Janathon 2013 day 28 - Good in your own terms

Gym - running (treadmill) 4km, 20m, weights - 30m

“Nature did not blend things so inextricably that you can’t draw your own boundaries: place your own well-being in your own hands. It’s quite possible to be a good man without anybody realising it. Remember that. And this too: you don’t need much to live happily. And just because you’ve abandoned hopes of becoming a great thinker or scientist, don’t give up on attaining freedom, achieving humility, serving others, obeying God.” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VII, 67)

Beside me on a treadmill today was a woman who looked as if she could be fit: she was probably late thirties, slim, and healthy looking; but she was obviously not running fit. She alternated walking and running in fairly short bursts but her running speed was only about 6.5 km per hour. My first reaction was “well it goes to show you never can tell!” My second reaction was the more considered one of never judging what other people do when you don’t know enough. From the outside how can you tell what is happening? Someone might be coming back from illness or injury, they might have been inactive for years and made a admirable resolution to get fit. It could be that they are actually faster but are experimenting on form. There are all sorts of reasons someone might be pursuing a particular programme.

All I know for certain is that if you see someone making an effort - no matter what it is - they should be applauded. They are drawing their own boundaries, working on their own way of attaining freedom. Good for them, good for all of us.

This is why I like the above quote from Marcus Aurelius. It also shows why the overlap in the Stoic approach to living a good, i.e. virtuous, life and running a road race where winning could never, ever be a feasible objective. In your own terms it is still possible to be a good runner without anybody else realising it!

Janathon 2013 Day 20 - Walking in the snow

Walk - 4 miles, Time - 1h 15m, Weather - cold, raw, heavy grey sky, light snow

When the weather is like this most of my attention is focussed on the ground a few feet ahead, looking where I step, trying to keep upright. The paths are ice with a light covering of snow and when I place my foot the heel will sometimes slide to one side or the other and I make adjustments. At times I can look like a bad tightrope walker but at other times I can crack on. Walking is hard though: the stride is shorter and less regular and it is difficult to drop into a rhythm. The coldness of the air and the snow on the face make you want to hunker into yourself and the obvious question should be: ‘why am are out here when there is no real need?’ But that is not what I am thinking. I am both enjoying myself and not want it to last too long.

Sometimes I listen to the silence as all noise seems to have been dampened. I appreciate the hazy, grey beauty and they way outlines become blurred and more mysterious. There are a few people about but for stretches there is no one in sight and it is pleasant to have the illusion of being alone in the landscape.  

There is every reason to be out. I did though make sure I left promptly, at 8 o’clock, so there was no time for procrastination. On that subject this quote from marcus Aurelius seems appropriate:

At dawn when you have trouble getting out of bed tell yourself ‘ I have to go to work - as a human being. What do I have to complain of if I have to do what I was born for - the things I was brought into this world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?

• But it is nicer here.

So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?

Many, many times do I need to admonish myself in this way

Janathon 2013 Day 19 - Action by action

Run (treadmill) - 4.1km, time - 20m, Weights 20m

If I hadn’t already planned most of my January exercise to be in the gym, today I would have been here. Snow fell yesterday  and as the temperature has not since risen above zero it remains on most pavements as a slippery mess. I’m sure some hardy souls will be out there showing they can take mucky conditions in their stride, proving that nothing can stop a run if you are possessed of superior determination.

To all such people - I salute you. But I am not one of you. If conditions outside are adverse (i.e. majorly unpleasant not just a bit meh) I prefer being inside. It is after all one of the reasons gyms were invented.

Today a lot of people thought the same and the place was packed (though this might also have something to do with it being January: the month of resolutions). Sometimes I had to wait for a machine but I felt quite relaxed as it gave me a chance to look around and watch all the other people with their different routines and aims: some working on their strength, some on flexibility and some on just trying to get going. The thing is that we were all trying, and I liked that. Today everybody in the room was in earnest. I looked around out of curiosity but also on the chance of seeing something I could copy. Not today  though.... but I did see something extraordinary. A lady on a treadmill had taken off both her trainers and was balancing on one of them i.e her rear foot was placed across it, whilst the other leg was stretched out in front, not touching the ground. She slowly moved it to increase or relax the stretch, whilst squatting on the rear leg and then lifting up. It was controlled and wonderfully balanced and looked difficult. I have no idea what she was really doing or why she was doing it on a treadmill.

