Sometimes we all need a good swift kick in the…

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Christopher Cudworth

By Christopher Cudworth

BootOn my way out of the health club this morning, there appeared on the driveway a lonely boot, right side up on the asphalt, looking a little lost and a bit forlorn.

Down the street and around the corner I noticed its partner. It was going to be a long day for someone in the trades, it looked like. Working all day in your sneakers is not the best thing to do in a winter this cold and rugged.

I empathized with whatever dude left his boots on the top of his truck and drove away. And yes, I’m being cliche about this. The boots were big enough and broken down in such a way that they gave away the fact that the guy who wore them was likely, big, rugged and forgetful.

We’re all forgetful at times. At least those of us who are human. I left my first new pair of swim goggles hanging on the shower knob the first week of my swimming workouts. They were nice goggles too. Paid $24 for them at Dick’s. They fit well and didn’t fog up, which I’m learning is not true of every pair of swim goggles you buy.

So when I got home and realized I’d left them at the club I called up there and asked them to look for them. But too late. The next day I asked at the desk to see if someone had turned them in. No go there either.

Which raises the question: What kind of Club Creep keeps your swim goggles? Wouldn’t you turn them in at the desk if you found them? I certainly would. So some joker is swimming now in my goggles, which is wrong.

I once worked out at a club where a Major League Soccer Player from the Chicago Fire did his workouts. One day he left a pair of really nice soccer shorts behind in the locker room, which was used by very few people because the club was mostly used for rehab clients and wasn’t so much used for the general public.

I thought for a moment about keeping those shorts. They were really nice material and I was playing a lot of indoor soccer at the time. Having an authentic pair of Chicago Fire uniform shorts might have been sweet.

But then I thought about that player, and what a nice guy he was, because I’d met him several times and had seen him play. He was a class act. I thought about the fact that even pro athletes value their stuff. For all I knew those were his “magic shorts” that were helping him get back into shape after an injury.

Plus I value honesty. So I kicked thoughts about keeping the shorts out of my head and took the shorts up to the front desk, where they thanked me. Because everyone liked that player. And that made me felt better about myself the rest of the day. Besides, had I kept them, karma would surely have paid me back.

Loves and losses

Over the years I’ve had my own share of equipment stolen. A pair of blue suede adidas shoes I cherished got stolen from a track meet back in high school. Then after college a nice Frank Shorter training jacket got stolen from my car in Minneapolis.

In every case however, you could argue that my own negligence contributed to the thefts. To avoid theft in this world you have to be diligent. Not everyone has scruples. Some see stealing as the real game in life.

Sometimes we make it too easy for thieves to act. We leave our valuables unlocked in a locker, or we leave our swim goggles hanging on a shower handle. Stupid me. I deserved that.

Kicking your own ass

treadwaterIn a way you have to kick your own ass in those circumstances. Either learn from your mistakes or you lose stuff all the time.

Get organized. Establish a routine. Don’t leave valuable stuff where it can get stolen.

Because in the long run, we have to kick our own asses in other ways as well. If you’re not diligent with your stuff and are sloppy in your routine, it will sooner or later show up in your workout or racing plans. When you forget equipment for a workout, like leaving your cycling shoes at home when you drive to the start of a distant group ride, there’s no turning back and no real solution. You’ll be very lucky if someone has shoes and cleats that fit your feet and your bike, right?

And if you lock your racing shoes in your car just before the start, as a friend once did, it can be tough to get them out on time.

That’s why that boot on the road reminded me so much of myself. I’ve done stupid stuff like that. I once neglected to lock down the Thule car carrier on my car and it flew open. My clothes wound up strewn all over the road for half a mile behind our car. People passing me by in the other lane pointed and laughed as I walked along picking up underwear and running shorts. I deserved their scorn.

We all need a good swift kick in the arse sometimes. You either give it to yourself in private or someone administers one in public. Take your choice. The former is less embarrassing. The latter hurts a lot.

So give yourself the boot when it counts. You’ll appreciate it down the road whenever you run or ride.

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To Answer the Growl or not, that is the question

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Christopher Cudworth

By Christopher Cudworth

Answer the GrowlThree miles into a nine-mile Saturday morning run, my companion announced it was time for a bathroom break. Fortunately she knew there was a Mobil station along the trail. We’ve had a number of such lucky strokes the past few months. We definitely don’t take them for granted.

While she did her business I stood in the front of the convenience store grateful also for a few minutes of warmth. Temps outside were 10 degrees and light snow was beginning to fall. It was actually a gorgeous day for running.

When you come inside from the clean, pure world of running outside to the necessarily overheated front portion of a junk food store, the senses can get a bit confused. The air feels warm, yet stale. It’s hard to stand still. Sweat forms on your body and you wonder what it will feel like to head back outside.

Shifting from foot to foot I noticed a sign below the tall stack of snack foods forming a wall at the front of the store.

“ANSWER THE GROWL,” it read.

ChipsI’m always hungry, yet at that moment nothing on the rack looked all that appetizing. Fast food is false food, and not what you normally crave during a 1.5 hour workout. Only the nuts were technically edible. Oversalted of course. Possibly laced with preservative or sugar. Plus you pay $7.99 for about 3 ounces of product these days. Nuts are no bargain.

