A beautiful way to ride more

Posted on March 3, 2016 by Christopher Cudworth

In all things of importance in this world, perhaps owning a nice bike isn’t the top priority. But while researching my next bike after crunching my Felt 4C while pulling into the garage following a long, tired ride in which I felt sick the whole way, I looked at a lot of options and decided to invest in a Specialized Venge Expert.

Specialized VengeI picked the bike up yesterday and it is leaning against the wall 10 feet from my writing desk in the living room. On Instagram yesterday I posted a photo of the bike having its KEO pedals installed, and shared it on Facebook. A young man that is a pretty good athlete had one of the first comments: “The bike doesn’t make you fast, you make you fast!”

I asked him what he rides.

“I’ve got a $1000 Tomasso internet special. I pass people on bikes that cost 5x. Hell, on my old $250 Performance Bikes hybrid, I’d pass people on bikes that cost 10-20x as much. And then there’s the guy that did Madison faster than me on a fat tire bike. It’s not the bike, it’s the motor pedaling it…”

I understand all that. And I wrote back; “I guess the entire bike industry is wrong then. But I agree with you on the motor. Mine is just average. Glad you’re fast.”

The grey area in all this is about riding comfort and enjoying what you do.

So I chose a bike after much consultation that fit the goals of my riding.

1. Do more of it.

2. Race in duathlons and triathlons.

3. Race criteriums.

4. Ride with my friends.

5. Have some adventures.

I also own a nice Waterford given to me by my brother-in-law. That’s the bike I’ve been using on the trainer these last few weeks. I’ve never had a bike fit done with that nice frame, but it is a pleasure to ride on the road because it is so smooth. It’s also a bike built for racing, for sure. My brother-in-law rode was a much faster rider than me. So the bike is not as fast as it used to be. He had a better engine. I get that.

SpecializedThe advice one receives about all this bike stuff can be conflicting. Some of the bike experts with whom I discussed my purchase, including the CAT 2 guy who leads our CT sessions and rides a top-grade Specialized Venge, conferred on the efficiencies of the Venge over other models I might choose. Many others confirmed this as well. The Venge is simply a good bike to own for a variety of reasons.

The motivation to buy the Venge was severalfold. It can be set up for aero, a distinct advantage while riding solo in triathlons and duathlons. There’s a demonstrated efficiency to being in an aero position. No matter what your “engine” is like, if you cut down wind resistance you’ll go faster. That’s a known fact. So to leverage your own cycling abilities, and to perform to the best of your capabilities, it makes sense to own a bike that allows you to do that.

When I started out riding a decade ago, I was perched on a steel frame Trek 400 with shifters on the down tube. I trained like crazy at the start, and was proud at last to average 18 mph for a 30 mile ride. But when I rode with guys on much better bikes, I could not keep up. But when I purchased the Felt, the ride was lighter and more responsive. And I kept up. Then I raced it in crits and did some long riding events. It performed well. And I regret crunching it.

cud-racing

The Venge is essentially a road bike and tri-bike rolled into one. The frame is narrow and aero. Yet the top bar has that distinct Specialized arc that its top road bikes have, such as the Robaix, which is known for its comfort on long rides. The Venge already has a sister in my garage. My Specialized Rock Hopper mountain bike is 15 years old and still a joy to ride.

I have not ridden the Venge Expert yet, except for a 100 foot tool around the parking lot before putting it in the car. This weekend we’re having bike fits done, and from that point on, I’m more concerned with having a beautiful way to ride. If it makes me faster, so be it. If it makes me fitter, all for it. And if it makes me happy, that’s what it’s all about. Nothing complex or technical about that.

TRAIN HARD • COMPETE WELL

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Naked selfies, narcissism and athleticism

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Christopher Cudworth

 

MichelangeloDavid

Is that a smartphone David’s holding? Is this the world’s first selfie?

 

The convergence of smartphone technology with the rise of social media has at once reflected and directed the deep strains of self-indulgence present in society. The narcissism of selfies is often criticized, yet the tradition of posting depictions of ourselves (even naked) for others to admire is not without some history.

Going way back to the culture of the ancient Greeks, in which depictions of naked athletes romping across elegant clay bowls was a common theme, human culture has celebrated itself. The sexual undertones were sometimes subtle, but always there. Naked athletes are a great excuse to look at people…naked.

Sports Illustrated has made a massive enterprise of its annual swimsuit issue. Ostensibly it was because the girls were somehow “athletic,” and indeed some were. But mostly they were naked. And it was in a sports magazine. So that was okay. Both men and women seem to love the sight of a comely woman. And occasionally, a comely man.

Such was the apparent motivation in part for Michaelangelo’s David, whose svelte yet delicious body is an inspiration to both men and women alike.

As documented in this fascinating blog, the work it took for Michaelangelo to create that sculpture and others like it would have stopped lesser souls in their tracks. And in fact, so talented was Michaelangelo that a competitive rivalry sprung up between himself and Leonardo da Vinci, who were contemporaries. We think of these great artists as having existed outside of time and possibly apart from each other. But they were just as real and subject to harsh rivalry (and difficulty) as the rest of us.

Yet their work endures. And so it paints a potentially harsh comparison between a world in which people are largely engaged in creating beauty not from stone or clay, but from pixels and posts. The Internet is one massive digital sculpture, you might say.

RedditOne can find women posting naked selfies on Reddit where they gain 100,000 views a day. And on Instagram, many of the most popular feeds are little more than pretty or fit people flexing their muscles, doing yoga and taking pictures of themselves in really nice places. Because they can.

Admit it. Athletes are some of the most narcissistic members of society. Our habitual obsession with our bodies is sometimes beautiful, but other times ugly. I’m as guilty as the next person when it comes to looking at nice images of women and men. In many case, I simply admire their work ethic. I’m jealous. They don’t get bodies like that by accident.

It has also been interesting to watch the emergence of the human buttock into acceptable society. Think about it:  glimpse of ass used to be a scandalous thing. Well, no more. Tits and ass and six packs and sperm channels are everywhere. Above the fold, as they say. And below the belt as well. Narcissism rules.

Triathletes more than any other endurance sports shed their clothes with panache, and evolve from one creature to another in transition. Reports from the changing areas at Ironman competitions is that men tend to behave like naked hogs in there. It’s balls out and ass crack to the wind.

Yoga girlWomen, by contrast, tend to have to deal with anything in life that comes their way. If it means being naked for a few minutes, so be it. With all the poking and prodding it takes to be a regular , everyday woman, along with bleeding and birth and makeup and hair and nails and sweat and the secret life of orgasms, there is little in this world that doesn’t already either slow a woman down or make her go about things a little too fast.

So it’s no wonder there are girls out there that have decided WTF…a few half-naked pictures to boost my self-esteem or get some feedback can’t really hurt. It sort of goes with the thinking that a certain segment of men are likely going to be pigs anyways. Why not take that power and use it? Selfies are, in some respects, a way of fighting back. Taking control. Saying “fuck you.” Or fuck me. Please. If that’s what thrills you.