It is one of the fascinating things about being somewhere like a gym. We all share a common high level objective i.e. to get fitter but the reasons for this fitness, and the uses we want to put it to, vary. There are common machines but that are used in slightly different ways (according to those objectives), and everybody is going at their own pace (nevermind different speeds on the treadmill, weight and crunches are pushed at vastly different rates). Everything is similar but not the same. There are very few clues as to what anybody else is thinking and there is limited interaction. It is all perfectly civil, people smile at each other when their paths cross, and there are some small groups of people working out together, but for the most part the room holds individuals working on their own.

When I looked around I thought it a very stoical space - everybody was working on just what they could control and not worrying about anything else or anybody else's opinion.

One of the core aspects of stoical thinking is the division between things you can control and things you can’t. You must do your best with what you can control (in other words attempt to act virtuously), whereas for the things you can’t - well those things must take their course.

You have to assemble your life yourself - action by action. And be satisfied if each one attains its goal, as far as it can. No one can keep that from happening

• But there are external obstacles ...

Not to behaving with justice, self-control, and good sense.

• Well but perhaps to some more concrete actions

But if you accept the obstacles and work with what’s given, an alternative will present its self - another piece of what you are trying to assemble. Action by action.(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VIII 32)

This is what you see in the gym: action by action.

Janathon 2013 Day 17 - If on a winter's day

Walk - 6 miles, Time - 1h 45m, Weather - nippy

Today I went for a longish walk. 

he cloud was heavy, although there were patches of light picking out the heavy frost on all the bare branches. Everywhere the tones were subdued, predominantly white and grey but with traces of green and brown on the ground and in the sky areas of light with slight hints of orange. The ground was hard and frozen, and the landscape empty. It was quiet and if said hushhhh, I could watch my breath hang in the air. 

Winter days like these are pleasing, if you are dressed up warmly and you can stride out unhindered. For some reason, when there is a frost so heavy it’s indistinguishable from snow, it is slightly magical. It’s as if the trees and hedges are sketched with soft pencil on white paper. I stop to look and then start walking again. Everything seems so clear - and then I think about my sense of wonder and am pleased I am not so jaded it has been lost. My body might be worn and showing it’s age but inside there is still a child looking out. That is as it should be

Today’s Stoic quote is about that feeling:

To shrug it all off and wipe it clean - every annoyance and distraction - and reach utter stillness 

    Child’s play 

(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book V, 2)

Janathon 2013 Day 14 - Pain

Walk - 3.5 miles, Time - 55m, Weather - snow

“For times when you endure pain: See that it doesn’t disgrace you, or degrade your intelligence - doesn’t keep it from acting rationally or unselfishly. And in most cases what Epicurus said should help: that pain is neither unbearable nor unending, as long as you keep in mind its limits and don’t magnify them in your imagination. And keep in mind too that pain often comes in disguise - as drowsiness, fever, loss of appetite.... When you’re bothered by things like that, remind yourself: “I’m giving in to pain.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Book VII)”

Today’s Stoic quote couldn’t be more pertinent because there is nothing runners think and talk about more than injury.

The Phrase “listen to your body”  is useful in reminding us that we must always be alert to how we are feeling and how well the various parts of our body are working.  Are we fresh or jaded, strong or weak, ill or well?  We should regularly scan these things and act on the feedback. It is about more than pain, for example tiredness and sleeplessness could be a warning sign of overtraining, but pain is the most dramatic indicator.

The trouble is that it can be elusive Sometimes something can suddenly hurt but then just as suddenly disappear, at other times something that doesn’t seem much of a problem on a run can seize-up the day after and be a long term problem. Between the extremes of feeling tickety-boo and lying on the floor screaming in agony, there are all sorts of grey areas and an internal debate as to whether it is a twinge, an ache, or a serious pain. This only highlights the difference between listening to your body and understanding what you hear. It can all be very confusing and we must try to stop both magnifying things in our imagination or ignoring them out of stubbornness .

The important thing to do, as the quote, suggests is to make sure you continue to treat pain rationally. Above all you must try to work out what it means and whether you want to give in just because you feel a bit meh. If you are strong and well motivated you must then look at the circumstances. If it happens during training you must think long term and concentrate on injury prevention and healing, as a small rest in the early stages is much better than a long lay-off later. If it happens in a race your main thought is about completion and getting through (unless it is something serious that would cause long term damage)

Runners are lucky in that we are unlikely to suffer a catastrophic, impact injury (though there is a remote possibility of tripping up and falling into something), our injuries are more often the result of attrition. In other words we keep on going beyond the point of recovery and so a twinge becomes an ache before becoming damage. Mostly we hurt ourselves through training errors, forcing the body too hard before it is ready and mostly we do this out of pride and unrealistic expectations. The art of acting rationally is recognising this and acting accordingly.

