Groundedness – RunningWell

Hi Everyone!!!!

First up, congrats to all our triathletes this past weekend! Shauna, Adam, Carolyn and I went to Montreal for the Esprit de Montreal ½ Ironman, and Jon McCrea did the C3 ½ Ironman and Zoe and Carol did the relay. Wohooo!!! As nervous as I was leading up to it, it was a good reminder that racing really is fun and special. (Just a reminder to all of you in the middle of hard things right now and maybe asking “why am I doing this again?” – it IS worth it)

What I’ve been thinking about this week is the concept of “groundedness”. There is a new book out by Brad Stulberg (one of the authors of Peak Performance) called Groundedness. I haven’t read it yet, but have caught some insights and listened to him talk about it.

Here’s what I’ve taken from it so far: Whatever we’re reaching or striving or training for, it’s important to have a strong foundation of roots which “ground” us. It’s important both to set these up first, and to cultivate them along the way if we are looking for long-term success. For example, one of the principles of groundedness is building a strong community – people who share our values and support us – win or lose. In the running analogy, this is our base. Now, once we get into the frenetic chase of a specific goal, it’s easy to put our heads down and chase in the name of “efficiency”. Lifting weights at home is more efficient than going to the gym. Doing your workout on your own time is more efficient than meeting a group. Eating lunch at your desk or texting a friend is more efficient than a meet-up or a walk. It’s true. And sometimes we need to do these things – we’ve all found ourselves there. But they will only sustain us for so long if we don’t have strong community roots, and at some point we will have to go back and become “inefficient” and build our community and friendship ties if we’re in this for the long-term. A race is one data point on a long trajectory. It might blip up or down, but if the long-term trajectory is to go up, we need to be firmly grounded. We sacrifice a lot in our culture in the name of efficiency, but often our long-term success depends on those things we are sacrificing. Our culture places a high value on results – whether it’s in work or race results or financial “success”. But if we haven’t cultivated a strong base, by being intentionally mindful of the process and finding value in the journey, whatever results we get will feel hollow. On the flip side, if you are firmly grounded and have grown and strengthened your values and support through training (just talking running here again), the race itself becomes less stressful. In fact, you are more likely to succeed because you feel free to take risks. You’ve already won, so you can go out and enjoy the process, and the outcome will not define your entire journey.

There are many other points on Groundedness which he brings up, but maybe I’ll actually read the book before I share those! Lol.

Ok, onto tomorrow’s workout:

First, thank-you SO much to all who have signed up for and/or donated to our Work Out For War Child team! Lucky you, now you get to do 15 x Pottery Road hills!

If you’re up for some sort of challenge, come out any time and see how many you can do – no pressure! I’ll aim to be there by 6 am with Gatorade, gels and bars. It will take me a long time as I plan to do lots of walking. Remember: relay style is fine!!!
If you’re training for Boston or NYC or Georgina: 6-7 x hill, followed by 2 x 2K @ MP w 3 min easy (let’s not over-do the hills bc there’s a big wrkt this weekend)

That’s all! Let’s hope for not too much rain – if it rains it’s my fault bc apparently I’m weather-cursed this summer.

Thank-you!!!

Seanna