Serenity Through Sweat

TLAR

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. As I get back to flying after a long layoff for paternity, I find myself falling back into a work routine and relying on my years of training. One of the cornerstone lessons all the way back from my private pilot’s license is TLAR.

TLAR is an acronym for “That Looks About Right”. The idea is with any situation in aviation we have target metrics but we also have a sight picture of what we should be seeing. So you might have a target airspeed +/- 10 knots, a target altitude +/- 100 feet, and a target heading +/- 5 degrees. To go along with those metrics you have an idea in your head of what the situation should look like, again with a +/-.

Tuesday morning causeway miles before work

TLAR gives you the ability to say even with the metrics within limits, if it doesn’t look about right, let’s reset and try it again because something might be off. Let’s get to a safe altitude and configuration, and assess what happened and even if there isn’t a problem that can be identified, safety was prioritized, and the only cost was a few minutes and some jet fuel.

In fact most of the procedures written in to our policy manual include verbiage something along the lines of “pitch or power settings not consistent with situation” as a criteria to discontinue the maneuver. Basically, if it doesn’t look right stop, and then, assess and re-establish.

What makes TLAR work is repetition and training. If you see the same picture over and over again, and you know what adjustments to make to change the picture, you can make decisions about when something looks right and when it doesn’t.

TLAR is a fantastic tool with low cost, and quick utilization time, for all sorts of social, work project, and family scenarios, if you can have the presence of mind to employ it.

I grew up telling everyone I would have a wrestling mat in my living room, and that glorious day has arrived

From a fitness standpoint, I can look at pace, heart rate, and percieved effort level, and adjust for variables such as sleep, nutrition, prior workload and weather, in order to get a picture of my workout. If say my pace or heart rate is way off normal, and one of the variables can’t explain it, (I ate well, slept well, not over worked, and weather is normal) maybe there is something wrong, and I can use that picture to adjust my training accordingly.

I can use the same sort of assessments looking at El Duderino’s behavior. Not that it is perfect or always within our expectations as parents, but rather is it about right given he is a toddler, stuck at home during Covid-19, who just became a big brother and is now sharing attention. Adjusting for variables and conditions, you can look at the vast majority of his behavior and say that looks about right, and quickly point out when behaviors no longer line up with the expected picture.

When a behavior doesn’t pass the TLAR test, I start out giving him the benefit of the doubt, examining variables and conditions first, and then asking him about. More often than not, he knows the established rules and when he has violated them. He knows when is behavior looks about right and when it doesn’t, but being 2 ½ years old, he doesn’t yet have to presence of mind to stop and correct in the moment.

Having the training and knowledge to understand what “looks about right” for a given situation, and the presence of mind to stop the operation and reset as necessary is what TLAR is all about. TLAR is a skill, and like most valuable skills, it requires repetition and dedication. It is also another valuable tool in the tool belt of Serenity.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Idle Hands

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. We all know the saying “idle hands are the devil’s playthings” and I think that takes on a new meaning under the lense of what we are dealing with now as a nation.

I’ve always been someone who struggles to find calm in stillness. My serenity, as it were, has always come through sweat. Whether it is physical exercise, a complex problem that needs to be worked out, or just projects around the house, my mood is always improved when I am in motion and feel like I have accomplished something that day.

For the last three months prior to my return to work, I was very fortunate to spend quality time home with my wife and two sons. That said, I think every parent can empathize with the feeling of being busy all day with basic family needs, but not “getting anything done”. I think this is especially true for people who tend to be very task/mission oriented. (Read pilots)

So, on my last overnight visiting my Father on his farm in PA, I was delighted to feel like I could do a normal days work, and complete some of those tasks in order to satiate that mission oriented personal drive.

Humans are designed to move, designed to solve problems, and build and create. When we these don’t occur naturally as part of our existence, we artificially manufacturer them. How many problems has stay-at-home created over the past few months that are really just manufactured problems of circumstance, rather than true issues.

I should be clear this is not a post about political protest. Protest in general is a noble and important mission and as a mission oriented person, that is a path I respect. I’m referring to the astounding numbers of people who went from moving from task to task with some general purpose (normally providing for themselves and/or their family and contributing to society) to being forced to stay at home, idle.