Distanced from the desire for all that junk food by my perspective as an endurance athlete, none of that junk food caused any real appetite. Needless to say, I did not ANSWER THE GROWL.

Isn’t it interesting the difference in appetite and attitude when you’re immersed in what you love to do versus those moments of weakness when you wander into a junk food store during your commute or between appointments?

The person you are when you’re in the middle of a workout is not the same person you are when you’re wandering around hungry and susceptible to the marketing call to ANSWER THE GROWL and eat things that are not good for you.

The watershed is clear. The things that may taste good and satisfy your cravings are often not foods or drinks the support improved performance.

You need to objectify the process. That’s why it was so interesting to see my ownSurveillance image on a surveillance monitor in that store. The person staring back at me was a runner, not a junk food customer.

It’s one of the tarsnakes of a fitness lifestyle. We like to workout so that we can eat what we like. But if we want to work out well, it matters what type of food s we put into our bodies.

We need to be our own surveillance. Our self-image may need to be objective to the point where we can see the runner or the rider or the swimmer in all situations. And when you’re tempted to ANSWER THE GROWL the athlete in you can put a cuff on your wrists and say, “YOU’RE BUSTED. NO JUNK FOOD FOR YOU!”

The only growl you should answer is the growl in your stomach after a workout, and you should be growling for good stuff, not bad stuff.

Of course it’s even tougher for cyclists. When you’re in the middle of an 80-mile ride and the group stops to fuel up, that $20 bill can load up on a ton of junk rather than buying the right kind  of food. The Growl can be your enemy over the long haul, after all.

Again, start to see yourself as an athlete at all times, especially when you’re in the middle of a workout. The sooner you start to do that, the faster you’ll feel the kind of fitness that makes you look good, even in the surveillance camera. Or especially so. WeRunandRideLogo

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Training journals and success: How planning and chronicling your workouts makes you a better athlete

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Christopher Cudworth

By Christopher Cudworth

Click pic to enlarge. An outtake from my training journal leading into senior year at Luther College. I met the stated goals because I envisioned them first. Even the social components are important in the life of an athlete.

Click pic to enlarge. An outtake from my training journal leading into senior year at Luther College. I met the stated goals because I envisioned them first. Even the social components are important in the life of an athlete.

In ramping up for any athletic competition, planning and preparation are key. But so is recording how training leads to success.

These days with a host of digital options to record your workouts, the handwritten training journal might not be as popular or necessary as it once was. But I encourage you to consider it. There is something about seeing your workouts written in your own hand that makes it all so real, and so memorable. Even the social comments are an important part of the mix.

A training journal plays a number of roles in the life of an athlete. Even if you are being coached, the process of recording your workouts fixes them in your mind. You write it down, then you make it happen. There’s a certain control that comes from that. In endurance sports where control is not always possible, that bit of assurance can be quite valuable.

The reasons for successful training and racing are not always evident when you’re living the experience. Step back a few months or years and you can see the patterns for success emerge. Seeing your mileage patterns and times is excellent feedback on what you need to do to build endurance or speed.

Of course some of that feedback needs to be adjusted as the years add up. You’re not going to run the same workouts at 50 as you were able to do when you were 20. But you can do the same TYPES of workouts adjusted for pace and recovery. Many athletes are able to sustain high quality performance as they age because they learn how to manage their training efforts in context of their “body years.” Athletes in their 40s and 50s need to allow more time for rest and recovery than athletes in their 20s and 30.

Recording your workouts during rest periods is as important as those written down during peak efforts. Sure, it feels much more gratifying to write down “10K PR” than it does to write “6 miles easy. Felt sore.” But on any given day your efforts are relative.

My journal from 1978 records the anticipation felt at the start of the most important season of my career thus far. It reads: “This season we have 13 meets in 2 months and 1 week’s time.”

Already the foundations for success are being laid. “With over 2500 miles of training within a year’s time…350 miles this summer.” In truth I never trained too hard in the short period between the end of May and track nationals and the start of August when cross country training began. Usually the month of June was little more than soft jogging after 4 months of training for indoor and outdoor track.

July held a few longer runs in the heat. Then the ramp up began in August.

In this journal mileage jumps up quickly. I attended a college RA retreat at Bethel Horizons north of Governor Dodge State Park in Wisconsin. The hills and beauty were inspiring, and I shot from 33 miles to 80 in a fit of inspired running. Part of that mystique was that I’d fallen in love at first site with a green-eyed girl in the moonlight.

Love is good for runners. Having a record of it is precious.

That fall I’d move from 7th man to running in the top 3 most of the season. “My goal is to compete as 3rd man or above,” I wrote. “Track season indicated I am capable.” A journal helps you build confidence. Writing down your goals is key. It builds the commitment you need to endure the training.

“Staying healthy is the number one concern,” I wrote. “Stay fit comes second.”

YOU BEGIN TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF BY FINISHING WHAT YOU HAVE STARTED is what I wrote at the top of one journal page.

YOU BEGIN TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF BY FINISHING WHAT YOU HAVE STARTED is what I wrote at the top of one journal page.

I’d learned lessons the hard way, you see. The natural ups and downs you experience in endurance sports can put you at risk of colds or injuries. In fact that fall our entire team came up lame with sort achilles tendons from a speed workout on a cambered road. The whole season was at risk of coming apart 6 weeks into the competitive schedule. The Top 7 all took a trip to a doctor at the Mayo Clinic. This was before the age of good biomechanics understanding. But we all bought Brooks shoes with a camber to them and it worked. But my prediction about injuries was prescient.