P.S. This post was brought on not because I have any injury at the moment (today was just a planned easy day) but because I thought the quote appropriate

Janathon Day 8 - Just enough is enough

Treadmill - 4km in 20 minutes + 20 minutes stretching

“If you seek tranquility do less. Or (more accurately) do what is essential. If you can eliminate it, you will have more time and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment ‘is this necessary?’ But we need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions as well. To eliminate the unnecessary actions that follow.” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4)

Further to yesterday’s post on the desirability of rest days I am posting some training advice from Marcus Aurelius. On first sight it might not seem the sort of thing any leather skinned, granite jawed, hard as nails,  coach would spit out but it is exactly the same as Tim Noakes’ 6^th law of training: achieve as much as possible on the minimum of training.

It is easy to be seduced by the idea that if something is working and making you a good runner then a little bit more will make you even better, then a bit more and a bit more until ... well until things fall apart. You will either get injured, ill, or your legs will become heavy and lifeless. The point of training is not to try to prove how hard you are by showing you can cope with monster mileage. The point  is to do enough to fulfil your ambitions, whatever they may be. Training to finish the course has a very different load from training to win the race and the two programmes might look very different but they both share this aim.

It might take some experimentation but the ultimate aim for all of us is to find our optimal level. As I run mainly for my own satisfaction and sense of well-being, my optimal mileage is probably quite low. I have to find the amount and type of running essential to keeping my interest and enthusiasm high. That is all.

Janathon 2013 Day 6 - Negative Pre-visualisation

Gym - various weight exercises, Time - 50m

In some ways Day 4’s post about staying in the present was a bit of a tease because one of the key techniques of the Stoics was pre-visualisation: they anticipated the future in order to prepare for it. This is the same as rudimentary sports psychology, the thing most players do before they set foot on the pitch, but there is a slight twist. The sportsman imagines themselves succeeding: the striker pictures themselves scoring a goal and the  the runner sees themselves crossing the finishing line strong and triumphant. However the Stoic technique turns this on its head and imagines the worst. It has another name: the premeditation of evil and it is done by imagining the things you hold most dear being taken away from you. 

There are three reasons for it. The first is basic honesty. All things are temporary, everything comes and goes and it is an undeniable truth that at some time you and I will both die. It is foolish to close ones eyes and try to forget it will happen as sooner or later you will have to face up to these things. This leads on to  second reason: by mentally preparing for loss you are better able to cope when it happens. The third reason though is not about the future it is about the present and is perhaps the most important reason of all: if you think something might be gone you are likely to appreciate it more keenly. If you were given a good bottle of wine told “After this you will be giving up alcohol for good.” The chances are that you would savour the drink, stretch it out, try to taste every drop and remember it. In other words you would closer attention than if it was just another bottle with just another meal.

“As you kiss your son good night, says Epictetus, whisper to yourself, “He may be dead in the morning.’ 

 Don’t tempt fate, you say.    

By talking about a natural event? Is fate tempted when we speak of grain being reaped?” 

(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations XI 34)

This might sound a bit extreme but the important thing is that it should not mawkish. It is an exercise in appreciating what you have, not an excuse for sentimentality and it should not be a cause of worry and anxiety, i.e. an unreasonable fear of imminent disaster. We not want to end up like Private Frazer of Dad’s Army.

But what is the relevance of this to going to the gym?

It is that, along with a number of other things, I take it for granted. I do it because it suits my purpose and think of it in functional terms. I give no thought to the fact that I am able to run on the treadmill and lift the weights. In this respect I am careless and instead of thinking I should be faster or stronger, I should appreciate what I can do. Being healthy is a colossal blessing and something that should never be underestimated. I once read of a survey  which asked two linked questions: what would make you happy and what would make you unhappy.  The answers for the first was the usual mix: more money, better car, house, holidays,love, job etc however what almost everybody thought would make them the unhappiest was illness. Nowhere on the list of things that make you happy was health mentioned, yet it was the thing you would miss the most. It is not a mistake a stoic would make as they would have already pre-visualised its loss and what it would mean.

In the gym I have reminders to help me. For example a man, partially paralysed down one side, who is constantly working building on the strength he has. Another man who can hardly walk and is helped onto each machine by his wife, will still smile and there is a lady who can barely shuffle but keeps plugging away on the treadmill. I am in awe of all them, as I am of anyone who keeps going in the face of great difficulty. In an instant, by a stroke of fate I could be struck down and face the same battles. Would I be as strong? 

I don’t know. It is something I would have to face if it happened. In the meantime it behoves me to appreciate what I have.