It may take a while before we start seeing the full effects of all those idle hands, but that will be a significant factor as we continue to analyze the effects of both Covid-19, as well as the unintended consequences of the combative measures taken against it.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

This week’s SerenityThroughSweat, working on the farm with my dad, finding fitness in hotel rooms with gyms closed, and some sweaty miles over the causeway in midday Sarasota.

Quality Adjusted Life Year

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. With COVID-19 numbers flaring up in many places around the country, a return to “normal” still seems a ways off. As we all adjust to a new “normal” I wanted to dig in to Quality of life or QOL and Quality Adjusted Life Years or QALY.

Quality of life is a term that gets kicked around they pilot group a lot. It is an extremely broad reaching term with very individualized metrics. I’m it’s most simplistic terms, QOL is the standard of health, comfort, and happiness experienced by an individual or group.

Up close and personal with “scoopy” the excavator on our morning run.

Qualify adjusted life year is an economic term. It is used to quantify disease and treatment in terms of both quantity and quality of life saved. QALY gives us a metric by which we can evaluate decisions about our health and well being for the future.

The two terms have some common ground, but the differences are important. For example QALY is measured on a scale from 0-1. 0 being dead, and 1 being a single year of perfect health. Quality of life on the other hand, encompasses not only health, but happiness and comfort. In other words, you could have a perfect quality adjusted life year (healthy) with lack luster quality of life (stressed, grieving, generally unhappy, etc…)

Covid-19, brings with it some pretty drastic negative consequences, but it also gives us a unique opportunity that otherwise wouldn’t have ever materialized for most of us. The opportunity to completely rewrite our daily routines from scratch while reevaluating our priorities in order to maximize our QOL and our QALYs.

It is easier said than done, and change is never easy especially in times of great uncertainty. The first step is to identify priorities, and realign around them. Ideal QOL is going to look different for everyone because there is no one size fits all for things like happiness and comfort, but health and general well-being is pretty universal. (And a favorite taking point of this particular blog)

Speedy starting to interact more

Personally, uncertainty around my job status as Covid-19 continues to ravage the travel sector, has thrown my stress levels out of whack. But sleep, diet and exercise (with the exception of a new baby) are largely within my control.

My pre Covid routine included a lot of Jiu Jitsu, but that isn’t an option for me and my family right now. Instead I’ve leaned in to what I do have available, kettlebells, sandbags, running shoes and a jogging stroller. Since I do most of the cooking in the house I can prioritize fresh produce and balanced home cooked meals (most of which are even toddler approved). On the sleep side, Speedy has started to put together reliable seven hour stretches giving me wife and I a chance to recharge.

A hot Monday afternoon run during the kid’s naptime. FL summer is here.

How much of our pre Covid routine was helping us live a better QOL and have more QALYs? How much of it was adding stress, reducing sleep, limiting options for healthy habits in diet and exercise? I would wager the average American routine pre Covid was way out of balance in those four key factors (stress, sleep, diet, and exercise).

This is a complex issue, and everyone’s situation is different. If you find yourself working multiple jobs to put a roof over your head and food on the table, there are natural challenges to prioritizing well-being. However, a lot of us have significant down time around a 40 hour work week, and even more if we find ourselves working from home when we used to commute, or are working reduced hours.

As a fitness enthusiast I want to always be in shape for whatever challenge may come. As a father of two young boys I want to have as many QALYs as I can, where I can not only be there with them, but push them mentally and physically. As a pilot who has to leave his family behind on a regular basis I’m constantly adjusting to family needs to balance work with QOL.

First layover run in a long time and I couldn’t have agreed for a better day

Your priorities, your ideas on wellness, happiness, and comfort, can be realigned at any time, and there is no time like the present. There is always room for better choices, better QOL, more QALYs, and some SerenityThroughSweat.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Happy Fathers Day

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This weekend I made the trek back to work for the first time in months. I was anxious, nervous, excited, and little annoyed at times, but blessed to be doing something I love that allows me to provide for my family. Working over father’s day weekend isn’t the ideal situation, but dealing in unideal situations is what fatherhood is all about.

The whole weekend felt familiar, “just like riding a bike,” as they say. I spend a lot of time on my bike and as familiar as I am, and as familiar airports and simulators felt, there were some new wrinkles.

Last stroller run with quarantine facial hair.