Before the season I’d written. “13 meets. I can be ready for each one. This is my last cross country season. Eight years of getting ready. I can honestly say I’ve never been more prepared. Ready for once.”

That last statement was a loaded one. It shows the pressures I was willing (and needed) to put on myself. My first three seasons had produced mixed results in college. Freshman year I was All Conference in 9th place and competed at Nationals. Sophomore year was only slightly better. Junior year was a tragic attempt to work through depression brought on by a horrid summer job working in a paint factory where the fumes vexed my lungs and the verbal abuse was devastating. That season did not go well.

But the summer after that was revelatory. I cut off my long hair and got contact lenses. Had a little summer romance and put in some happy miles while working a no-brainer job as a janitor at a high rise. Circumstances really do make the man sometimes.

But the man also makes the circumstances. You need to remember that. A training journal is a great way to put your circumstances in perspective and to someday learn what it was that made you successful once before. So that you can be successful again.

It’s even more important for multi-sport athletes to keep a journal. As I’ve gravitated toward cycling the last 10 years, I wish I’d kept better records of my training. Because as a result of not doing so, my summer almost melted me a couple years ago when I overtrained. I wound up washed out and exhausted. Yet my response was to train even harder, putting in long miles on weekends and squeezing in quick hourlong rides during the week. I should have known that overtraining does nothing but kill your hopes.

Now that swimming is part of the mix, I’m picking up a training journal again. As I bent over the water the other day between 25 meter intervals, the method I’m using to build muscle strength in swimming, I could see the patterns of my breath on the bottom of the pool. The depth of that zen moment struck me. We’re all trying to reach deep within ourselves. It helps to record what’s happening on the surface, but also down to our very toes. A journal can help you do that. And remember. And learn. And succeed.

The discipline you learn from sports is transferable, of course. Keeping a journal for business purposes can be just as telling in terms of how you plan for success, and accomplish your goals.

We’re all running and riding through life in one way or another.

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Trying to get fired up for the 2012 SoLympics in Sochi

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Christopher Cudworth

So, the Winter Olympics just got started. In Sochi. Which is reportedly a mess. But the games will go on. And on.

luge_men_singles_slYes, I thrill to the danger of the luge. Wonder at the power of speed skaters. Cringe at the danger of downhill skiing. Lust for the endurance of cross-country skiers. Yawn at the theatrics of figure skating. Sorry, they’re talented, but they’re basically gymnasts on ice. I don’t like gymnastics.

ski_crosscountry_men_4x10kmrelay_slThere’s one thing I really do appreciate. The fitness and talent of the athletes and how they all got there. Training four years for the opportunity to compete, much less achieve Olympic glory with a medal is something we should all try to comprehend. Four years.

Of course these athletes compete during all those years. Same goes for the summer games. There are national and world championships to win.

Perhaps you’ve encountered a world class athlete now and then. They might show up at an all-comers meet, a road race or a triathlon in your hometown or at some race where you’re competing. That’s when you see the real difference in these people who excel at the sports we choose, and those we do not.

A really talented runner sticks out with their efficiency and form. A great rider moves off the front with ease, or controls the race from behind. Great swimmers seem to launch through the water.

Oh, wait. That's not Shaun White. That's, that's Syndrome from The Incredibles. To some people, same difference.

Oh, wait. That’s not Shaun White. That’s, that’s Syndrome from The Incredibles. To some people, same difference.

So the least we can do in appreciating the athletes in Sochi is to try to grasp the tremendous skill it takes to snowboard like that. I keep thinking about the fact that Shaun White must be in really terrific shape to do what he does in the air. Can you imagine the core strength? The leg muscles? They should show that on TV. Film him half naked and in slow motion to illustrate the athleticism of that sport, instead of just the theatrics and showboating. These are athletes, not circus clowns. Sometimes the Olympics fail to help us grasp that fact.

I have run with Olympians. I have ridden my bike with an athlete who won Paralympic

I raced for two mlles of a 5-mile race with Alberto Salazar. Then he dumped me on the way to victory. But I tried.

I raced for two mlles of a 5-mile race with Alberto Salazar. Then he dumped me on the way to victory. But I tried.

cycling events the last time around. He has only one arm and handles his bike far better than his multi-armed fellow racers. His athleticism is not diminished by his lack of an arm. It is accentuated.

So let’s all do ourselves a favor and not let the Sochi Winter Olympics turn into the SoLympics, where we watch with jaded eyes as if the screen were a cotton candy maker.

These are not cotton candy athletes. Their performances may be sweet, but there is substance there we all need to grasp. Years of weight work for the skiers. Focused endurance and sprint training in preparation for a push of the bobsled. Thousands of miles of wheeled cross country ski training to be prepared when winter comes.

These people are doing much of the same stuff as you or I. Only better. Much, much better.

If only Russia respected that fact enough to be ready to host these games. Because that might turn out to be the story of the SoLympics. How Russia was not fit to be a host.

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Everything that happens in cycling in 30 seconds

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Christopher Cudworth

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A few things off the top of my head about running, riding and swimming

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Christopher Cudworth

By Christopher Cudworth

A bald head can be a benefit, you know.

