Practice Makes Perfect
June 26, 2007
Pink bicycle in Florence, Italy. Taken last month.
Part of my commitment to take better care of myself and get healthy has been to incorporate exercise into my normal day to day routines. I have always had periods where I slack off in the exercise department, but ever since we moved to LA in the fall of 2004 I’ve had a harder time than ever before getting into a consistent exercise habit. Now that my body is telling me in all kinds of frustrating ways this needs to change immediately, I have been working hard to create changes that will stick. I’m not signing up for marathons or taking power yoga classes, but trying to do what feels natural and at my own pace.
One recent development in our lives is that we have become a one car family. My husband’s office is now a mere two miles away, and Santa Monica is a pretty blissfully flat part of Los Angeles. So my main mode of transportation is now my bicycle, and I actually find most errands much easier than in a car. I can ride my bike to the beach, to Venice, to a number of grocery stores, to see movies, to farmers markets and to lunch dates. For the errands that are closer to home, they actually take less time than in a car since I don’t have to deal with parking; for the errands farther away, the ride might take longer but it is much more pleasant.
I have also started running and cycling again, and find that running gives me a wonderful opportunity to make surprising connections between the way I approach running and the way I live my life. I bought an issue of Runner’s magazine recently just to get me inspired, and in an article about training for a marathon, the writer advised runners to walk when they felt like they needed to in order to avoid injury.
I read that and just about fell out of my chair.
Walk instead of run?
What you have to understand is that until that exact moment when I was granted permission from the divine spirit who happens to write for Runner’s magazine, I approached every single run with just one goal: to keep running. Once I started, I was committed to continuing until I reached my pre-determined finish line, which usually meant my pace remained consistently slow. This is not a problem as a recreational runner, but as I read more about the importance of increasing pace in order to make your body stronger, I began to see running as something more than just a way to keep myself in my current shape. I began to see that I could use running to strengthen my heart and my lungs and my self-confidence. I started to understand that it just might be better to try to go a little faster for smaller distances, then take a slower pace to rest and recover in between the bursts.
I was trying this new kind of run over the weekend and practically laughing at myself, seeing the clear and obvious analogy between the way I used to approach running with the way I have been living my life for so long. That motto – "Keep running no matter what" - only served me for so long, and lately that mantra has needed to take a seat in the farthest back row of my life as possible. The way I used to believe I simply could not stop running until I reached the end is the way I have been approaching too many projects, commitments, relationships and endeavors for far too long, and my health is now paying a price for that.
As I try to balance out my exercise routine and incorporate new ways of improving as a runner and strengthening my body, I am also trying to create more balance in my life so I can improve as a human BEING and hone my skills as Guardian Of My Health – physical, mental and emotional. I don’t have to just keep running; I can stop and walk when I need to or even remove myself from the path I’m on, find a tiny patch of grass and lay down for a nap. This is often times easier said than done, but as with anything, all it takes is practice.
so….isn’t amazing how lives can be so parellel?! i have started to run again. and bryce has a subscription to runners world. so that is how he got me going, walk before you run, build up slowly. i am currently looking for an old vintage schwinn to toodle around town on for errands, etc. i am going to be the crazy old lady of middle indiana. we already have one in town, they call her wandering wanda, hmmm….calamity kelly would be appropriate for me.
so keep it up chickadee….
exercise…UGH!…
great connection between life and running and i think i approach life the same way…and like you i’m starting to pay for it…
ps–i wanna pink bicycle like that one…
Take it from me, lovely–the woman who is *still* rehabbing an injury that is more than two years old–STOP RUNNING and walk, if you feel like it! ;o) And cross-train, cross-train, cross-train. Biking is great.
I’m so glad to hear that you are out and about and treating your body with such loving kindness.
xo,
K
I echo that comment. It took me two years, seven half marathons and night after night of excrutiating pain to allow myself to walk or rest. How. How are we so stubborn? I didn’t have these ideas about life, at least not like you describe, but I did feel that I failed/didn’t quite succeed if I walked or rested. And in that way, I wanted to be perfect, when running, in life. I wasnt in either, and I hurt in both. Now I’m healing, slowly, I’m working my way back up to six miles (yee haw) and taking life at a much different pace. I’ve seen my flaws, and seen that by keeping that break neck pace, I was creating some.
So, this was a wonderful post to read, when I feel quite similar, but have never read anyone else saying it. cheers
oh that pink bicycle is too sweet– and I wish I could ride a bike everywhere but where I live isn’t just hilly it’s mountainous– but I loved this post and the message which is just what I needed to read– bisous!
I love Runners World and Yoga Journal – not least for the articles that remind me that these parts of my life are exactly that – part of my life and therefore they reflect the same challenges, propensities and lessons that I’m facing in other parts of my life.
In running I had to learn, here in Afghanistan, to start my run each day from where I was. If I was exhausted from a week on the road then I would walk the whole time, if I was agitated and angry an interval run with short bursts at full capacity would help me release that energy. Start where you are – how is that for a lesson for life.
In my yoga I’ve had to learn to relax and let go, which has also been the biggest challenge of the past 18 months in my work, my relationship and my spiritual journey.
So there they are running and yoga – reflecting back to me the same lessons I’m finding every where else BUT – and this is the best bit – giving me a change to learn things in a different way.
Wonderful post!
I haven’t been blog reading as much lately as I used to. I have started taking action with my business a bit and that has gobbled up a lot of my free time.
Anyway-I just loved this post. The message about life is a key one for me too.
I loved reading your reflections and insight. I was nodding my head a lot:)
I have started yoga practice-nice and slow and it feels great to not push so hard.
I think the picture of the bike is beautiful.
Thank you for writing this post it touched me deeply.
This entry really spoke to me, and I wouldn’t touch running with a ten-foot pole. But the deeper message (not to tire myself out by giving 150% at all times) is fantastic. Thank you!