Wearing masks, social distancing, empty gatehouses and security lines, there were plenty of new wrinkles to go with the familiar environment of the airport. The whole scenario made me think of my two boys.

As a father to two young boys I often find myself in a rhythm of sorts in how I interact with them. El Duderino, the 2 ½ year old, loves to go outside and dig in the dirt with his work trucks, and Speedy, at 12 weeks old is just starting to appreciate daddy’s funny faces in his increasing awake time.

Checking out the car wash construction site with El Duderino

They are both growing so fast, and every few weeks, the groove we found ourselves in shifts. For El Duderino before the digging in the dirt it was racing trucks down a cardboard ramp, and for Speedy it was basically sleeping. The point is, fatherhood is a constant journey of familiar, with a new wrinkle.

As the boys continue to grow and their personalities continue to fill in and evolve, so do their needs and wants. So as their father, the target is always moving.

When I look back on how much I have changed in the last 2 ½ years since El Duderino was born, I can only imagine the type of moving target my brother and I presented for our father.

Raising two boys (at least one of which may or may not have had some anger issues as a young boy) across state lines is a daunting challenge for anyone. Add in a job that requires frequent travel and I marvel at the job my dad did raising us.

Do it right the first time, and take pride in your work, were lessons he always tried to drive home. He always encouraged us to do what we wanted, so long as we had considered the risks.

When I consider my own position as a father of two young boys, trying to raise them across state lines, with a job that requires lots of travel, I can only hope to do as good of a job as he did. And I hope that when he looks it me, it seems familiar, with a few wrinkles.

Happy father’s day.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Sway

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog, today I want to talk about sway. Specifically who we let sway is and how we let them do it.

As is often the case, taxonomy is important, and for our discussion sway will mean control or influence, specifically over ones opinions or actions.

We live in a time where sway, can literally be an occupation. There are many people who make a very good living as “influencers”, and have tremendous sway over those that follow them. However, I’m of the opinion that most of the actions and opinions that would be swayed by career influencers are comparatively trivial. What brand of underwear you buy, what beer you drink, maybe a diet or exercise trend, hardly qualify as defining principles of a person.

We allow ourselves to be swayed by advertisers, influencers, and our peers on matters of little significance sometimes multiple times a day. However, when it comes to our more deeply held beliefs and ideas there is a tendency to hold out even in the face of facts and logic.

El Duderino gets a quarantine haircut from Mommy

One of the core principles at my company reads, “Change your mind when persuaded by meritorious argument.” Company politics and labor/management relations aside, this is an ideal that is as lofty as it is essential.

Cancel culture has set us on a path whereby if you currently hold, or ever held, an opinion that is now deemed to be (insert negative “-ist” adjective), than you are ostracized, shunned, and in many cases have career opportunities revoked.

I should quote Ferris Bueller here to illustrate my personal views on the matter, “Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism’s in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, ‘I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.’ “.

Personal beliefs on -ism’s aside, I believe in due process, benefit of the doubt, and if need be a path to redemption. The best way to improve flaws in our culture isn’t to ostracize the -ism’s, but rather to sway with meritorious argument.

That is a two way street. It means the one doing the swaying must present a meritorious argument, and do so in a way that is instructive and compassionate, rather than insulting and combative. It also means the one to be swayed must be willing to examine their beliefs and opinions honestly, and be willing to change their mind.

The best example of this is Daryl Davis, a musician, author, and a man who has converted hundreds of KKK and neo nazi menders through meritorious argument and compassion.

Snapped the shoe right off the base plate mid ride

There will always be those who look to spread hate, but I believe they are in the minority. Proper use of sway, compassion and giving someone the grace to be wrong and to change their ways, leads us all closer to serenity.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

This week in SerenityThroughSweat, I drop the hammer one too many times on my first bike ride since Speedy’s arrival, a 90° afternoon 10k, we celebrate father’s day early as I prepare to go back to work this weekend, which also means the end of quarantine beard.

Cowards

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. As we move into mid June and into the fourth month of some form of reduced social contact due to COVID-19, I want to talk about fatigue.

In order to facilitate clear exchange of ideas and discussion (and because I had the importance drilled in to me in AP Chemistry class in high school) I’m a big believer in taxonomy. Fatigue (as it will apply to this post and future discussions on the blog) is a physiological state of reduced physical or mental performance.