You can slap a thousand bumper stickers on the issue of narcissism, but in the end it’s all about human need and loneliness. The main problem with narcissism is that it also attracts the freaks out there in the world who think of women only as objects. They don’t care to think about the list of obstacles to womanhood that were just listed, or what it actually takes behind the scenes to deal with that shit. Then that attitude spills into the workplace, and into politics. It all has to be fought and countered eventually.

Because as the pornography industry so clearly illustrates, when it’s only about the tits and ass or size of a man’s penis, ultimately it’s quite easy to lose interest. The image becomes disposable. The person behind it, expendable.

The contrast is what George Harrison and the Beatles once brought for in the song, “It’s all too much.”

When I look into your eyes, your love is there for me
And the more I go inside, the more there is to see

Yet sometimes the internal spaces of our minds go forth in the sun. Many years ago, I remember hanging with a group of semi-friends. We were drinking beers around a Volkswagon in the glare of the hot sun. Everyone was wet with sweat and a bit drunk. The lone woman in the group wore blue jean shorts, and nothing underneath. As she rollicked around amongst her guy friends, who happened to include her steady boyfriend, the fact of her openly relaxed state was exceedingly obvious. Yet none of her guy friends was lascivious. She got to be what she wanted to be. Sexy and free. And why should that not be?

In fact, if anything, she was protected by her male friends in this role. Sure, they all got to glimpse her cooter. But in time, what does that really, genuinely matter? Everyone was having a good time. That’s what mattered.

So we can compare the world’s obsession with selfies to  Michaelangelo’s David and learn a few things about ourselves. Because of all the statues ever created, that work in marble captures the honesty of a naked male figure and its compelling grace. But notice something fascinating in the pose. It looks very much like a narcissistic selfie someone might post or share.

One can even imagine the marbled figure of David holding up his smartphone in front of the mirror to take the image. His figure is relaxed, and his manhood revealed. Not in turgid glory, as so many men are wont to do. But in humble grace. Desire is a choice here, not an issue of force.

And that’s where narcissism falls away like the sheet from the body of a figure model. The conclusion we can draw is that we are all at some point destined to be naked. Yet few of us want to be alone.

Floating down the stream of time, of life to life with me
Makes no difference where you are or where you’d like to be

Indeed.

 

 

 

 

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Installing the governor

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Christopher Cudworth

GovernorBack in my early 20s, I went balls out in trying to be the best runner I could. For a couple years, I didn’t even take a full-time job. That was a convenient choice, because the economy rather sucked at the time. So I worked in a running shoe store, managed a sports complex and ran my skinny little ass off.

The results were pretty good for a journeyman or “sub-elite” runner.  I ran 31:10 for 10K and about 14:45 on the track for 5K. Won a bunch of races. Lived on waffles, eggs, pizza and frozen peas.

But when I got married, I knew things had to change. I had a full-time job, for one thing, making it a bit more difficult to train 80-100 miles a week. Then came kids, and a mortgage. And I was happy about all that. So don’t get me wrong. As I turned 30, my goal was to put more of my energy into life outside the world of running. So I installed a mental device in my head that changed my priorities about how to live life day-to-day. I installed a governor in my brain.

“What’s a governor?” 

The first time I heard the word “governor” in relation to a control device on a motor was in middle school. I knew nothing about engines, by my motorhead buddies knew a lot and were always tinkering with mini-bikes and go-karts. They wanted them to go fast.

And I recall them complaining when they realized a g0-kart engine they’d stolen somewhere had a “governor” on it. I asked what that meant, and they all looked at me like I was the most stupid kid on earth. Whatever, I thought.

Eventually I learned what a governor meant by riding that go-kart. At a certain point the gearing would kick in and the motor would slow down, or “govern” its output. You’d go fast to a certain point and that was it. Disappointing in some ways.

Yet it made sense if you think about it. Some go-kart tracks are just not designed for all out speed. An engine without a governor on it might send karts flying over the barriers into the cornfields. So a governor has its purpose.

Installing a governor

So I installed a form of governor in my head when it came to running, or the commitment to it. That meant that running did not take top priority over my work or family life. Sure, my 10 times dropped from the low 30s to the mid-30s by the time I was 35. And by the time I was 40, my 10k time was 36:00-40:00. And that’s where it stayed for a couple decades.

Now I run 42:00 for 10K, and ran a 5K at 7:00 per mile pace last year. And that’s all fun and good. Competing in duathlons for the last couple years, I’ve made progress learning how to go from run to bike to run. Won my age division in the Batavia Duathlon, and placed in the top three for my age group out in Galena. My first sprint triathlon saw me finishing 10th out of my age group.

And while those were fun results, they don’t make me want to strip the “governor” out of my brain. Not in terms of shifting all my priorities and trying to become some sort of Senior Savant in the triathlon. Like I just shared, I already know what training like a maniac involves. I installed that governor for a purpose, and the purpose still holds. Fitness is an important part of my life strategy. But it is not the most important thing in my life.

Fast up to a point

That does not mean that I cannot train hard. When I do go out for runs, especially speed work, my goals are clear. I run as fast as I can. Then, there are long runs for endurance. Shorter runs for recovery. All these add up to a form of racing fitness. So when I step to the line each time, I accept where I am, and where I am not in terms of peak fitness. No nerves. No anxiety. Just excitement to see what I can do.

governorDSC01964It turns out the governor is not such a buzz kill after all. Perhaps I could have installed it much earlier in life, but it just wasn’t in fashion. Back when I was a training maniac, it was commonly accepted that sub-elites threw themselves at the sport of running. Your whole goddamned identity and self-respect seemed to hang on how you ran the week before. At least, it did for me. But I also know that I am not alone in that. Conversations with many runners from that era have affirmed that we were all a little nuts about our running. It’s what you did.

Times-a-changing

And to that end, I’m not sure there are as many people willing to do that whole sub-elite commitment thing. The race results these days don’t suggest there are a whole lot of those anachronistic running nutcases left in this world. The winning times at 10k and 5K races are typically 33:00-35:00 at local races. 5Ks are even won in 17:00. So perhaps people have more common sense and now how to have fun in running at least.

Not so sure the same thought line yet holds true in the worlds of triathlon or cycling. I’ve seen what it takes to train and complete an Ironman. Lots of training.

Yet last summer a friend of ours named Glenn did a lot less training than the rest of the people in our triathlon circles yet he not only finished, but came out just fine. And seeing results like that, one wonders if the psychology of Ironman and the triathlon community is not in process of maturing and undergoing a change as well.

Then there’s Kona

The obsession with making it to Kona requires that you probably throw your training governor into the gutter. It flat out takes hard training to drop your IM time that low. But those without lofty goals like that may be choosing a different course of training.

