'Oh, the places you'll go'

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to great places!
You're off and away.

You've brains in your head,
You've feet in running shoes.
And you can steer yourself,
any direction you choose.

You're running by yourself,
But you're not alone;
You know what you know,
And you're the one who'll decide
where to runningly go.

You'll look up and down streets.
Look 'em over with care.
About some you'll say,
"I'm not running down there".

With your head full of brains,
Your heart full of hope;
Your shoes full of restless feet,
You're too smart to go down
any not-so-goodly street.

You may not find any street
To take your running feets down;
In that case, of course,
Head straight out of town.

It's fresherer there,
In the wide opener air;
You may take the hills,
Or go yonder-and-dale,
Away from the poontzy dills.

Out there things can happen,
And frequently do;
To people as brainy,
And as runningly as you.

And when things happen,
Don't worry, don't stew.
Just go right along,
Keep on runnering,
You'll start happening too.

thanks to long time companion, Dr Seuss-man

Why do you run?

I've been running for 30ish years.

Running has taken me many places and helped build many relationships.
It has brought me in touch with myself, the world around me, and in touch with many others.


I know people who have just started running, others who have been running for a long time; some who are serious about running, others who dabble; many who run fast, some who run faster, and a few who run fastest.

We run for different reasons. And, the reasons why we begin running aren't necessarily the reasons why we continue to run.


A while back I asked the athletes I coach - the in2running squad - to write down why they run. And then to summarise each reason into a word.


Here is why they run: 
adventure, nature, sanity, gratitude, balance, clarity, passion, fun, fitness, enjoyment, speed, journey, living, friendship, security, discovery, connection, healing, growth, freedom, release, catharsis, isolation, sanity, challenge,  test self, control,  health, focus,  escape,  play, immersion, happiness, time,  feeling,  aesthetics,   efficiency,  routine, community,  choice,  travel,  improve,  competition, well-being,  change, security,  camaraderie,  find,  means-to-an-end, purpose,  fear , inner-child,  endure-ance,  body,  identity, and confidence...
    
We could explore these and find similarities and commonalities, and themes, and contradictions and paradoxes, yet each runner's reason/s is their own. And theirs alone.

 That is the beauty of running: its accessibility, its individuality, its simplicity, its transference.

 Why do you run?    I've been running so long, I don't know how to stop.

The Competitor...

On the wall in my hallway, sits a reminder of my competitive spirit. It's the first thing I see each time I walk in the front door at home.

There is no tougher race than the race against oneself. Other competitors and times matter not in the finish. The race against and, ultimately,  for oneself is the race we all strive to win. And only through trusting oneself to test one's limits, and having the courage to succeed can we all be winners...compete well my friend(s).


I wrote this in 1993 and dedicated it to the best coach I ever had...Dr Ron Brinkkert.

The Athlete in us all, 2

We are all athletes ... each and every one of us who runs (walks, swims, skates, cycles, rows, skis, bowls, hits, kicks, lifts or flips, and scores).

And the word athlete does have a romantic, albeit humble, origin. It is through this humility that true athleticism touches us all.

The Greek word 'athletes' originates from Latin, 'athleta' and 'athlein', which literally means to "compete for  a prize".

As runners we all compete for prizes and, in one sense, perhaps an ultimate prize. 

As we evolve as runners we learn that the prizes we compete for are no longer caught up in podiums and places; nor times and trophies; nor medals and muscles; nor ribbons, and ranting and raving. 

It is in the afterglow of competition and achievement, and on the reflection of a journey that started well before the starting line - somewhere way back with the courage to say I can and will do this - and on the journey, one step after another, km after km and week after week and year after year, we discover those prizes. Those prizes are the benefits of running and these are the essence and heart of why you and I run, and continue to run.

If competition is the basis for athleticism, we may ask the question 'what is competition?'. Competition isn't you and I competing (for places, or podiums, or prizes) against others, it is you and I competing with others, striving toward the same ends, striving together.
Occasionally I may finish in front of you, and (all) the others.

Competition comes form Latin 'competere', made up of com- (coming together) and -petere (to strive).

As athletes we strive together; we strive, not in rivalry or opposition, but as a community.

