Perspectives
Hi Everyone!
Hope you’re all having a great week. First up, huge congrats to our triathletes who competed in the Toronto Triathlon Festival on Sunday! Tanis and Carolyn both came 2nd in their age groups and qualified to go to World’s in Spain! (TBD if they go, but so cool to qualify). Shauna Carpenter came 4th in her age group, and David Steinberg and Adam Nicklin came 13th and 15th respectively. What a showing for LES!
I recently read a book which made me think. A lot. About a lot of things. It’s called Notes on Complexity – written by Neil Theise. It’s about … a lot of things, but one thing I’ve been thinking about particularly is perspective. There is not one reality, just our current perspective. For example, we think of ourselves as self-contained individuals walking around. However, if we zoom in, we are full of life made up of “not us” with non-human living bacteria and microorganisms, comprising up to 70% of our cells (not our mass – they are 1-2% of our mass because they are so tiny). If we zoom in even further, we see we are made up of cells, with their own living functions at work. Even further, and we see that the cells are comprised of proteins which have organized around fluid, and there is no real barrier between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’. We see that the outer boundaries of what we consider ourselves is not solid, but constantly in flux with the environment around it, discarding and picking up new organisms all the time. Zoom in even further, and everything is made of tiny little subatomic particles floating around each other, which are identical to all other particles in the universe – just in different formations. Zoom back out to where we are contained individuals roaming around, then zoom further out to where we are part of all life being manifested and interacting with planet earth, zoom even further out and we are simply a tiny blip of energy in the universe, here for an indescribably short period of time.
All of these things are true, but we have to shift our perspectives in order to see and understand each one. Of course I’m bringing this back to running and training, and the same thing is true. Remember when I said that our brains and bodies are constantly trying to become more efficient, so every footstep matters? True. Remember also that there is not one workout or week or month that will make or break or define you as a runner? Also true. Yes, all the little things matter: strength training, mobility, sleep, nutrition, strides, types of workouts you do, mileage, etc. You can get as granular as you want and make everything into a big deal. Or, you can keep those things in mind, while zooming out, and seeing where it all fits in to making you into a whole, complete runner who has time for relationships, family, work and other dimensions of your life which makes you full. There is no one correct view and two opposing approaches can both be right. It’s all about perspective. The little things matter and the big things matter. Shifting back and forth to being able to see both is a good practice.
On to Wednesday’s workout! I am away, so will let you self-organize and do this as a social or by time. People who raced TTF, feel free to come out and do the social. Same time and meeting place – 6:05 drills/warm-ups, 6:15 GO. Then head down to the spit.
The workout – keeping it simple: up to 15 x 1 min on, 1 min off. These build on you! This is a good one for marathoners as if you keep your “off’s” not too easy you end up with a solid amount of work. If training for shorter races, really lean into the “on’s” and take it pretty easy on the “off’s”. 15 might be a lot. See how you go.
I’ll see you back next week – have a great one!
Xo
Seanna