The early days of Ironman competitions with Dave Scott and Scott Tinley and Mark Allen paralleled the intense running boom of the early 1980s. Dave Scott was a seven-time champion, with a best time of 8:10 when he finished second to Mark Allen, with whom he “enjoyed” a competitive rivalry. There’s nothing like a rivalry to make you throw the governor in the gutter and just go for it.

According to the Wiki site on Ironman, “The current Ironman Hawaii course record was set in 2011 by Craig Alexander (Australia), whose winning time was 8 hours 3 minutes 56 seconds. Mirinda Carfrae (Australia) set the women’s course record in 2013 with a winning time of 8 hours 52 minutes 14 seconds.”

When you read times like those, it tends to put your own efforts into perspective. I know it happened for me in my late 20s when I realized that I could not train forever at the levels I’d sustained since high school through college and beyond. At some point installing the governor was simply the right and sensible thing to do.

Riding high

I just attended an organizational meeting for a cycling team that races throughout the spring and summer. There were guys like me and men my age and older in attendance. My new bike has raised my interest in racing again.

And frankly, cycling is changing as a sport in some ways. There are more bike racers ignoring the rules of leg-shaving, for example. It’s becoming more about how fast you can ride than what you look like. So the governor there is more about so-called tradition and appearance than it is about performance. And isn’t that interesting?

Again, nothing says we can’t train hard and try out best at what we do. But perspective is critical in all endeavors. Especially so in our avocations.

So we’ll see you on the race course, governor.

TRAIN HARD • COMPETE WELL

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Those days you wake up determined not to fail

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Christopher Cudworth

By Christopher Cudworth

The world’s greatest wisdom comes from sources as seemingly polarized opposites. We’re talking about the worlds of both scripture and science.

IMG_9862For example, the Bible shares this gem about self-discipline.

1 Corinthians 9:24
[ The Need for Self-Discipline ] Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Cut and dried. Clean and simple, right?
Yet we study our bodies through science and tests to understand how it is that we perform our best. We do FPT threshold tests on the bike. We do intervals on the track. We test swimsuits that help us move more smoothly through the water.
Our science affirms our desire to do better. Our self-discipline makes us want to understand the manner in which we succeed as well.
There is a crux to all this, a psychology that everyone must understand in order to succeed. Because… the morning we wake up determined not to fail… does not emanate from the same source of self-respect as the morning we wake up determined to succeed.
Self-respect and self-discipline
Victoria dancing

My niece Victoria Cudworth knows the balance of science and faith in action

This is no indictment of the general will to succeed. It is simply an observation on the order of that scriptural quote above. Having real faith in your success starts with belief and a love for what you are doing. But it is also confirmed and achieved through hard work and self-discipline. You can pray all you want to ask God to help you run a 2:22 marathon. But unless you put in the miles, eat right, manage your risk of injury and build the endurance to achieve that goal, it will literally never happen.

Real faith in your performance comes from belief not just in your goals, but in the process. That’s where it gets interesting. I have long counseled my children to “enjoy the process.” That means loving what you do. If that’s not happening, then it is wise to take a step back and analyze the source of your concern. Are you overcommitted? Working for reasons other than your own? Conflicted by some other issue? All these are legitimate human experiences. They do not mean you are a failure of any sort. Yet they can put you in a position where you’re more determined not to fail than excited to succeed.
When you’re truly loving what you do, you develop a different sort of belief system than just wanting not to fail. You find yourself waking up in the morning determined to succeed.
Personally, I’ve taken some risks the last few years to push my career and life in a direction that aligns more with the will to succeed in my own way. Going to work at jobs where I was determined not to fail was not a satisfying proposition.
The change has required some investment and risk, and a few “failed” experiments, including investment of some real money in a content marketing technology that turned out not to be scaled to my needs or ability. Sometimes we force ourselves to think that we don’t have the real answer within us.
But like they say, if you’re not failing your way forward, you’re likely not trying hard enough. My running, riding and swimming all these years have taught me that.
Sports psychology
Chris Swim OutThis is where the example of sports really works in our lives. If you engage in an effort like running a marathon or doing an Ironman, and things don’t go exactly the way you planned, then the (b)right thing to do is learn from that. You already know what it’s like to fail, and it didn’t kill you. It may have shaken your faith a bit, or made you question your methods. But that’s how we all grow.
The greatest tests of faith in history all exhibit these challenges in action and belief. When the Israelites were wandering the wilderness under the guidance of Moses, the Bible says God provided enough food to help them survive. But the people were not satisfied. They lost discipline. And in the result, they lost faith as well.
They woke up fearful, dissatisfied, and less than determined not to fail. But the determination of Moses was to succeed. That meant salvation. And Moses had to be a social scientist of a sort. He told the people to eat what was provided, and keep it simple. That’s what gets you through. Think about it: that trial of people surviving in the wilderness was all about the discipline of sustainability. We’re still learning these lessons to this day.
Greater forces in the universe
Psalm 31 ImageIt’s true that if we show ourselves enough respect to be self-disciplined, it seems as if the greatest forces in the universe align with our goals. That’s why science is no contradiction to our faith when it is put to good use. Modern medicine is a result of that alignment. Medicine is a direct example of the fact that society wakes up with a will to succeed rather than the determination not to fail. It is the hope of a cure and a will to succeed that encourages athletes to run and ride to raise money towards a good cause.
So we reiterate: Self-discipline is waking up with the will to succeed rather than the determination not to fail. It is perhaps a subtle distinction, but it is all important in all that we do. It is a sign of self-respect to abide with both the faith and science of our endeavors. That is the secret of success.
SHOW RESPECT
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The mortality running through us all

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Christopher Cudworth

MortalityI was exchanging texts this morning with fellow artist Kerri Hoskins Branson about a painting project we’re working on together through Water Street Studios, the artist’s collective where we both have gallery and studio space.

I profiled Kerri in this blog a couple years back. She’s been a runner and done martial arts training.  She also played the role of Sonya Blade in the game Mortal Kombat, has been a model and a mom and even ran for political office at one point.

From any perspective, she’s lived a couple lifetimes already. Several years back she felt a drive to begin painting, and like her mother, discovered she has artistic talent and a strong drive to express herself. Since that time she’s been doing shows and her work now sells for thousands of dollars.

She never sits still, you might say. Because she’s also invested another lifetime within her own raising four children, two of whom have severe physical disabilities. The challenges of raising those children have not been light. Her husband Scott Branson and she have literally had to parcel their lives out, trading time and duties and responsibilities to make it all work.

Paths in life

You can imagine that’s no easy chore. There was no way those two could imagine the path on which live would take them. The boys have required extensive medical help, and those decisions are not simple, and take will and courage to achieve.