First stroller run with my new running buddy

Fatigue can be brought on in a number of different ways. Since this in large part a fitness blog, fatigue in most of our discussions is brought on by physical exertion. Touching on parenting and aviation, fatigue can be brought on by disrupted sleep patterns and stress. Fatigue can also be brought on by both too much mental stimulation as in a tough day at the office, but also by too little mental stimulation or a routine day at the office just monitoring the instruments share known as boredom fatigue.

This blog is filled with examples of physical exertion, and while most physical exertion leaves me energized and mentally and emotionally recharged (SerenityThroughSweat). There are some debilitating days deliberately designed into the training plan, all alliteration aside.

First stroller run with Speedy (his name not my pace, I was fighting my legs the whole way)

As a pilot, I’ve had fatiguing days where lots of things went wrong and I was strained to keep everything together safely. I’ve also had days that were just as fatiguing, where it was smooth sailing but there instruments seemed to lull me to sleep.

One thing is certain, regardless of how fatigue develops and accumulates, it diminishes performance. “Fatigue makes cowards of us all”, sometimes attributed to General George Patton, and sometimes to Vince Lombardi, gets to the heart of the matter.

A snapshot of the last 14 days of mobility work on the overhead position

Again, taxonomy is important. Most of the time, coward is a derogatory term used for someone who lacks courage. In the context of this post, it refers more to someone who lacks the will or ability, to do or endure unpleasant things. While that is still somewhat on the derogatory spectrum, I think it is less offensive in that form and more of a temporary state of reality that we all find ourselves in from time to time.

Regardless of your profession or your predilection for physical exertion, we are all experiencing various stages of COVID-19 fatigue. Which also means, many of us are already, or are on our way to becoming, cowards. Before you get defensive, remember this means lacking the will to do or endure unpleasant things.

Getting in some projectile meditation, by far my best 6 consecutive shots

I know I am personally tired of social distancing, tired of being stuck inside, tired of not being able to do things with friends and family that I otherwise would. I’m saddened by the loss of life, the economic hardship, and the stress that Covid-19 brings. Since Florida has re opened, it has seen new records three days in a row for new Covid-19 cases. It seems as though as a state, and in larger part as a society, we have lost the will to endure the unpleasantness required to combat this pandemic.

The good news is, cowardice does not have to be a permanent character trait, but rather can be limited to a temporary state. Regardless of what unpleasantness we may find ourselves unwilling, or unable to endure, there will always be sources from which we can draw strength and bravery, to combat our own fatigue and cowardice. I hope that you have many such sources in your life, and I’m honored if this is one of them.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Spirit of the Game

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Today I want to talk about the most challenging aspect of ultimate frisbee.

I know what a lot of you are thinking, how is anything about chasing a plastic dog toy around a field challenging. First of all, some of the best athletes and people I know play Ultimate, and they highlights speak for the selves (AUDL link). Second, the most challenging part of the game has nothing to do with actually playing, but rather with officiating.

El Duderino sticks the landing

Ultimate is a self officiated game. Like a game of pick up basketball, you call your own fouls and violations, and monitor the out of bounds or scoring lines together with the other team. Below are two sections from the rule book provided by the governing body, USA Ultimate (link)

“Spirit of the Game is a set of principles which places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect among competitors, adherence to the agreed upon rules, or the basic joy of play. It is assumed that no player will intentionally violate the rules; thus there are no harsh penalties for inadvertent infractions, but rather a method for resuming play in a manner that simulates what most likely would have occurred absent the infraction. An intentional infraction is cheating and considered a gross offense against the Spirit of the Game. Players are morally bound to abide by the rules and not gain advantage by knowingly committing an infraction, or calling one where none exists.”

Grandma comes to visit, and Speedy turns 10 weeks old.

As someone who is super competitive, there is a bit of a learning curve to this mindset. To treat every call, especially ones made by an opponent who has the most to gain from calling infractions, violations, out of bounds etc… As if it is being made honestly, fairly, and without bias, is not a default setting when I’m in competition mode.

I think most athlete’s, and certainly my natural reaction when called for a foul, is to become defensive and argue my case. But, this in and of itself, is a violation of the spirit of the game which dictates that players are morally bound to not gain advantage by calling infractions where none exist, and it is assumed that no player will intentionally violate the rules.