A bald head can be a benefit, you know.

I knew at a relatively early age that I would someday be going bald. Family history assured me of that. 

Armed with that information, it is not nearly so traumatic to lose your hair. In fact you never really slow down to worry about it. Not if you have the least bit of a mature mind. 

My head is not perfect. But it’s passable. Some days I see guys with perfectly shaved heads that look so good I’m a little envious. It’s kind of like skull porn. You wish your head had that sheen, that shine, that macho gleam that says, “Look at me. My head rocks.” 

Benefits of baldness

Yet lacking that perfection, there are plenty of benefits to being bald beyond looking like a total mannikin man type. 

For one thing, you never have bad hair days. Take off your bike helmet and there’s no flying hair looks going on. There may be a few creases in your skin, or  red lines running the length of your head from front to back. Those generally fade in minutes. Bad hair, it sticks up and sticks around till you can get to the shower and fix things. 

Having no hair on the top of my head the last few decades has made me wonder if having all that hair when I was younger actually slowed me down a bit. My hair was so thick that even when it was down to my shoulders it did not want to be pulled into a ponytail or anything like that. But I had so much

The long locks of Sanya Richards-Ross trail behind her in the sprints.

The long locks of Sanya Richards-Ross trail behind her in the sprints.

at some points that I wonder if the drag while running was significant. As documented in this Slate.com article on Sanya Richards-Ross, apparently there is some degree of resistance. 

I see photos of that steeplechaser Evan

Jager with his floppy hair and recall what

American Steeplechaser Evan Jager sports long locks too.

American Steeplechaser Evan Jager sports long locks too.

it felt like to run with a head of hair flying back from my head. Not sure I miss that at all. 

A slick bean in the pool

Certainly now that I’m learning to swim again, there are benefits to being bald, and beautiful. (I couldn’t resist.) No swim cap necessary. Drip dry skull. Goggles go on smooth and come off easy. 

Following workouts a bald head is low maintenance. With a full head of hair that used to freeze on the way from the gym to the college union after winter workouts, it was always a bit strange to reach back and feel like your hair was a creation on the order of Syndrome from The Incredibles movie. Frozen stiff. 

Sensory deprivations

There have been days when I wished the woman in my life could run her hands through my hair. That happened first when I was in 8th grade. The older sister of the girl I was liking at the time took a fascination with my hair and began running her fingers through it. I sat there aghast that her hot older sister was touching my hair. Would it make her jealous? Mad at me? 

In fact it was the opposite. Suddenly all the women sitting on the porch were focused on my hair. I had no freaking idea what to do but just sit there, flushed and a little afraidthat this group of cheerleaders was paying attention to me. Me, the skinny kid from up the hill. With hair. That someone liked. 

Women always seem to be playing with each other's hair.

Women always seem to be playing with each other’s hair.

Of course guys at that age do not recognize how tactile women really are. Women tend to appreciate things like hair on its own merit. I see young women touching and playing with the hair of their friends  all the time. Makes sense. It is a wonderful sensation to have someone play with your hair. You could probably do an entire scientific study on the subject, but funding for that might be hard to get these days. The Tea Party in America thinks the deficit is hairy enough without investing in such findings. 

Big hairy deals

What an athlete! Miley Cyrus got out of her underwear so quick they should make it an Olympic sport.

What an athlete! Miley Cyrus got out of her underwear so quick they should make it an Olympic sport.

But what if we found out that stroking each other’s hair made us smarter as a nation. Hair stroking could result in a competitive advantage on the global scale, launching America back into thought leadership on all sorts of topics, such as why Bruce Jenner looks like he just saw a ghost and how Miley Cyrus got out of that underwear so quick in her video for Wrecking Ball. 

Jessica Alba sports some really nice hair. In some countries, that's enough to get you dragged off and beaten if you're a woman. If you're a man, however, hair is God's gift to manliness. Go figure.

Jessica Alba sports some really nice hair. In some countries, that’s enough to get you dragged off and beaten if you’re a woman. If you’re a man, however, hair is God’s gift to manliness. Go figure.

Oh, wait. We already lead the world in categories like that, which is why so many people love America.  We’re infinitely entertaining.

That is also why people with bombs and radically conservative worldviews want to blow us off the face of the map. In their eyes, we’re the hair on the globe that should be shaved off. In their eyes, it’s that simple. 

They did hurt us big time back on 9/11. Following the terrorist attacks America seized up like a spasmatic sphincter during a marathon on a hot day. We could barely hold our **** together. It has taken us a while to get back on track. 

Hairy Deficits

Did you know that the American deficit is shrinking? The bald truth is that despite claims by the rather boisterous cabal of fearmongers opposed to the current POTUS, the deficit has dropped from 10 percent of GDP in 2009 to about 4 percent of GDP in 2013.

Yet Obama-haters are still yelling the President as if is hair’s on fire for refusing to cooperate with them. The truth is he fixed the country, for the most part, during a time when everything was busted up from top to bottom. To put it in athletic parlance, in 2008 America was a bike with flat tires, a busted chain, no brakes and bar tape laced with glass. Yet Obama got that bike fixed by putting money into repairs and then demanding that people ride with more common sense than running intersections and waving at the poor people alongside the road. 

It hasn’t come easy

President Obama shows a little grey. Yet he keeps fit and that's what counts.

