had a training calendar set out, and while I roughly kept to it, there were still too many runs skipped or cut short if I wanted to meet my goal.
  
• Run the race you have, not the one you want
  As I was realizing mid-race that I would not be able to keep up, remembering this helped me be at peace with falling off and letting go of my original expected finish time. Like life, races are full of unexpected factors and you must adapt to them. How you feel about the race will map more closely to your expectations rather than your actual performance.
  
• Run each step mindfully
  What I mean by this is, early in the race, running mindfully meant keeping a consistent pace even when it felt easy to go faster. Later in the race, it meant listening to my body and not pushing it into a cramping state or worse, injury.
  
• Be grateful
  Even as the race got away from me, being grateful helped remind me to stay focused on what was working & the road ahead, rather than what went wrong & what might have been.

Speaking of being grateful, here is what I am thankful for about this race:

• Finishing safe & sound
• Having my family there to support me and enjoy the event
• Being able to run with my friends and mutually support each other during the race
• The support of friends who did training runs with me & sent messages of support
• Near ideal weather conditions, with cool temps and clear skies
• Well-organized event with sufficient supplies at each station
• Great crowd and positive atmosphere

Despite the mild disappointment of not meeting my original expectation, I am pretty happy with the run and motivated to keep it up and find races in the future that I can better prepare for. Here's to the next one!

Disclaimer

Basic Running Technique Tips

Running has to be the most basic 'sport' around, right? Just left foot, right foot, repeat til finish line. Not so fast (sorry heh). There is actually a lot more to the technique of running well, with a lot of room for debate.

Posture

Paradoxically, we will start with your head. For some reason, many people start running with a heads-down posture, watching their feet fall. This tends to cause the rib cage to collapse, making breathing more difficult. Running with your head up, eyes scanning the road, is much better. The tips for good posture overall apply doubly while running. Imagine a string attached the top of your head, pulling you up. Round your shoulders back so that your chest is wide open. If oxygen is the fuel of running (it is), then your rib cage / thorax is the tank - you want it to be as large as possible.

Continuing down, you want your neck and spine in alignment, stacked on top of each other. Much like Jenga, your spinal column will be stable if it is vertically aligned but will cause problems if it is off to one side. Try to keep your head centered on top of your spine and pelvis. If you want to know what this feels like, just press your body up against a wall. The back of your head, shoulders, hips, and calves should all touch. If they do not or you have difficulty, you should see a physical therapist to help improve your static posture.

Your arms should swing gently at your side with your elbows are about a 90 degree angle. I like to think of it as if you are trying to serve someone breakfast in bed but you're late so you're running to them. You have a tray of food that you have to hold, but you have to hold it flat enough that the items on it do not fall. If you can mentally do that, you should have pretty good form.

Cadence

Cadence, also known as stride rate, is the number of steps you take per minute. The consensus is that most runners take too few steps per minute, while each stride itself is too long. There is room for debate though. The number that most posts discuss is 180. This comes from research from long-time running coach Jack Daniels who found that most competitive runners run at 180 steps per minute or higher during races.

Of course, your total distance is going to be a function of your cadence multiplied by your stride length. Increasing either will increase your speed. Since most people tend to overstride and under-cadence, fixing your cadence is easier to start with. At first, it will feel like you are running too slowly but once you get the hang of it, you can accelerate faster by changing up your cadence (rather than trying to elongate your stride length). It should feel like you are stepping on pebbles or jumping rope at first - that's normal. Give it a shot two or three times and see how it feels.

Pacing

The last major concern is your pace. You want to run at a speed you can maintain. Generally that means slow down! A common rookie mistake to start out running at too fast a pace to maintain, leading one to get winded easily and feel 'slow.' A better strategy is to start jogging comfortably at a pace you think you could maintain indefinitely. You should be able to maintain a conversation at this pace. As one advances, there are training styles in which you will sprint but to start, maintaining an even pace throughout a run is a great goal.

But what about terrain? It's hard to stay at the same speed going up a hill! The key with uphill or downhill segments is to focus on maintaining constant effort. If  you could maintaing a conversation on flat terrain, you should slow down enough to be able to continue that conversation going up the hill.

That's it! Making these simple tweaks will make your early runs more enjoyable and possibly even avoid injury. If you have any doubts, just remember - you were born to run!

Disclaimer

Try, Try Again: An Empiric Approach To Learning

The two key concepts for today are empiricism and inculcation. Fancy four dollar words but both with very simple meanings for our purposes:

Empiricism: learning by doing

Inculcation: learning by repetition

The first time has launched scores of philosophical debates over the nature of reality but ultimately, there is no substitute for trying something out. If you want to figure whether you enjoy something or not, you have to go *do* it. No amount of book learning, dialogue with practitioners, visualization, or any other pre-"doing" technique will suffice for the actual experience.

Over on Farnam Street Blog, the post "The Map is Not the Territory" reminds me of my own literal first jarring experience with this truism. As a college student, I was new to the city and did not have a car to move around. Like most cash-strapped folks, I relied on the subway to get around. The map was nowhere near to scale, yet I assumed it was a reasonable proxy for distance.

In simpler terms, I assumed something two stops away was "twice" as far. Big mistake.

Imagine my surprise when I realized I could walk the same distance for free in less time. 

The map: 

Source: MBTA

is not

The territory: 

Source: Boston.com

Notice any differences? The city began to make much more sense to me once I started running regularly and could understand how physical places connected together. 

The larger lesson is that the models we are given to represent a concept to learn are great for getting you about 70% of the way there. By necessity though, they must leave out detail in order to not overwhelm one with extraneous information. 

To master a concept though, 70% is nowhere near enough. To get as close to 100% as possible, we have to be empiricists. We have to do the thing we intend to achieve. Want to become an author? Make a habit of writing daily. Athlete? Practice. Chef? Cook. 

However, remember that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. That is why the inculcation must involve deliberate practice. 

The concept of deliberate practice has been advocated by psychologist Anders Ericsson who is most closely associated with the 10,000 hour rule (the notion that world-class talent requires 10,000 hours of practice). Ericsson dives deeper in his book Peak, explaining that each repetition must have some goal behind it in order to accelerate one's journey from novice to master.

As you ponder taking up a new task, focus on creating as many opportunities as possible to do the activity you are interested in. Once you start, then try to practice deliberately by breaking the skill down into its component steps. Ask those who have mastered the skill what specific steps they were taking to improve. You want as much detail as possible here. Then just try, try again until you are an expert. As they say: you make your habits, and then your habits make you, so make good habits!