Janathon 2013 Day 29 - Working hard

Weights, 30m

I cannot call someone “hard working” knowing only that they read and write. Even if “all night long” is added, I cannot say it - not until I know the focus of all this energy. You don’t call someone hard working who stays up all night long with their girlfriend. No more do I. If the goal is glory I call them ambitious; if it is money, I call them avaricious. If, however, their efforts aim at improving the mind, then - and only then - do I call them hard working. Never praise or blame people on common grounds; look to their judgements exclusively. Because that is the determining factor, which makes everyone’s actions either good or bad. (Epictetus, Discourses, Book IV, 41)

Never mind other people, I can’t even judge myself. I don’t know whether I work hard, in the right way, exercising good judgement, or not. That applies to everything not just this fitness jag I write about here - but it certainly applies to fitness. It is not something you can do outside the normal rules of living. You have to think about it in exactly the same way.

The danger with any training regime is that it becomes just that: a routine. You develop habits and go through the motions and then the benefit diminishes. A classic example would be going for runs of about the same distance at about the same pace, all the time; or going to the gym and using the same equipment without any progression or intensity. I am as prone to that error as anybody and so have to consciously remind myself what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and what I hope to achieve. To get benefit you have to concentrate.

With my weight sessions I have an overall aim of trying to increase the strength of shoulders and arms, and increase my core stability. In other words develop the muscles that hold everything in place when you run. Today was 30 minutes, hard enough to make my T-shirt damp, and my muscles feel a bit achey. I hope that is good enough but I would still not claim to have worked hard. If truth be known I did it all more with a sense of duty than a feeling of zest so it is hard to judge whether the session was worth anything at all.

P.S. Away from the scope of this blog, the quote is useful whenever I hear someone justifying huge city salaries and bonuses on the grounds that the people deserve so much because they work hard. Normally I would just get annoyed and splutter but now I can say: “No not hard working you are avaricious. Judgement is the only thing that makes actions good or bad!”

Janathon 2013 Day 27 - Doing something else

Weights - 40m

Every habit and faculty is formed and strengthened by the corresponding act - walking makes you walk better, running makes you a better runner. If you want to be literate, read, if you want to be a painter, paint. Go a month without reading, occupied with something else, and you’ll see what the result is. And if you’re laid up a mere ten days, when you get up and try to walk any distance you’ll find your legs barely able to support you. So if you like doing something do it regularly; if you don’t like doing something, make a habit of doing something different. (Epictetus, Discourses, Book II, 18)

If you want to do something do it, and do it regularly, if you don’t, do something else. How many years have I spent not recognising this simple, basic truth. How much time have I wasted, faffing around, not acting on that simple, clear instruction. Many a time I have failed both ends. Things I have wanted to do have not been done because I thought other things ought to take precedence, whilst for things I don’t want to do, the situation has been far, far worse.  I have procrastinated, done them in little bits, agonised and delayed, and not them properly but at the same time this has blocked me from doing anything else. This is the worst of all possible worlds as the important part of Epictetus’ advice is to do something else.

Janathon should in theory give you no way out - you have to carry on and do something. Well you have to if you don’t want to backslide, which is what I did yesterday. My excuse was that we had people round for lunch and all the morning was spent preparing and cooking and in the evening, when everyone had gone, there was the sad realisation that I had drunk far too much and was in no fit state. So the day passed. Am I sad? Unfortunately, for all of you who believe we should rigorously stick to our resolutions, I would have to say no. I made a positive choice to do something else and I have to be happy with that.

Janathon 2013 Day 24 - An unsettled mind

Walk - 3 miles, 50m, Weather - grey and gloomy

Some days that are just off, everything is slightly out of focus and nothing quite works. Things are not terrible: there are no disasters and all calamities are minor. It is mainly an accumulation of inconveniences and a feeling of not being quite right. You know that if you wanted to hammer in a nail it would not go in straight and true but would bend and crumple.

The question is what to do on days of meh? Usually my answer is to take a break and do a little exercise and hope that the internal systems right themselves. But what exercise? I know that if I go running I have about a 50% chance of it working: sometimes the cobwebs are blown away but it is just as likely my head will continue grumble along, telling my body that it is not enjoying itself. Weights or stretching is a waste of time: my mind will definitely say how  deeply it cannot be bothered. No, the most reliable remedy is a walk, which is what I did today

There is something about the rhythm and of not having to think about what you are doing that frees up your thinking and allows your mind to wander. Gently and gradually things fall back into place. I started out grumpily noticing the bad things about days like this, when the beauty of the snow covering is disappearing and what is left is mostly mush and inconvenience. In the park and the snow is going but the floods remain. After a time though I stopped noticing negatives and began to feel less irritated. It was time to get back and start again.

Such days are not the days of a Stoic but the Stoics are a place to look for advice.