President Obama shows a little grey. Yet he keeps fit and that’s what counts.

Fighting political battles like that is enough to make you lose your hair, if you still have it, or go grey, as Obama is certainly doing. Let’s face it, Barack is at the age where hair goes grey whether you’re President or not. 

That’s the strange thing about all this hair stuff. I lost most of my hair before it got grey, and now that it’s grey I mow it all off every few weeks with a set of electronic clippers. I haven’t been to the local tonsorial parlor for a decade or more. That means I’ve saved about $2400 in haircuts over the last 10 years. 

1979 and 2013. A lot less hair. But better for it?

1979 and 2013. A lot less hair. But better for it?

Sure I have to make sure my head stays covered on really cold days. It’s not really functional to wear one of those ear warmer things either when the top of your head is exposed. But I’ve made sure to make hat-wearing something of an art. There are dozens of hats flitting around my house. I have several inventive ways to hang them, turning the hats into decorative pieces over my downstairs fireplace, for example. It’s an art form that changes with activity and the season. 

Just a sampling of my hat collection.

Just a sampling of my hat collection.

In fact I think I’ll add my bike helmet to the rotating hat collection at some point. You’ve got to trust care of your head to hats and helmets when there’s not a layer of hair to protect your noggin.

Scrapes and bumps

And oh man, that can be bad. Even with a hat on it’s a bear to scrape your head on a house beam while cleaning out the attic, or to strike your scalp on the edge of a cabinet. The bleeding can be wicked. Sometimes you don’t realize it and people jump back in fear, proclaiming, “What did you do to your head?”

Gorbachev. That's how I look after an encounter with a garage door.

Gorbachev. That’s how I look after an encounter with a garage door.

I can’t blame them. The merest scuff of the scalp can produce major bleeding. Then the scar lasts a couple of weeks so that you look like Gorbachev. 

Brain wobble

I have not been so unfortunate as to crash my bike and hit my head so that it bleeds. In fact I hauled my bike to the ditch during bike wobble a couple of years back and likely saved my head from possible damage on the rough asphalt that caused the bike to vibrate from the ground up. Instead all I got was a busted collarbone, and that only required surgery. Lying on the ground that day I literally said a prayer of thanks to God that my head was okay. Brain injury is a difficult injury to overcome. A collarbone can heal, but it’s tougher to fix a brain that has been rattled. Just ask any NFL or NHL player. Our brains are not so tough as we think sometimes. 

Gratitude 

Before going grey and bald, this photo was taken by a good friend Karen Woodburn.

Before going grey and bald, this photo was taken by a good friend Karen Woodburn.

So that’s why I don’t argue for lack of hair. Set aside the jokes that my bare skull is the Solar Plate for a Sex Machine, or that a bald head is the sign of a mind so active it pushes the hair out of your head. All those things are true of course, but mostly I’m grateful to be who I am, bald head and all. 

I can run, and ride, and swim. That’s plenty to be grateful for. And there’s no hair on my head to come between my love for those things. Those of us with no hair go naked into the world, you might say. And we love it. 

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It’s never too early or too late to start something new

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Christopher Cudworth

By Christopher Cudworth

530There is much to love and hate about committees. They build consensus. But they take time. They bring new ideas to light. But they can bury initiative.

Still, as a necessary evil in this world, committees are the key to much that gets done, and at the highest level.

Which is why, when asked several years ago to serve on the large committee that would survey the community and recommend a plan for the new Batavia High School addition, it was a welcome opportunity to serve.

Foundations

The committee attracted more than 70 community members who broke into groups to discuss the needs of the high school, its curriculum and extra-curricular activities. The committee was led by an associate whose son I had coached in soccer. The task of leading a committee effort that large was daunting, but Eric Camplin was up to the task.

We met every week for several months. One could feel both the energy and tension in the process of deciding what to recommend. Slowly a vision emerged. There would be a new theater, because the Cafetorium left everything to be desired in terms of performances in music, theater and school functions.

Early MorningBig Picture

There would be new classrooms and a new floor plan. And there would be a field house with an indoor track, additional practice courts and room for a thousand other activities.

The field house was prized by many in the community as a link to success in athletes. So many sports require indoor practice facilities, from baseball to football, track and field and cheerleading.

All that construction would cost money and take a good solid year to complete. But the $75M referendum went through and the committee rejoiced that the Batavia Facilities Commission had done its work and come up with a plan that served as the foundation for the recommendation made by the school board for approval by the community.

Home alone

But here’s a funny little fact about the work of that committee. When the final meeting was done, the report had to be written by someone. No one really stepped forward, but I failed to step backward and suddenly, there I was with a pile of notes and a weekend to complete the report.

When I got home I said out loud, “This can’t be how this happens.”

But it was. And it was a pleasure to condense all those findings down into 10-page document. Writing can be as pleasurable as doing a puzzle, and that’s how it felt.

Tom and FredRevelations

So you can imagine the pleasure it brought to rise at 5:15 this very morning and head over to that field house for the chance to use the indoor track. The behind-the-scenes work of chatting with my friend and head football and track coach Dennis Piron (his football team won the 2013 Illinois state championship) was done. So were the phone conversations and emails with Tom Spadafora, President of the Fox River Trail Runners, a highly successful running club that now directs major races in the area such as the Fox Valley Marathon and Half Marathon.