Today while on their way to the hospital for a consultation with physicians about surgery for one of their sons, she snapped a photo above and sent it to me. It captures one of those moments in traffic when, if you’re driving, you don’t dare study the scene too long. But when you’re the passenger, and big life decisions are running through your head, it’s funny how the very touch of light in the morning can capture a mood.

And having been through plenty of consultations about surgeries and tough decisions during eight years of cancer caregiving for my late wife, I know those trips in the car on the way to see the doctors can be difficult. All the thoughts of risk and reward go through your brain. The first thing you want to know is, “Will it work?” The inevitable next question is always, “Will it be safe?”

Different realms

You almost feel like as if you’re in a different realm when making such difficult considerations. The rest of the world seems to buzz around you on its own time and schedule, unconcerned that you are in emotional pain or consternation. Indeed, people seem so completely ignorant of the types of realities you might be facing. But unless you tell them, how could they know?

Well, that’s the issue isn’t it? As supposedly intellectual creatures, we should know better. Yet so many people seem to encounter the world in numb and number fashion. Most folks simply do not consider the meaning of life. Its precious flavor.

Which means that the significance of their own mortality completely escapes them.

Distractions from life

Instead, the world offers up violent entertainment to fill that tender void where recognition of our own mortality should reside. It seems the human race will do anything to escape recognition that we’ll all die someday.

Take for example the spectral sport of NFL football, which has become a religion of sorts, rife with tribal symbolism, a brand of nationalistic fervor and stoked up masses as passionate as a Hitler rally. Some call it harmless fun.

But distractions of that level create parallel realities. And the sport has oozed out like a pool of blood across the media landscape, spreading from pre-season to regular season to post-season. Then it continues from draft to NFL combine to European games and beyond. Like a tool of the devil, football drives gambling and cannot stand to go a week without begging attention from the masses. And when fans aren’t watching, millions play video versions of the sport. And when they’re not playing video football, they’re using the toggle in splatter games that mimic killing. Because anything’s better than being left alone with the thought of your own mortality.

It’s a confusing scenario for us all. We need distractions because entertainment is simply part of human life. But when we confuse our entertainment for reality, that’s when the humanity of our existence gets lost in the shuffle.

Vicarious pursuits

Because all that stimulation is to protect people from the passive, neglected boredom they might otherwise feel with their own lives. One of the artists from the famous Wyeth family that includes painters N.C., Andrew and Jamie once said there was no more reason to paint if you watched an NFL football game. “How could you even compete with that powerful imagery?”

Vicariousness is a disease of the American mind, and too many Americans as a result, take their own lives for granted. That’s why they are so liable to hand their futures and fortunes over to people who sell bombast and conflict as part of their persona. That’s how our electoral processes have turned into selfish grabs at power, and displays of prejudice. Conservatives love to blame liberalism for the so-called “decline of America.” But if you study how politics really got where they are, it is not liberalism, but ignorant selfishness, distraction and vicarious power mongering that is leading the way to America’s intellectual and moral decline.

We should know better

GraveyardWe really should know better. Especially you and I. There is no more powerful experience than running or cycling (or whistling…) past a graveyard to adjust your perspective. At that moment you realize what the phrase “the quick and the dead” really means.

There is a small gathering of gravestones on a small rise in the land far out in the country where I ride. They often show light and dark in the morning sun as I ride past. Those stones are silent except for the names and dates on their faces. There is a conversation there to be had, if one stops by. And I have done that. The words say MOTHER or FATHER, SON and DAUGHTER. Some stones date from the 1800s. They have sat in that loamy soil so long the rest of the dirt around them has sunken or blown away. Over the years, human activity has worn down the land. The dead have risen up not by coming back to life, but by our own obsessive activities all around them.

And then we all go there, one way or another. Either we are buried or are turned into ashes and cast unto the wind.

But that should make you feel more alive, not fearful of death. Because do what you will,  you cannot change the time when you will die. But you can change the quality of life that you will live.

I’ve long said my favorite line in literature is this, from the book Ambiguous Adventure, by Cheik Hamidou Kane: “The purity of the moment is made from the absence of time.”

That means time expands when you are doing what you love.

And what better way to describe the experience of running, riding and swimming? The purity of the moment really is made from the absence of time. That’s true in love, and life, and hope. May it be true in all that you do. Live well.

LOVE LIFE

 

 

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Secrets to successful high intensity workouts

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Christopher Cudworth

NoraShhhhh! I met up with a younger woman at the track this morning. So, that’s the secret. Of course, it had nothing to do with having an affair or anything like that. I was interviewing her for an upcoming article.

Because, for one thing, she’s faster than me these days. Her workout consisted of a quirky ladder of 200s, 400s and 800s. Up and down the ladder in a repeat cycle she went. All at sub-6:00-minute mile pace. My workout consisted of 6 X 400 in a descending ladder of 1:39, 1:38, 1:37, 1:33, 1:32 and 1:31. And yes, those were my specific times, on the money. But I’ll explain that in a bit.

Fast runners do things with a purpose

First, let’s talk about the workout my interview subject was doing. Her name is Nora. She runs for New Balance at an elite level and competed at North Central College, one of the top Division III running programs in the country. She just finished her first indoor meet a week ago and is pointing toward the road season.

That means the “down” season for most other runners is an “up” season for Nora and her elite kin. One of the secrets of successful high-intensity workouts is to actually do them. That’s where indoor competition comes in. As a prep for the outdoor road racing season, Nora races indoors. She’s in her early 20s, so all this is recently familiar territory, having come off a college schedule of cross country, indoor and outdoor track. Most top athletes take a break in December or so, then build back up with a base in January, begin adding speed late in the month and race indoors through February and early March. Then comes a period of more base miles, and outdoor track work begins.

That is how you get fast. There is simply no substitute for up-on-your-toes, racing fast track work for runners. Nora is running her workouts at mid-5:00 per mile pace. Not just because she can, but because she must. She competes at those speeds.

Indoor intensity

Triathletes and cyclists have also discovered the value of high-intensity workouts through indoor triathlons and computraining. Runners can get some of that from hard workouts on a treadmill, but there is no substitute for hard running on an indoor track.

So Nora has been joining other runners for high-intensity track work since the start of the year. This is another secret to the value of hard running or any other venture. Putting yourself in positions where you’re pushed beyond what you’d likely do on your own can be important to developing speed.

Chris Running intervals 3Understand there are limits to what you can expect when you begin the season. It does you no good to jump into a workout at a scale that is clearly beyond your present fitness level. All you’ll do is manage a few intervals and be slogging along after that. Same on the Computrainer. It’s important to get a realistic measure of your state of fitness before you go hammering into a high-intensity session you cannot sustain. Most indoor training facilities will conduct that test, which typically consists of a 20 minute, sustained push to determine where your limits are.

That’s why it was a relief of sorts to get test behind me on the bike, to establish at what point of effort a high-intensity weekly workout should begin.