“... you have inner strengths that enable you to bear up to difficulties of every kind. You have been given fortitude, courage and patience. Why should I worry what happens when I am armed with the virtue of fortitude? Nothing can trouble or upset me, or even seem annoying. Instead of meeting misfortune with groans and tears, I will call upon the faculty to deal with it. 

‘But my nose is running!’ What do you have a hand for, you idiot, if not to wipe it? ‘But how is it right that there is a running nose i the first place?’ Instead of thinking up protests, wouldn’t it be easier just to wipe your nose? ...  

But no. There you sit, worrying that certain events might happen, already upset and in a state about your present circumstances. So you reproach the gods. What else can come of such weakness except impiety?” (Epictetus, Book 1, 28-32, 38-39)

In other words the well known that well understood Stoic admonition: “Just get on with it!” Or if I were a sports good firm I would perhaps say: “Just do it!” But the Stoics go further an make an interesting offer:

“I am prepared to show you that you have resources and character naturally strong and resilient; show me in return what grounds you have for being peevish and malcontent.” (43)

Janathon 2013 Day 21 - Reasons

Gym - Run (treadmill) 9km, 45m, Weights 30m

In these Janathon posts I would usually say something about the days exercise and try to link it to a quote from a Stoic. Today I'm not even going to bother. I'm going to cut straight to the chase and post a cartoon from the ever wonderful xkcd, that is a perfect commentary on something I wrote about on Day 13. 

The first part of the first book of the Discourses by Epictetus is called "Concerning what is in our power and what is not" and it starts by saying that reason is the only faculty we have that is able to analyse itself. So voila:

Janathon 2013 Day 16 - Many people are faster

Run - 3km in 15m (treadmill), Weights - 40m

As I walked up a woman (probably in her twenties) was leaving the next treadmill, to have a break and fill her water bottle. Her face was red, she was breathing slightly heavily and between her shoulder blades there was a growing patch of sweat on her t-shirt. ‘That must have been a heavy session’ I thought, ‘mostly you don’t see people put so much into their running.’ I was already impressed before I took a peak at her stats, which were still displayed. ‘Bloody Hell!’ she had run for 33 minutes below 4 minutes per km pace. This was by some degree a different order of running to my own, or anybody else in the room. Ho hum. Never mind just carry on with your own programme, what others can do makes no difference. ‘Running beside her will be interesting though’I thought.

She came back and started again at 16.4 km per hour. I was impressed not only at the speed but that her feet did not make big thumping noises and the treadmill didn’t rock.  Other people sometime run at speed but you can usually hear them across the gym. I carried on with my run around the 12 km per hour mark and thought that over a third faster is quite some difference but was quite happy with what I was doing. If anything my enjoyment was increased because it was pleasing to see someone putting in a good shift, rather than pootling along (which is far more common).

In the circumstances today’s Stoic quote must be this from Epictetus:

Consider the price at which you sell your integrity, but please, for God’s sake, don’t sell it cheap. The rand gesture, the ultimate sacrifice - that, perhaps, might belong to others, to people of Socrates class. ‘But if we are endowed by nature with the potential for greatness why do only some of us achieve it?’ Well do all horses become stallions? are all dogs greyhounds? Even if I lack the talent I will not abandon the effort on that account. Epictetus will not be better than Socrates. But I am no worse, I’m satisfied. I mean I will never be Milo either but I don’t neglect my body. Nor will I be another Croesus - and still I don’t neglect my property. In short we do not abandon any discipline for despair of ever being the best in it. (Epictetus, Discourses, Book 1, 33-37)

Janathon 2013 Day 13 - cunningly constructed clay

Run 7km (on a treadmill), Time - 35m, Weather - outside it was getting colder

Well what does Zeus say? 'Epictetus, if it were possible, I would have made your little body and possessions both free and unrestricted. As it is though, make no mistake, this body does not belong to you, it is only cunningly constructed clay. And since I could not make the body yours, I have given you a portion of myself instead, the power of positive and negative impulse, of desire and aversion - the power, in other words, of making good use of impressions. if you take care of it and identify with it, you will never be locked or frustrated: you won't have to complain, and never will need to blame or flatter anyone. Is that enough to satisfy you?'.

This is from the beginning of Epictetus’ Discourses where he lays the foundation of his argument that the only tool we have to guide our judgement, and the way we behave, is our reason. It it is the only faculty with the ability to examine itself and this reflexive quality makes it supreme as well as unique. It is the only quality that is truly ours.

I don’t want to argue whether this is true or false. I merely want to acknowledge the premise and the consequent idea that a human being, if he uses this gift, is perfectible. In other words the application of reason can enable us to be virtuous. It is an underlying faith that makes Stoicism an optimistic philosophy and also something (believe it or not) that has some bearing on running. Every time we start a training schedule, or undertake a challenge we are in effect saying to ourselves that we can get better. We have faith in the possibility of improvement and that the consistent  application of good principles we will be rewarded. At my age the objectives might have changed to slowing the decline rather than striving for new PBs, but the principle is the same.