Those two guys know how to get things done, and my role in getting the early morning run program going was through.

Stepping up

The school took over from there, and an instructor named Ms. Ryersky volunteered to check in the runners each morning for the next two months. Her smiling face looked too cheery and fresh for such an early hour, but she informed us, “I got up at 3:45 this morning. Because I’m a girl.”

“What do you mean?” someone asked.

Ryersky“I had to put my makeup on,” she cheerily responded. The mostly middle-aged guys standing around shook our heads. How easy our lives really are…

Getting into it

It felt weird and good to be out on that track. The surface is a highly grippy, textural sort of surface. The air was cool and the 200 meter track is a perfectly balanced mix of curve and straight.

First person on the track was a 3:07 marathoner named Marlena. Her efficient stride is a wonder to behold. Also her calves would be the envy of any woman–or man for that matter–on this earth.

The rest of us popped into the outside lanes to warm up and see what our bodies would give us at that hour.

I felt good. Really good in fact. Yet I decided not to worry about how far I was going. Just do 30:00 and see how the calves responded to indoor running.

WeRunandRideLogoNature called at 22:00 so I broke for the bathrooms. When I emerged the duo of Tom Spadafora and Fred Spizzoli were clipping along in some sort of interval training. So I jumped in.

Running tempo in the company of others is one of the great joys of training. We moved at a good clip, estimated at 7:00 per mile pace or so. It’s hard at first to tell pace when you’re on an indoor track, running in the outside lanes, and moving along in the company of others.

It didn’t matter. We were running faster together than we might on our own. The laps clipped by. So did the minutes. Obviously this was a mile interval, I realized. My body felt smooth, and I wondered how I’d feel once this winter weight was gone. Again. Somehow I need to break that cycle. Gaining 5-8 pounds every winter is not a good plan. Perhaps this morning running was the start of a better me in winter.

Open lanes

Getting up early can be a bear. But it's worth it when you get there.

Getting up early can be a bear. But it’s worth it when you get there.

The option to run on Tuesday and Thursday mornings is open to everyone who wants to join the fun. That’s as it should be, and a reflection of the original committee that brought about that wonderful facility.

But it still strikes me as funny that something so grand can come down to someone with a keyboard, a pile of notes and a weekend to pump out the facts.

Much of the world works the same way, however. Just ask anyone who runs, or rides, or swims. Sometimes you just put one foot in front of the other and see what happens. It’s never too early or late to start something new.

If you’re in the area, the field house opens at 5:30 a.m to 6:30 a.m. Park in the lot at the far west of the Main Street entrance. Costs are $15 for all sessions through the end of March. 

We'd like to profile you or your group.

We’d like to profile you or your group.

Want to be profiled in We Run and Ride? We’re starting a weekly feature and would love to hear your story whether you’re here in North America or around the world! Write cudworthfix@gmail.com if you would like to share your running, riding or swimming history with our readers. 

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There is no team without an “i” in it

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Christopher Cudworth

By Christopher Cudworth

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The assumption that acknowledging individual or personal success will always ruin a team effort is wrong.

Three meets into the collegiate cross country season, two of our best runners were sidelined with injuries. One had a sore back that would never heal that year. Another had a black toenail that was so painful every stride was a limp. He was at risk for compensatory injuries yet the weeks of training at 80-90 miles were flying past and we could not afford to let up during a competitive series of meets leading up to conference, then regionals and nationals.

It was supposed to be our best season after four years of college track and cross country. Things weren’t going the way we planned. The group of 5 sub-15:00 high school three-milers that had entered freshman year together had not managed to fulfill their potential with a high placing at the national college meet.

Yet thanks to the leadership of a fellow senior who now ranked #1 in the country based on early season times, and my own improvement from 7th to 2nd man, we had a prayer of doing well. Added to the mix were two talented freshman that were playing important roles on the overall team.

In other words, every team depends on individuals to succeed. There is no excusing that fact or trying to run around it. Emphasizing the importance of the “I” in team does not make someone an asshole, a bad teammate or a poor employee.

Sure, if someone genuinely does not care about other people, they are not going to be pleasant to be around. But neither should you assume that everyone with individual aspirations and the drive to excel is going to make a bad team member.

In running the teamwork happens as much before and after a race as it does during the competition, when individual effort must stand forth or the team will not succeed.

In running the teamwork happens as much before and after a race as it does during the competition, when individual effort must stand forth or the team will not succeed.

During that college cross country season one of my teammates–the guy with the bad toe who had been our #1 runner the season before, came jogging up behind me between half-mile hill repeats and said, with an urgency in his voice: “You have got to be the man this week. You cannot afford to let down. You’re running great, but we need you to keep going.” 

I knew what he meant. The message was clear, but not what you might think. My teammate was not telling me to try to carry the whole team on my shoulders, or worry about anyone else. He wanted me to continue the pursuit of individual success because of the example it set for everyone else on the team. That did not make me an asshole. That made me a leader.

To his considerable credit, that teammate rose to the occasion in that week’s meet. We raced together in the last mile and passed a key opponent in the last 300 yards to claim the invitational victory by only a few points.

It was a lesson I’ve never forgotten. Being pushed to individual success and recognizing your responsibility for the “i” in team is something you should never forget. Managers or coaches who squelch recognition of individual success for fear that it will somehow demotivate other team members are doing the team no favors.