Personal knowledge

In running, I know these limits innately. 40 years of running experience helps me identify where I am on the training ledger. That said, my training philosophy has maintained the practice of doing weekly sessions of high-intensity running in all seasons. Winter, spring, summer and fall, I go to the track for hard intervals.

There’s a performance-oriented reason for that. For one thing; high-intensity workouts have been shown to be key for athletes as they age. I always envision it as a “stretching of the heart.” Raising the heart rate beyond typical training range is key to stressing the body in a positive way.

Chris running Intervals 2.pngThere’s also another form of stretching that goes on. There is no substitute for the longer, harder stride lengths you get from speed. Because how can you possibly expect to race fast if you don’t train fast? It’s illogical.

In my peak years, February races were a measure of fitness and anticipation. The year that I ran all my road PRs, including 19:50 for four miles and a 31:00 10k, I ran an indoor two-mile in February at 9:30. I knew that’s where I needed to be.

That’s why I still train on the track these days, but at around 6:00 per mile pace rather than the sub-5:00 I used to do.

My racing pace is closer to 7:00 for a 10K, but that’s the point. High-intensity workouts are designed to make that pace feel easier. In fact, even if you are an Ironman competitor scheduled to do a marathon, it is clearly possible (and possibly preferable) to prepare for that distance using a combination of high-intensity strength training, running and intelligent base mileage rather than plugging away with multiple super-long runs. Risks of injury are too great. Yes, it’s likely fine to do a 20-miler at some point along the way. But then I believe it’s possible to back off to 10-15 milers in the weeks before the event. This guy claims to have it down to a science.

High-intensity training has enabled me to improve performance in duathlons and now triathlons. Coming off the bike the first few times I tried a duathlon, the sensation of the “brick” was daunting. But actually, it’s just running with tired legs. Nothing more. So I do track workouts that mimic that experience. Hence, the ladder workout I did this morning. Adding speed as you progress through the workout simulates the fatigue you feel coming off the bike. My per-mile pace in duathlons and tris has dropped from 8:30s to the low-7:00s. Bricks are okay, but they don’t actually teach you to race with tired legs as well as high-intensity workouts can.

Variety helps

Here’s your other secret to successful high-intensity workouts. Variety can help. And why? Because high-intensity work requires intense concentration. It can be very easy, if you are not accustomed to doing fast workouts, to slack off when the intervals add up. That is why variety can help you concentrate. When you’re not running the same interval over and over, you have to focus more on what your pace should be for that specific interval. That’s what Nora was doing this morning. A set of 4-6 ladder segments consisting of 200s, 400s and 800s. That will keep you honest.

CHRIS Running Intervals 1.pngPersonally, I’ve been able to drop my 10k times by 2:00 over the last two years by keeping up the intensity even when my weekly mileage has never topped 25 miles. Last year I ran 42:00 and I honestly am thinking about a 40:00 10k this fall.

Beyond that, I simply don’t care that much to get any better. The amount of effort and time it might take to run 38:00 at my age is not worth it. I’ve already run much faster than that in life, at a time when I was much, much younger. Having fun and having a challenge is enough. The joys of training hard are enough reward for me, and high-intensity workouts make life interesting. They also keep one’s mind sharp to disciplined thinking. That transfers to other pursuits as well.

March is a great time to begin adding track workouts to your mix. As the snow melts away, look for days when the wind isn’t fierce and get out there for a few 800 repeats. And throw in some shorter intervals just to stretch the legs. It’s a great return on investment.

TRAIN HARD.

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10 great excuses for eating chocolate

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Christopher Cudworth

I love chocolate. Chocolate I love. Dark chocolate mostly. 50%. 70%. Any more cacao extracts than that, and chocolate becomes coffee. I does not love coffee. Me loves chocolate.

Here, are 10 excuses for eating chocolate. CHOCOLATE!!!!

Chocolate

  1. Chocolate may help you think better. It’s true. Or so says the Internets. In any case, eating chocolate makes a happy tongue, and tummy. And we all know the brain and tongue and tummy all have frequent conversations.
  2. Chocolate may make you happiers. It’s also true. There are chemicals in chocolate (the dark kind mostly) that release little happy creatures in your brain and your body. This is a good thing. Eat chocolate. Be happy.
  3. Chocolate can help your heart. So says the Cleveland Clinic. All because of fun food words like flavonoids. “Flavonoids help protect plants from environmental toxins and help repair damage. They can be found in a variety of foods, such as fruits and vegetables. When we eat foods rich in flavonoids, it appears that we also benefit from this “antioxidant” power.” Chocolate is rich in flavonoids. Eat chocolate=Happy heart.
  4. Chocolate can indicate whether you are really depressed or not. That’s a deduction made from reading this article, and not a prescription.”First, depression could stimulate chocolate cravings as ‘self-treatment,’” the article says, “if chocolate confers mood benefits, as has been suggested in recent studies of rats…” Which means the right thing to do is say “Well rats, I’m depressed. Guess I better get me some chocolate.”
  5. Chocolate in milk can genuinely be “Your After.” As legend goes, a few years back a bunch of kid athletes involved in a performance experiment were sneaking chocolate milk on the side. This anomaly surprised physiologists who studied the beneficial effects of chocolate milk and a giant chocolatey advertising campaign was born. However washing real chocolate down with actual milk may suppress antioxidants (see next good reason…) and thus the contradictions in dietary advice always ruin things. That is better known as the Chocolate “Before and After.”
  6. Chocolate is an anti-aging drug. There are antioxidants in dark chocolate along with flavonoids. While not the fountain of youth we’ve all been seeking (it won’t stop age spots or wrinkles) it helps your body to have antioxidants because they fight a nasty little effect call free radicals. Which is not a political statement of any kind.
  7. Dark chocolate can lower your blood pressure. That’s because the right kind of chocolate is simply bad ass. Don’t ask questions. It works.
  8. Dark chocolate can lower your cholesterol. It also eats up that sticky crap called LDL, the bad cholesterol in your circulatory system. Yay chocolate!
  9. Oh My God! We almost forgot endorphins! Chocolate releases into your brain and body a wealth of happy hormoney things called endorphins that give you an elevated mood.
  10. Chocolate comes in many forms, generally good. It is almost never boring, will not steal your place in line at the pharmacy and will not vote for Donald Trump. That makes it a better person than about 50% of the population in this world. Eat chocolate. Make peace. And run, ride and swim to your heart’s content. Chocolate will go along for the ride quite easily.

LOVE LIFE.

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A bathroom break with God

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Christopher Cudworth

Last Saturday was a relatively warm day to run here in Illinois. Late February has turned out to be mild and relatively windless. Perfect conditions for a nine-mile run.

As Sue and I trekked toward the start of the river path in Naperville, both of us felt the urgent need to find a bathroom. The service station where we often stop was still two miles down the road. I noticed a church across the street from the trail and told her, “I’m going there! You too?”