In the beginning, when it was founded in Greece, Stoicism had three branches: logic, physics, and ethics. Ethics concerned how you led your life and was the ultimate aim but the other two subjects gave you the tools to understand the basis of your decisions. One of the metaphors used was that Stoicism is like a fertile field enclosed within a fence of logic, with physics as the soil and ethics as the crop. (Diogenes Laertius, Zeno, VII.40). I like to think that is what we do with running: We apply logic to the evidence of how our abilities match the demands we place upon ourselves and the way we respond. The soil is basic physiology: what we know about how the body works an responds, and the crop is our performance. 

Having noted that similarity though, it must be pointed out that we are working on the body, and as can be seen in the quote at the head of this post, that is of little concern to Epictetus. It is merely clay. But it is here that I must admit to a difference in outlook. Instead of seeing the mind and body as different realms, I see nothing but their interconnectedness. Exercise not only improves the tone of my muscles it helps my mood, concentration and ultimately the quality of my thinking. If I want to continue the metaphor: it is the rain needed by the soil for my crop to grow.

Janathon 2013 Day 11 - Carrying on as if nothing happened

Run - 6.2km, Time - 33m, Weather - cold but bright

“Shall I show you the sinews of a philosopher? "What sinews are those?" — A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised, careful resolutions; unerring decisions.” (Epictetus, Discourses, Book II, ch. 8).

As if to show how far I am from being a philosopher Janathon is now a bust. Yesterday I did nothing and consequently wrote nothing. I could not, with all honesty, represent a bit of walking around as an exercise session and so didn’t try. This means of course I cannot complete Janathon and have to mark it down as a failure (after all the challenge is binary: either you complete all 31 days or you don’t. There is no scope for a fudge). There are excuses (I left the house very early and didn’t return till late, and when I did return I felt more in need of food than exercise) but they are only that - excuses. If I had really wanted to I could have done something (20 minutes with weights would have worked) but I didn't and preferred my comforts obviously.

Stoics are not terribly impressed by this sort of weakness of mind, as the whole point is to train it to act rationally and overcome those instinctive, emotional responses that cloud our judgement and cause us to abandon plans. You can see this from the Epictetus quote. But this is the ideal and  learning philosophy was never seen as a simple judgement, an exam which you either passed or failed. It was a process. The only failure would be to give up trying. In such a spirit I will accept that I failed to honour my resolution completely, but that was yesterday and today is different, I will carry on and it will  be possible to complete 30 days.

“A guide, on finding a man who has lost his way, brings him back to the right path—he does not mock and jeer at him and then take himself off. You also must show the unlearned man the truth, and you will see that he will follow. But so long as you do not show it him, you should not mock, but rather feel your own incapacity.” (The Golden Sayings of Epictetus, 63)

I must now try to stay on the right path.

Janathon 2013 Day 3 - The medium on which you practice

Gym - various weights + 17.5m running, 3.5km, Time - 1 hour, Weather - irrelevant

Last year I toyed with the idea of base training and limited my speed to stay below a specified heart rate. It was slow and frustrating as I kept on having to slow down or even walk but the idea was that the training effect gradually increase the speed I could run at that heart rate, as I gradually became more efficient. It never happened. The only result was I got used to running slowly and anything else felt like an effort. In other words it was boring and it messed up my head. From this I will not say base training does not work, as many other people have used it successfully and it could just be I didn't run enough miles or gave up too soon. However I will not be trying it again.

Looking back at the year when I ran at my easiest my approach was completely different. During the winter months I combined strength work with running short distances (2-3 miles) at varying speeds, on a treadmill. I then moved outdoors for the endurance training, with a weekly long slow run and other runs at mixed pace. I have no clear idea why I abandoned this approach. Perhaps I fell prey to a false idea that real runners had to keep up a higher weekly mileage, or perhaps I just wanted to try a different approach. In the end  I forgot what had worked.Now though I am now back with the old way and we will see if it still works.

There are a couple of lessons in this. The first is the famous quote of George Sheehan that "you are an experiment of one". In other words try things out to find what works for you, which might well be different to what works for your neighbour. But do not do this haphazardly, give each method a fair go and learn from the experience. The other lesson is related (or perhaps a different way of formulating the same idea) and is my Stoic quote of the day (again from Zeno):

"The goal of life is living in agreement with nature."

I will amend that slightly for the purposes of this blog and make it 'living in agreement with your own nature. You should not try to fight yourself, force yourself to cut against the grain, instead you should be trying to reveal yourself.  Or in the words of another Stoic quote, this time from Epictetus:

"Just as wood is the medium of the carpenter and bronze is the medium of the sculptor, your life is the medium on which you practice the art of living."