When competing in a team time trial in cycling, or even participating in a pace line during a weekend group ride, the team or group is ultimately dependent on the quality of individual efforts and the commitment to repeat them. If you ride along thinking the pace makes itself because you are part of a team, the group as a whole will fail. Individuals do count.

Team trophies always come from superior individual effort. There is always an "i" in team. Why pretend otherwise?

Team trophies always come from superior individual effort. There is always an “i” in team. Why pretend otherwise?

And people aren’t stupid. They know who is best at their sport or their job. They also like being recognized if they are the best at what they do. Forcing a team to operate as if it gains nothing from individual efforts is insane. If you want to see people turn into real assholes, watch what they do when you’ve squashed any hopes of individual success. That’s when the real backbiting begins.

No “i” in team? Get real. 

You can claim there is no “i” in team all you want. You can also venture the opinion that people who take the lead and speak to that fact are assholes. But there is never a moment when a great team does not depend on the success of the individuals within it.

People who accuse athletes and businesspeople of selfishness when it comes to individual success have no idea what real teamwork really means. Real teamwork comes from wanting to excel as much as the person next to you. For individuals to produce quality effort, thinking and performance requires not discouragement, but encouragement. Telling someone they’re an asshole for trying their best and challenging others to do so is not a form of encouragement.

Team totalitarians

Quite frequently the people who claim to motivate others by dunning them into a submissive team mentality are actually totalitarians. They may be lacking in personal security and their actual motivation may be fear, jealousy or simple incomprehension of the overall goals of excellence. People who are afraid of real leadership and who can’t keep up with their own obligations, or who are passive/aggressive control freaks afraid for their own position in life are generally the ones who typically call real leaders assholes.  You can look it up. 

Working together as one

Yes, working together in sports, business and society is important. And yes, in many circumstances we need to keep our egos in check in order to avoid threatening others or being too dominating in our meetings or workouts.

Those are simply qualities we need to develop as functioning members of culture and society. They do not define the entire notion of a team, and what it means to succeed.

Selfish and unselfish

Perhaps you have been called selfish when in fact your real motivations are completely focused the benefit of a group. Then you know how dangerous groupthink can be. It is always important for individuals to be able to discuss and demonstrate their individual motivations, particularly when they hold the potential to benefit the entire group.

Because at the same time, you’ll often hear it said that the success of so many organizations depends on a very few individuals, without whose work the entire enterprise would fail. Well guess what? Those people are the real “i” in team. They are the ones who step it up when the game or the race is on the line. You can count on them. Look to them. Trust them. Respect them as individuals because they understand the real role of the “i” in team. And that’s the get things done.

People who call those people assholes is wrong. AllWeRunandRideLogo wrong.

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What gets you up and training at 6:00 a.m. or earlier?

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Christopher Cudworth

By Christopher Cudworth 

It's too easy to roll over in bed if you face a mess of gear organization when you get up early to run, ride or swim

It’s too easy to roll over in bed if you face a mess of gear organization when you get up early to run, ride or swim

I feel fortunate to have always been an early riser. Between my penchant for studying birds, which is best done in the early hours of day, and my love of running and riding, getting up before 6:00 a.m (Fitz and the Tantrums has a different problem) has never been a problem.

But I’ve met my match in terms of early rising. The woman I date gets up at 4:30 a few times each week to swim. She’s a good swimmer, so that helps. Learning to swim as I am currently doing does not provide so much incentive. Slowly I’m learning to love the pool as much as the bike and the road. It balances you. Strengthens your shoulders and back. Swimming is a good thing. The shock of potentially cold water in an early morning swim? Not so sweet.

Training partner Sue (right) always seems to have her gear organized. I'm working on it.

Training partner Sue (right) always seems to have her gear organized. I’m working on it.

I’m so impressed with how my gal friend does not let things like this seem to bother her. Come Saturday morning we meet up for runs and sure, the wind may be blowing cold like hell has frozen over and Satan’s got nothing else to do, yet we take off running in the early dawn and even find ways to laugh about how sucky the weather can be.

Prep

It helps that’s she’s organized. Getting out the door to run or ride early in the morning takes prep. Because if you don’t put your clothes out the night before, the possibility that you will not find a key gear component is very real. Precious minutes pass by. Then you are forced to compromise on the distance you planned to run in order to get showered and out the door to work on time.

Thankful for gear that is bright, and shows up even among the clutter. Ugh, the clutter!

Thankful for gear that is bright, and shows up even among the clutter. Ugh, the clutter!

The gear problem in the early morning is even worse with cycling. For one thing, half the clothing I wear is black or some combination of black and other colors. It  all mixes together in the drawer if you don’t sort it out ahead of time. Finding black arm warmers in the dark at dawn is ridiculous hard. To make matters worse, they cling to everything else in the drawer. Don’t go there. Find ways to organize your gear and be disciplined about it. It’s a constant struggle for me, but I’m making it work.

Organizational commitment

It truly is important to make organization your priority before climbing into bed. That means you need to have a firm training plan in mind before resting your brain with sleep.

If you do that motivation will be in place well before your smartphone makes that annoying noise, whatever it is you choose, at 5:45 a.m. when the light looks tired outside and you feel so tired inside.