So we jogged across the lawn to a Methodist church that was apparently holding a Northern Illinois Conference for the faith. We were respectfully greeted at the door and allowed to use their bathrooms. We thanked them quietly on the way out but it was really no big deal.

Except to us, it was.

And what if the church had turned us away? That would be an interesting moment, would it not? A year ago I attempted to use the bathroom at the local Red Cross offices near a running trail in St. Charles. “We’re sorry,” the gal at the front desk insisted. “We don’t have any public restrooms.”

Backgrounds

Okay, I get that. Not every facility is equipped to serve the public.

But it got me thinking about the public and private personas of certain organizations. That made me wonder whether Sue and I would have been comfortable approaching a mosque to use the restroom. Or a synagogue? Outside our respective faith backgrounds and traditions, people are not always comfortable. Something as simple as using a facility to go to the bathroom seems like an odd imposition.

Which is where our society has gotten so screwed up. The basics of humanity and need are lost by the imposition of fear or prejudice against people of different faith traditions than our own. This has been going on for thousands of years. The Crusades and the Inquisition and even World War II have shreds of ideology woven through the motivations to kill people who either do not abide by our faith or are somehow “different.”

But here’s the deal. The service station where we normally stop to go to the bathroom (and thankful for that) is run by an East Indian fellow. So are most of his employees. They could not be nicer people, welcoming us to their well-kept facility.

It’s basic goodwill. Yet there are plenty of people who figure the better way to run a business is to allow only paying customers in the door. That’s a “right,” we must suppose. Private businesses and even churches, mosques and synagogues have a right to ban whomever they wish.

Concealed intentions

chicago no guns signI’ve noticed there are plenty of organizations that put signs banning handguns on their doors. Many of them also have No Smoking signs. It makes sense. Both guns and cigarettes are known to kill.

The signs are necessary because the Concealed Carry craze that swept the country under the auspices of Justice Antonin Scalia and his ilk were effectively an imposition of sorts on millions of businesses and organizations across the land. And while we have people publicly protesting that the are forced to make wedding cakes for gay couples, which is “against their religion,” it is also true that laws were passed allowing people to carry deadly weapons in public places as if they were a set of harmless car keys.

And which has the more potentially deadly impact on society; a loving gay couple asking for a wedding cake or a person carrying a gun that believes they know justice better than the person next to them in line?

For these reasons, there’s been little apparent resistance on the part of gun owners to argue with the No Gun signs. Surely it is not appreciated. From their perspective, it might seem like their right to keep and bear arms is being infringed.

Signs of the times

And yet, businesses and organizations have stuck to their guns, as it were, and been intolerant of Concealed Carry weapons.

There were no such signs posted on the Methodist Church where we stopped for a bathroom break. But if we had been carrying weapons, how would that have made those church members feel if they knew? Which is the worse affront, asking to use the bathroom or packing a weapon on your hip as you enter a religious facility?

Why anyone would ever need a gun to enter a church is the real question. Oh yeah, forgot. “Gun Free Zones” are considered dangerous by those who choose to carry weapons around in public.

But of course, there is no more insidiously ironic a term than “gun free zones.” That insinuates guns were themselves a part of God’s creation. They are not. They are the creation of the human race and were invented for the purpose of killing. That’s it. Those are the Concealed Intentions of all guns in the universe.

And get this: There are now more guns in America than there are people. It’s a sign of the times that weapons now outnumber the human population. But guns don’t kill people, people kill people? Sorry, we’re outnumbered.

Godless value systems

This entire value system based on guns as a defense is a breach of religious trust. Either you believe in the protection and providence of God, or you do not. It’s true with any religion. You either turn the other cheek as Jesus said, or proceed with peaceful protest. We have the recent Oregon Militia fiasco to illustrate the difference. Armed and angry, their efforts led to a death and a violent stalemate.

That stalemate is at large in the world as well. Are women supposed to have to carry a gun with them when they go for a run? Just to be safe in this world? Is that the world in which we want to live?

Okay. There have been black churches in the South where parishioners have armed themselves to the teeth. That’s because black churches that have been directly threatened by white supremacists. That’s different. Under racial oppression and with violent acts and bombings being carried out, those people have genuine reasons to be concerned.

Yet a white shooter still sat through a Bible class and then opened fire on the very people with whom he had just read scripture. His motivations for hate surpassed any conventional notions of human respect. HIs concealed intentions wrought death.

Law-abiding until they’re not

The argument from gun owners is that these are aberrations. Law-abiding gun owners have no such motivations. Until they do. And take note: the exceptions to the “law-abiding” rule are many. Another mass shooting just occurred. And America does nothing about it.

weapons1One truly wonders what God, if asked, would say about all this? Well, truth be told, there does seem to be considerable support in early scripture for violence and acts of genocide. These were ostensibly conducted with God’s full direction and approval.

Entire races of people were wiped out. Women and children were eviscerated and killed. People were taken as slaves. And the stories in the Bible seemingly approve. It didn’t even take guns to do that. People in the Judeo-Christian tradition followed the laws of God to kill. But does that make it right?

There is much concern these days over depictions of the Muslim faith as a “violent religion.” When taken literally or interpreted as such, passages of the Quran can be turned into a form of murderous screed. That’s how terrorists from a religious standpoint justify beheadings, killing and explosions in the name of Allah.

But be honest:  Christianity and Judaism are historically no better. Today’s nation of Israel is engaged in terrorist acts against Palestine, displacing families and taking over territory in acts of aggression. In retaliation, their opposition lobs missiles into Tel Aviv and promises to wipe Israel off the map.

The basics

And yet, it could all be reduced with basic human understanding and kindness. It’s been proven by history that former enemies can become friends. Japan and the United States. Germany and Britain. The examples of violent attitudes turned into peaceful partnerships are many. Yet any attempt by President Barack Obama to open ties with Iran were met by visceral calls to bomb the nation instead. And what exactly would that accomplish?

Obama has adopted a form of Concealed Carry instead to fight terrorism. His drone strikes are a “defensive” measure against terrorism. But even these cause collateral damage. That’s what all attempts at concealing violence do.

soviet-flag_00321565Such is the case with all conflicts. They are always contextual, yet never eternal. The so-called Cold War was a collision of concealed intentions between the former Soviet Union the United States. Yet along came the call for an open society in the former Soviet Union and the communist threat dissipated. So will the conflicts over religion if the human race just slows down and takes stock of what’s really going on.

So will the conflicts over religion if the human race just slows down and takes stock of what’s really going on. Starting wars is no solution. Granted, finishing them sometimes is. World War II and the American Civil War are both illustrations of that fact. That’s why you have a military or own a gun. That’s what the Second Amendment really means.”A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

I’m not against gun ownership. I’m against the mentality and patent claims they are a solution to modern problems. They are not.