These are the people I coach.

Now...where did I put my drink?

The Athlete in us all...

As a school teacher I often got asked, "What do you teach?"

I'd cheekily reply, "I teach young people!"

"Yes, sure, but what to you teach them?"

"Oh...I like to think I teach them positive values and behaviours to use in different contexts, and that everyone has the right to be heard and prosper."

"Have you been drinking Paul?"

Laughing, I always knew what was coming...

"I do that through teaching skills, knowledge and appreciation through positive experiences with physical activity, maths concepts, and scientific principles...I teach Physical Education, Maths and Science."

I haven't taught for a couple of years now. I coach. Again.

When I tell people that, of course, I get asked, "What do you coach?"

Laughing on the inside, "I coach people. I coach people (who want) to get better. I coach athletes."

And the circle completes itself.

That said, good teaching and good coaching share much in common. They are both about building relationships and journeys - providing positive context and experiences (physical, social and emotional skills; sessions, activities) for others to develop or improve. Their journey: to reflect upon where they've been, their past; to become more aware of where they are, their present; and aspire and plan and build towards their future.

But what type of athletes do I coach?

Arguably, there are many types' of athletes: amateur, professional, commercial, weekend, casual and so on.

Between you and me...people want to hear that I coach football, soccer or volleyball or basketball, or track-and-field, or, god-forbid, runners and triathletes (LOL). I've been there, done that. I don't coach the sport any more. The skills, rules and physical capacities to participate and compete and win in their sport are tools for coaching the person. Thus, I coach people.

Yet, to me, we are all athletes...each and every one of us who runs (walks, swims, skates, cycles, rows, skis, bowls, hits, kicks, lifts or flips).

I used to think that the word athlete may come from a Greek or Roman God and that his etymology laid in a romantic Latin stem: someone like, say, Athletik or Athlus or Athlaton. Alas, no!

The word's origin is more humble. It has no deity status. It has no impropriety toward immortality. And for the better, as it brings it's roots undeniably closer to me and to you, to all of us.

More on this tomorrow... 

Smart Training

Coffee often brings out the best in people.
Not the stuff you actually drink, but the convention of sitting down, having a 'coffee', and enjoying the company of friends, family or colleagues.

Hang-on, I may need to retract that statement! I know plenty of people that have to have a coffee (literally) before they can manage anything close to understandable, let alone good, or best...hehe.

I had a 'coffee' with an athlete mid-arvo yesterday. We talked about all sorts of things, and solved most of the world's problems. Coffee is so powerful!

Of course, we talked training. The athlete asked about Smart Training.
Training means different things to different people.

We'd both heard about smart training in terms of goal-setting: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. It's a nice, if not out-dated, acronym.

I added another smart acronym perspective: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology.

In many ways training is an approach to achieving the aims you seek form your running. Smart training is a more-or-less systematic approach to achieving your outcomes or objectives. Smart training is knowing what you want to achieve, and going about achieving that. It's about consideration, planning, implementation, assessment and reflection. And it's about time, and effort. Some of it is science.

And it's about being flexible and enjoying what you do, and not pushing all the time. It's being human, and intuitive. Some of it is art.

Some of us run (we call it 'training') simply because we enjoy it, and the benefits running brings us when we're diligent. And that, as an end in itself, is cool. Some would see it as training for the sake of training. I doubt it can ever be that simple, as there is always something that attracts the runner to running, and to continue to run: not all of us run (and train) to race, compete or perform.

That said, I could (and will, soon)  make a case that we are all competitors and athletes.

In short, smart training is about understanding the difference between training hard and hard training. Understanding is not simply knowing; it implies consideration, and application. Understanding underpins application to context, a form of wisdom.


Training hard is about training in a manner to achieve given objectives: the outcomes of a particular activity or drill, the outcomes of a given training session or microcycle or phase of training. In this essence, training hard is about directed-training: training that is planned with intent and purpose, and executed or completed with same the same intent.

Smart training in terms of 'training hard' is a form of athletic intelligence, and underpins all good training and athletic development programs.