Brute force sandbags WOD with the training mask

I think this is very similar to the socio-political landscape we find ourselves in today. There are so many divisive issues, race being at the forefront, and I think the rules of Ultimate, especially the spirit of the game provide a great framework for productive dialogue. The rules state that players must:

know the rules;
be fair-minded and objective;
be truthful;
explain their viewpoint clearly and concisely;
allow opponents a reasonable chance to speak;
consider their opponent’s viewpoint;
use respectful words and body language;
resolve disputes as quickly as possible;
make calls in a consistent manner throughout the game; and
only make a call where an infraction is significant enough to make a difference to the outcome of the action.

14 day mobility challenge overhead position

These guidelines are obviously oversimplified for issues of sexism, racism, heck even a disagreement with your spouse, but the overall idea that we are in this together and are all responsible for protecting mutual respect and basic joy of Life, sets the table for more productive interaction.

One other important part of the rules that is worth brining up says, ” in the case where a novice player commits an infraction out of ignorance of the rules, experienced players are obliged to explain the infraction and clarify what should happen.”. Notice this doesn’t involve chastisement, or belittling, but rather education. If we operate from the assumption that no one is intentionally causing harm, and then explain the infraction that was the result of ignorance, we can all move forward together.

91° for the afternoon run and some new quarantine facial hair

I miss playing Ultimate, and I never thought I would be writing about it in a socio-political sense, but maybe we can all find a little spirit of the game and some SerenityThroughSweat, and we will all be better off for doing so.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Privilege

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. The intention of this blog had always been to present a positive and uplifting message generally based around my passion for fitness, fatherhood, and flying, and to avoid politics. However, given current events, I thought I would add my thoughts on privilege.

Let’s start the discussion with a definition. Privilege is a special right advantage or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group.

I don’t believe I have the knowledge or the experienced position requires to discuss race and the inner workings of privilege that go with it. Instead I will tell you a story about a realization of a privilege I was previously unaware of.

It was 2009 and I was in an aviation safety and security class, working towards my Masters degree, with an interesting assignment. Our professor was an airline pilot on a leave of absence from his airline after the great recession. He was teaching as an adjunct professor in addition to running an aviation safety and security consulting company with contracts all over the globe.

The assignment was to identify potential holes in the aviation security of a local airport, and how those holes could be exploited. The professor wanted us to think like those groups who would perpetrate such acts in order to prevent against them.

I thought it was an interesting and valuable exercise, assigned by an intelligent and credible professor, and I went home after class and got started. To me, it seemed like a natural way to assess vulnerability. Whenever I was trying to break down a wrestling technique the best way to understand it was to try to counter it. It seemed like we were doing the same thing with the assignment, just with higher stakes and more on the line.

So I was surprised when I got an email ahead of the next class saying that the assignment would no longer be required, but would be an optional in class discussion instead of a paper.

One of the international students had reached out to the professor and raised his concerns. Putting his name on a written document that discussed breaching airport security, even if it was a purely academic exercise, was perilous to his ability to remain in the country.

Day 4 of the overhead mobility challenge, adding some toddler weight to the peanut soft tissue work.

This wasn’t something I had even considered. And I think therein lies the privilege. We were both at the same school, in the same class, working on the same assignment, so this wasn’t a case of different starting points. But this international student, (not that it matters, but a fair skinned European) was burdened by anxiety and concern that didn’t even occur to me.

What is the weight of that concern and anxiety? What toll does it take? How many of his choices or actions had to be put through that filter? On the other side, how liberating is it to not carry around that stress? To be able to act mostly free of concern of the potential outcomes? How many choices have I made unburdened by those fears?

Day 7 of the overhead mobility challenge.

I don’t think these are quantifiable questions, but rather are low stakes examples of the privilege I never realized I had. This blog is not and has never been a place for answers, but rather a place for self reflection and hopefully inspiration for the same in you the reader. So, I will leave you with these words from Max Ehrmann, in the hope that we can all look at ourselves and what privilege we may have.

“If you compare yourself with others you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Routine

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Today I want to talk about the value of routine, and the power that it holds especially in these uncertain times.