Fear and conflict

It really is that basic. It is fear that drives conflict and lack of knowledge or understanding that leads to fear.

800px-Nation_of_Islam_flag.svgIt really is that basic. The idea that it should be a problem to approach a mosque or a synagogue and ask to use the bathroom is the problem. We’re all guilty of that in our respective fears of other humanity. Fear and ignorance is the problem. Would you ask to enter a black church to use the bathroom? Why in fact are there black or Mexican or Korean or Greek Orthodox churches at all?

Fortunately, there is a tool for understanding out there in the world. These sports we do; running, riding and swimming, are the great equalizers. Visit any race and you’ll see people of all backgrounds participating. They all share the same Porta-Potties. All people do the same things, in other words. It’s that basic. We eat. We fuck. We shit.

Social conflict and laws

Perhaps that tells us we have it all backward. These social conflicts are so often about who is superior and what makes us better than the other person. Jesus had a few things to say about that attitude. Leaders of the faith at the time questioned Jesus and his disciples about their habits relative to tradition.

Matthew 15:

jesus-teaching-in-temple“15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

To which Jesus replied:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”

10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

And of course, those faith leaders, arch with self-importance, blamed Jesus for breaking rules and not showing suitable fear for their authority.

13 (Jesus) He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides.[d] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

And that is today’s lesson. Traditions and laws and fear-based authority are common in this world. But you are blessed with a better form of understanding if you pay attention. That is the great equalizer of love and forgiveness. It has always been revolutionary and always will.

You don’t need those things people claim you need to be safe or loved in this world. All you need is love.

SEEK JUSTICE • LOVE LIFE

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The memory that rides along with you

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Christopher Cudworth

Fat Tire MeMountain biking is a wonderful thing to do on a late Sunday afternoon in February when the skies are gray and the temperatures nuzzle into the 40s. That’s what found me pedaling north through the tri-cities of Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles.

I’ve lived in all three of these communities. First in St. Charles, where I attended high school. Then Geneva, where our family lived for 11 years while the children were young. And finally in Batavia, where I now live, and have done so for the last 18 years.

At the northern apex, I cycled past the school where my mother taught for 20 years. It sits on one of the highest points in the area. The neighborhood street passes the side of the building where her classroom once was. Many years I’d visited that classroom to talk about art or nature or birds to her children.  She taught second and third grade, and my mother loved reading and writing. She loved teaching those things to her children. The year she died she printed out books of her poetry to give to all her sons. That was her gift. A love of writing. They were her memories wrapped in poems.

She was also a swimmer. This interest she evolved late in life. She would swim three days a week at the Norris Recreation Center where recently I’ve gone for a few lessons with a teacher named Whitney. And while it’s not literally the same water that my mother once swam in, the sensation of swimming is now a shared bond with her. She passed away in 2005, but I clearly recall her stories of “having a good swim.” I can imagine her loving the feel of the water, it’s ultimate liberation from the weight of life. She liked that.

CyclingI also pedaled past the old high school in St. Charles where our family moved in 1973 from a town 15 miles to the west. The adjustment to a new school was both fun and strange. And that fall in cross country I ran against my old teammates.

Some people from that former school thought I’d moved on purpose, to run for a coach that had recruited me, who was also a graduate from that former school. But there was none of that. I wasn’t that good. Just the best kid in a modest new high school with a will to run to the best of my ability. It actually turned out that my father moved our family because he did not want my younger brother, who turned out to be a star basketball player, to be stuck with a coach who insisted on an ugly, slow-down offense. That was how much my father hated a lack of beauty in sports.  “I knew you were a social kid,” my father told me years later. “I knew you’d adapt.” And he was right. About a lot of things.

The friendships earned through that move to a new school are still alive today. I pedaled right past the house of a teammate with whom I ran in high school, attended college together and even lived in the same apartment in the city. For 40 years we’ve trained and partied and experienced life together. We’ve shared experiences even we don’t talk about. It’s a pact. And that’s the way it should be.

Then I rolled past the house of the girlfriend from my senior year in high school. Many summer nights we sat in her driveway in my father’s Buick Wildcat. We made out and steamed up the windows with midnight dew. It was innocent and luscious stuff, and truth be told, I did not really know how to go much farther than that. And that was a grace of sorts, I’ve realized. She moved on to a more intense boyfriend that year and our paths did not cross again until a late summer night a week before I headed off to college. I was drunk and so was she. We collided like stars in the night, she in her white jeans and loose black top. Me in my callow desire.

Crack Between the WorldsThen I went swimming with friends in the black water quarry below her house and realized with a shock that the world did not care if I lived or died. I could sink into the water and be lost to eternity. The newspapers would mark the death as the stupid antics of a drunk teenager. So I swam to shore and climbed out like a pale white crab on a rocky beach. Alive, at least.

That quarry is now surrounded by pricey townhomes. There are changes like that through the tri-cities. And yet, the character of the place has not essentially changed. The memories blow like wind through my mind every time I run or ride. Thousands of training miles logged on these streets. Preparation for countless races. Coping with life’s vagaries.

EaglesPedaling along the Fox River, I noticed a string of cars parked near a river island. In the trees were groups of Bald eagles. These were once extinct in the Fox Valley. Only through the banning of DDT and water quality laws has it been possible for these birds to make a comeback in our river valley.That gave me the feeling that the many years of writing about the environment have not been wasted.

And yet, there are always new challenges ahead. It makes you wonder why the world never learns. It’s always the same stubborn, selfish forces at work destroying creation and causing extinction of species and of hope. So I will keep fighting. And call those bastards to account. They know who they are, but arrogantly deny their policies and purposes have any such effect. But they are godless sinners despite claims that their business and methods are the work of God.

It is hard to forgive such ugliness. But then I roll past the track where in a fit of rage years ago I’d retreated to gather my wits over a wrongful situation at work. While lying there on the high school pole vault pit, I took off my glasses and began to cry. At that moment, a voice popped into my head and said, “Forgiveness.” To me, that was the voice of God reaching out in the night. One must learn to forgive. The world. And yourself. And then do something constructive to fix the problem. That is my life’s philosophy.

And indeed, through all these years and all these miles, there has been an explicable* force at work in life. As imperfect as I am, and as desperate as life has felt in some moments with emotional crises that come up no matter who you are, there is a memory in the moment of each of those experiences that rolls up beside you when you need it. We need only to pay attention. That is the voice of God, as far as we can know it. And we should listen. And learn.

LOVE LIFE

*Explicable: able to be accounted for or understood:

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Give me some words I can dance to, or a melody that rhymes

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Christopher Cudworth

Snow BearI’ve always thought it something of a blessing to be moody. One spring day in the mid- 80s, as I headed out for a long run, I found myself quietly singing the words to The Pretender by Jackson Browne. I know them by heart, and their passionate call to consider the meaning of life, and work, and love.