If an 'easy' session is planned, then training hard dictates that's what you do. If you're session focuses on technique, speed, economy, race-pace, lactate tolerance or is meant to be long then that's what you're (meant) to do. If you're meant to spend 30 minutes completing well designed trunk (or 'core') and leg circuit the...guess what...do it!

Training hard is often the more mentally challenging; it's tougher to do! Easy sessions, and lighter weeks, and a day-off are often 'hard' for many to complete. As are true 'physically hard' sessions.

On the contrary, hard training is the 'soft' option. Hard training has you going out and 'busting your boiler', 'smashing yourself' and 'hitting the track' (or gym) each and every time you train. Sure, there is no shortage of sweat and work and fatigue here. And you may even finish thinking "Yeah man, that was some workout!" Funnily enough you said the same thing after your last workout, and the one before that, and the similar ones you did last week. It's about a hit, a fix, instant gratification.

Anyone, any fool, can work-out and complete sessions that feel hard one after another. Over time, these sessions all tend to be the same in nature: neither truly hard, nor easy, nor moderate. They become a conglomeration of workouts completed one after another.

This is not training, and certainly isn't smart.

It's a form of work, and work and training are not synonymous; they are not the same thing. Of course, run training requires physical work - yes, you've got to put out! It also requires you to invest time, emotion and mental effort.

Smart, directed work over time - true training - is much more than going out and simply exercising regularly, or working out when you feel like it.

It's knowing what you're training for and towards, and directing your time, energy and emotion in doing that.

It often requires patience, and delayed gratification.

Who has patience though when one needs their hit or fix of coffee!

Basics are Best

Basics are best: this is a given for me.
And givens come for free.

A best-selling author had to master the basics of the alphabet, word and sentence construction.
Musicians begin with notes, keys and chords.
Chefs create their recipes upon basic food, preparation and presentation basics.
Engineers and physicists had to conquer multiplication tables and BODMAS before creating skyscrapers and sending people to the moon.


For runners like you and me it is the same.
If you want to begin running, become a better a runner, or simply want to experience the benefits that beginning and continuing to run bring, there are three basics to follow:

Firstly, run!
Ultimately, running makes you a better runner.
Sure, swimming, cycling, rowing, strength-training, yoga and pilates may complement and support you and your running at different times in different ways. In time, only running can bring what running brings...and offers, and gives, and takes, and encourages, and teaches.

Secondly, run regularly.
No rocket-sceince here either. Running once or twice a week will bring satisfaction in some form, and it will bring improvement for a while for those who are beginning. Yet, systematically progressing to running 3 or 4 or 5 days per week, and even experimenting with twice-a-days if your'e a seasoned and injury free runner, will deliver you a myriad of benefits: performance, health, aesthetic, psychological and social.

Oh, neither of these is to say that if some running is good for you, that more (and more) is necessarily better. We are biological beings and our make-up is somewhat plastic. Not plastic in the cosmetic or silicon sense, but in the sense that we 'adapt' to our surroundings and the effects they have on us.

Running, although an inherent locomotor or movement skill for all of us, places stress on our bodies and  it's myriad of up-keep, communication and development systems. It also challenges our energy, our behaviours, our time, our relationships - relationships with self, with others, with our body, with nature and time, with psyche and soul, and with our own angels and demons.

Over time and with regular running (or, training) your body navigates amongst these stresses and stressors. It reorganises itself, and prioritises. It makes more-or-less permanent changes in structure and function ('adaptations') to reduce the burden, to reduce the load: running becomes easier, and we become better runners and better performers. Changes in behaviour and psyche and relationships accompany these.

These adaptations, as long as we continue to run, take advantage of our plasticity, our ability to adapt to the challenges of our environment, and our ability to learn, reflect and change.

Thirdly, once you've began running and have come to terms with running regularly for a while, then explore the devil in the detail. This devil comes in the form of running faster, running further, running hills; running amongst, within and against others - running in races; nutrition, footwear, clothing, and all sorts of gadgets, training systems, programs and experts.

Remember,  amongst all these, all that is old is new again. Don't get caught up in the marketing, the hype, the 'secrets', and the gurus - the bad plastic.

The basics, the fundamentals - the RUNdamentals - are best.
They are three and they are free, and they are gold!