Three months ago I purchased a membership to The Ready State for myself as a birthday gift. I had already started to read Becoming a Supple Leopard, and I was starting to develop a morning mobility/yoga routine, and the 14 day mobility challenge they offered drew me in as a perfect evening wind down routine.

Some of the first 14 day mobility challenge, working on the bottom of the squat position

I started waking up about 10 minutes earlier in hotel rooms to make sure I could do some breath work and mobilize first thing in the morning. I made the mobility challenge part of my night time down regulation to help me get better sleep in those same hotels. (With the exception of some mobility work after particularly long runs instead of before bed)

When I was at home I would mobilize at night after El Duderino was down and my wife and I were watching TV before bed. First thing after waking up I would do my morning flow routine and drink a liter of water before anything else.

Overhead mobilization with banded shoulder distraction

I did most of the first 14 day mobility challenge in hotels since I was trying to fly a lot at the beginning of March. At ist completion, I am incredibly grateful for the improved squat position, not only for it’s impact on my running, cycling and Jiu Jitsu, but especially since it puts me at eye level with El Duderino. (A place I’m spending more and more time as the terrible twos progress)

As a pilot my schedule changes day to day and month to month. Bedtime, wake time, what city I’m in, what time I workout, what food I have access to, the only constant is change. So, controlling variables that I can, in order to make some semblance of a routine helps me maintain good habits and keep my sanity.

Simple and sinister followed by some overhead mobilization with the lacrosse ball

What a difference three months makes. The second 14 day mobility challenge from The Ready State started a few days ago on June 1. I haven’t flown an airplane, been to a hotel, or for the most part even left the house since completing the first mobility challenge. My sleep is wrecked, (although that’s mostly due to newborn Speedy and stress, rather than hotels and travel).

I’m pleased that I put in some of the upfront legwork to develop a mobility routine before the pandemic wreaked havock on everyone’s plans and schedules. I’m grateful to The Ready State for providing a platform and motivation to further my routine. I’m indebted to my routine for the stability, sanity, and serenity it provides.

Deputy Dad, laying down the laws of the sandbox

Without a mission around which to set a schedule, it is easy for routine to devolve into disarray. While establishing and maintaining a routine takes dedication and commitment, I believe a good routine breaks the laws of physics, in that it gives back more than what is put in. There is no better time than now to start your own routine, and as an added bonus, it’s hard to be stressed about Covid-19 with a toddler on your chest and a lacrosse ball in your back.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

This week in SerenityThroughSweat, a couple of rainy runs, some S&S kettlebell work, the 14 day mobility challenge working on overhead position, and grandma comes to visit Speedy and El Duderino.

Multisport Social

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. As we continue through various forms of social distancing and reduced contact I want to talk about my appreciation for the social interaction of multisport athletes.

The triathlon community is one that I have found to be incredibly welcoming. Everyone likes to talk shop and compare gear, training plans, nutrition etc… But, it is also a largely solo sport. Yes there are teams, and yes you can run or ride together, but drafting rules and the nature of training time required ensure that a lot of miles are covered alone.

Quarantine baking Irish soda bread and naan

This solitude can be a blessing for the large number of type A personality multisport athletes. It can be a place of self reflection and you guessed it, serenity. It can also be a little lonely. Intervals and miles can tick by with no other contact than your own thoughts.

Especially in Florida, we have not only a very robust multisport population but also large number of runners and cyclists. So at any given time you can have countless athletes all on their own training sessions and individual journeys.

Speedy and El Duderino 2 month comparison

Here is where we find my favorite part of the multisport social interaction. Next time you are out shopping or running errands see how many people wave, nod, or otherwise acknowledge you. Now keep that same count on your next training activity.

The nod, wave, smile, salute, or general acknowledgement, while a simple gesture, is a powerful proclamation. It is the recognition from one athlete to another. An endorsement and an affirmation of two different but parallel purposes. A support system that strengthens spirit on even the dreariest of training days.

Isn’t that what we need as a country and as a species in these troubling times? A simple and quiet acknowledgement of parallel purposes. Running already brings us towards Serenity, the simple acknowledgement can help us pass it on.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

This week in SerenityThroughSweat, Speedy turns 2 months old, El Duderino “helps” with quarantine baking, team TriGoodBeer puts on a virtual Covid-19km run, and some much needed mobility work and projectile meditation.