“Caught between the longing for love, and the struggle for the legal tender…”

That mood of consideration lasted all 20 miles of that run. I sang the song over and over. I can still feel the depth of that voice in my head as I made a long, slow climb on a far country road. I was not in a funk, just a deep consideration of what I (and it) was all about.

I’m still figuring that out.

Stifling Complaint

Sometimes that mood of considerate angst goes even deeper. And when it slinks up behind you before or during a hard or long workout, the temptation to complain about your circumstance can be great.

Over the years, I’ve learned to shut that complaining voice down. The sage advice from a roommate, “Cud, you just need to shut up and run,” has stuck with me lo these many years.

However, that means proceeding in silence, and sometimes people don’t understand that. So it’s even worse in some ways, to shut down the dialogue because it seems anti-social. I’ll admit that much. There’s nothing like a sullen downer in your presence to ruin a workout, or a life. That was the case the other night at Computrain. I got there late because of a late business call and a pair of forgotten bike shoes. Felt bad coming in when everyone was already rolling. And the February Blues were vexing me sorely. So I shut up and rode. It wasn’t pretty. So I apologize for that. To the world.

But I did ride well. And hit my numbers. So there’s a blessing to moodiness. You see? In some ways, it helps the concentration.

Lyrics to The Pretender

False pretexts

I also think it’s absurd to be expected to be all happy-laughy all the time.This has long been a theme of mine with a pair of workout buddies with whom I go way back. If you think there’s a way to fix what’s wrong during a workout, like actually working together while cycling in a windstorm rather than slogging on alone, then it’s a case for serious discussion. And it doesn’t hurt to even discuss the goal of a ride before you go out. But to go out and negotiate that by false pretexts, well that sucks. I know that cycling prides itself on the machismo side of things, but that doesn’t mean you can’t discuss the desired pace of the day to some degree.

And by contrast, if you’re having a bad day and would rather be left alone for a time, so long as you can communicate that you’re fine and will make it home, none’s the harm.

Seinfeld_s7e22But it’s often too late to apologize if you cut across the grain the wrong way. Which sucks because the whole reason we’re doing all this endurance stuff in the first place, if truth be told, is to work off the absurdities of life. Hours behind a desk. Cramped behind a steering wheel. Stuck in a work situation. A marriage. Whatever. Problems like these when seen from 30,000 feet never amount to much. But up close, these situations? They make us sad, or angry, or afraid. It’s absurd, isn’t it? We should all have to take a jet to work, I guess. So that we can see all the ants driving around in their little ant cars.

Wrong again

Yet I’ll still apologize here to anyone that I’ve offended over the years. Honestly, I’ve always had my rational reasons, questions about why or how the workout was composed, collaborative or technical issues that could be solved. Moodiness is never the right tool to handle those situations. Going way back to high school and through college, I can recall moments when in training or in competition I’ve wronged people in one way or the other. I still do it today. It doesn’t help or matter that I have my reasons, or anyone else. There is a right way and a wrong way to handle things.

Of course I’m not alone. These lyrics from Paul Simon are a confession of sorts on his own behalf.

Wrong again. Wrong again. Maybe I’m wrong again.  I remember once in August 1993, I was wrong, and I could be wrong again. I remember one of my best friends turned enemy. So, I was wrong, and I could be wrong again. I remember once in a load-out, down in Birmingham. Yeah, but that didn’t feel like love. Sure don’t feel like, sure don’t feel like, sure don’t feel like love.

paulsimon130611w.jpgThe singer is known to be a bit prickly at times. Perhaps it’s the inevitable product of creative forces within his head. Creative people see both the absurdities and realities in life. This dichotomy throws you right back in the center, where justice of one kind or another resides. Sometimes you can be totally right about a situation, and be deemed wrong because it does not fit the social situation at a moment. You are judged by that nonetheless.

Divides and conquerors

There’s a trait called Emotional Intelligence that gets a lot of play on sites like LinkedIn. In business, it counts greatly to get along with others. That’s pretty much the reason why most people succeed. That and a bit of knowledge takes you a long way.

cud-racingIt’s no different out there on the road, or sharing a lane in a pool. There is etiquette to follow. When roadies ride with triathletes, they cannot stand the manner in which the multisport people ride. It feels like chaos, all twitchy and self-absorbed. Their tri-bikes are low slung and designed for one thing, hunching down and riding along, alone.

This somewhat bitter fact is built into the sport.But for that reason, tri-bikes are not welcome among serious groups of road riders.

And yes, multisport athletes often ride in groups. At the start, anyway. Then quite often the ride breaks into smaller groups of ones, twos and threes. It’s just the way the sport works. Because most multisport riders evolve riding that way, there’s no real knowledge of how to ride any different. But it feels so wrong to any roadie accustomed to riding in pace lines and building speed through group effort.

There used to this same kind of divide between track runners and road racers in running. You simply did not race on the road until your track career was pretty much over. That’s not the case anymore, so the perception these days seems absurd. But it once existed. It took a decade or so for the stigmas of moving from one sport to the other break down. Runners like Frank Shorter had a lot to do with that.

Going bananas

bananas_clip_image002_8066We’re all susceptible to these seemingly passive perceptions that have some basis in reality. When another person doesn’t get what’s bugging us, it can be hard to describe what the problem really is.

One could argue that the United States is susceptible to this syndrome in the world. We’re still a young country by any measure. Yet we can’t imagine why other nations don’t love us for everything we do in the world. There’s a phrase to justify this attitude. It’s called American Exceptionalism, and it’s based on the idea that no matter what it does, America is always in the right.

But we all know that no one is always in the right. America may be a great place to live, but it’s also filled with a giant population of nutsacks with confused ideas of liberty and religion, whose ideas about deep subjects are ill-gotten, and secondhand. That all flows into our politics, and like a bunch of moody bastards and bitches, the nation is creeping again into its partisan quarters. The New Civil War is in full swing here, and there are no real Abraham Lincoln characters in sight. Just Donald Trump, who might as well be Donald Duck, for all the intellectual weight he represents.

Which is why it made me smile to be greeted during a recent painting session with the lyrics to the Jimmy Buffett song Banana Republics. He sings about people (especially Americans) who are out of sorts with the world. It’s an apparently common affliction, which is why there seem to be so many Parrotheads.

Some of them go for the sailing
Brought by the lure of the sea
Tryin’ to find what is ailing
Living in the land of the free

All of life is a search for meaning of one kind or another. But sometimes you run into a bulwark with your small boat (don’t take this literally, by the way…) and are left sitting there wondering, “How the hell did that happen? What was I thinking?”

The answer is simple: “You weren’t.”

Which is when it’s best to drop the oars, laugh a little and sing these lyrics out loud…

“Give me some words I can dance to, or a melody that rhymes…”

I guarantee you’ll feel better. It’s always worked for me. Sooner or later.

SHOW RESPECT.

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