So here’s the phrase you need to keep in mind: Training is hard. You don’t need to make it harder by putting off for tomorrow what you can do to prepare today. Organization commitment is the key to your success. 

That’s one of the tarsnakes of running, riding and swimming. We do these activities for fun, but in order to get better at them we need to be disciplined, organized and committed to the task.

When 6:00 a.m. comes around

Because when 6:00 comes around and you need to get out the door, your motivation will be affirmed when the clothes and gear seem to fly on your body  with little effort. Once you’re out the door and moving, you can adapt or adopt your training to what the day presents. Need an extra layer under the jacket? That’s something you should put out as well the night before, just in case.

There are always surprises, but checking the weather the night before you go to bed is so easy now. Smart apps can tell you everything right through your smartphone. No need to wait around for 10:23 for a weatherperson who spends more time on the snow in Cleveland than the conditions in your hometown.

You want to get out there and run. Or ride. Or head to the pool and swim.

So take the pressure off yourself at 6:00 a.m. Get organized and be a better athlete. It’s that simple.

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A quick ride through the Art of the Bicycle exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Christopher Cudworth
Contrasting the old and new came down to this comparison between a 2013 Cervelo and bikes from the 1800s

Contrasting the old and new came down to this comparison between a 2013 Cervelo and bikes from the 1800s

It didn’t take long to whip through the Art of the Bicycle exhibit now appearing at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. The exhibit is not that large, which was rather a disappointment. On the other hand, the corridor dedicated to the Art of the Bicycle made it possible for me to see it all in 20 minute, including the 10 minutes I stayed past closing time to at least read a couple of the wheel-shaped signs describing the bikes on display.

I arrived at 3:45 in the afternoon after an exploratory visit with the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. The Hyde Park neighborhood is very familiar to me, as my son attended University of Chicago and works there now. It was a little like going back home, in other words, traipsing around the crowded campus at UC with its street parking and gentrified neighborhoods.

The gloss and design of bikes from the recent past is a pleasure to behold.

The gloss and design of bikes from the recent past is a pleasure to behold.

When the visit was over with LSTC, I headed over to MSI thinking the museum would not close until 5:00 p.m. Silly me.

MUSEUM HOURS 9-4:00 PM the sign said at the gate to the parking garage.

And let’s talk for a moment about parking at MSI. It costs $20 whether you stay 10 minutes or the whole, entire day.

Which came as a shock when leaving. Yet it felt like even more of a shock compared to the $18 you pay for entrance to the museum.

So let’s get this straight. Parking in the garage at MSI has MORE VALUE than anything you’re going to see inside? Let me tell you something folks. The signs are pretty in purple and orange. But they don’t really hold your attention other than helping you find your car.

Nameplates of old have allure and collector's value.

Nameplates of old have allure and collector’s value.

That meant the takeaway from my visit to MSI was a bit of a downer. With only 10 minutes to officially tour the museum (who closes at 4:00? who, really?) and a stolen 10 minutes tacked on with no one chasing me out of there, I spent $38.00. Can you imagine taking a family of six to see the MSI? I think kid’s tickets were $15 or so. So That’s nearly $100 for a single day with parking. Then there’s lunch and any special exhibits you want to see.

For that kind of money I want to see every fucking bike in the universe. I want to see paintings of people on bikes, and giant photos of Tour de France riders humping up the Alpe du Huez.

Give me a recording of Queen’s “Bicycle Race” and throw in “Fat Bottomed Girls” just for the hell of it.

This display of a bike disassembled brings back nightmare days of the 1960s trying to put my bike back together with the mechanical ability of 2 on a scale of 10.

This display of a bike disassembled brings back nightmare days of the 1960s trying to put my bike back together with the mechanical ability of 2 on a scale of 10.

I know I’m getting carried away here with complaint about costs and scale of entertainment. I know that museums are struggling to make ends meet in the face of rising costs. It’s hard to find exhibits that bring fannies through the door. Then there’s the cost of marketing, promotions and public relations. A jaded media sometimes hardly pays attention, and the media market is so fragmented you hardly know how to reach your customers.

The Art of the Bicycle is elegantly posed and pretty. My eyes were opened to the strange forms of cycling that we’ve embraced since the 1800s. I would recommend a visit to the show if you have an interest in the structure, appearance and history of the bicycle. I love bikes.

Cyclists of a certain age may have flashbacks looking at the many bicycle seats on display. This old Schwinn seat saw plenty of ass time in its day.

Cyclists of a certain age may have flashbacks looking at the many bicycle seats on display. This old Schwinn seat saw plenty of ass time in its day.

I just wish there had been MORE for the MONEY and possibly MORE TIME to visit the exhibit and take it all in.

My fault on the time. I’ll take that hit. But if I could give any advice to the Museum of Science and Industry and all the other museums that will take this show inside their doors, it’s this. We cyclists have a saying about things that are difficult in life. “When you’re wrestling with a gorilla, you don’t quit when you get tired. You quit when the gorilla gets tired.”

Because while we know you museums out there are struggling to make ends meet, aren’t we all? The people coming through you doors have budgets just as tight as you. So don’t short shrift us on effort and value when it comes to exhibits like this. The idea was great. The execution is clean and interesting. But it’s kind of like you take us on the first two laps of a road race and pull out. Exhibitus Interruptus as it were.

It was pretty. But it was pretty light.

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