Running – Page 6 – Serenity Through Sweat

Autopilot

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I’m working my way through Influence The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini and he made an interesting connection that I wanted to explore here.

The book covers seven levers of influence that work on a subconscious psychological level to run and manage our behavior. Each lever of influence is discussed in depth with fascinating experimental examples to illustrate not only how powerful these effects are but also how much we underestimate their importance.

I highly recommend it as a read for an overall enhanced perspective as well as increased ability to recognize and combat what he calls “click, run” behavior. Behavior that can be triggered by a lever of influence (click), and then like a computer program, is run almost without our knowing.

In the chapter on social proof, the lever of influence that we are more inclined to do what everyone else is doing, Cialdini likens this neural response to an autopilot.

“the evidence it offers is valuable, with it we can sail confidently through countless decisions without having to investigate the pros and cons of each. In this sense, the principle equips us with a wonderful kind of autopilot device not unlike that aboard most aircraft. Yet there are occasional, but real, problems with autopilots. Those problems appear whenever the flight information locked into the control mechanism is wrong.”

I know a thing or two about autopilot usage. Training on modern aircraft is essentially broken down into two parts, the aircraft systems, and the FMS or the flight management system which is comprised of flight computers and autopilots.

These flight management systems have become so complex, and so integral to aircraft operation, that learning how to manipulate the system is just as important as being able to manipulate the aircraft itself.

In a statistically invalid survey of my aviator friends as well as my own observations, most commercial flights are controlled by the autopilot for upwards of 95% of the flight. This makes sense, the autopilot doesn’t fatigue, is more fuel efficient, is reliable, and consistent. It is also dumb.

By this I mean the autopilot is very good at doing what it is told, even if what it is told will not produce a desirable outcome. It cannot think, it can only execute. This is one of the most common issues with autopilot related incidents, not that the autopilot malfunctions per se, but that in some way the autopilot is not doing what the pilot wants it to.

This generally happens for a number of reasons, including: the pilot puts an incorrect input into the system, the pilot wants to change an input in the system and fails to do so, or one input conflicts with another input and the computer “chooses” which one to follow based on its programming.

Some more concrete examples of the above mentioned improper pilot-autopilot interface are: a pilot setting the altitude to 10,000 feet when they really meant to set 12,000, a pilot trying to depress the button to initiate a descent but failing to depress the button fully and not engaging the descent mode, and a pilot inputting 10,000 feet and engaging the descent mode but failing to realize he also put in a constraint at 12,000 feet where to autopilot will stop the descent.

In each of these examples, the autopilot can fly the aircraft with a higher level of consistency, accuracy, and reliability, than the pilot, and it will do so to the wrong altitude. As pilots, when we interface improperly with our autopilots, bad things tend to happen. The same thing can be said, and is by Cialdini, about the autopilot systems of our brain.

The dilemma with all of the levers of influence as presented by Cialdini, is that they are mostly benefitial to our lives. The sheer volume of information that we process everyday can be overwhelming, and these levers of influence offer real life neural short cuts, evolutionarily proven methods of making the better decision without the costly investment in analysis. “Because the autopilot afforded by the principle of social proof is more often an ally than an antagonist, we can’t be expected to want to simply disconnect it”

A beautiful morning for a run in Green Bay

It is when we have an improper input into the system, fail to engage the system in the way that we truly desire, or have conflicting system inputs, that our neural autopilot causes us problems. As pilots we develop procedures and checklists to help avoid these errors, and when all else fails we disconnect the automation and fly the airplane.

That is the core message at the end of every chapter from Cialdini. All of these levers of influence are based on automatic systems in the brain, and that we need to understand how to manage the inputs, and when all else fails to disconnect the system and fly ourselves.

I know I am often a slave to my routine, and while that makes some of my decision making easier, it also leaves me susceptible to those same autopilot mistakes. Sometimes it is refreshing to click off the automation and re-experience the beauty of operating the machine, whether it is a Boeing or a human athlete.

Putting in some zwift and Peleton miles ahead of the start of my race season

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

Uh-Oh

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been doing some research on a new project that is a somewhat related labor of love to the blog. While I’m not ready to reveal the details of the project just yet, it is based around language and communication.

I remember having a conversation with one of my ultimate frisbee and triathlon friends Josh, where he used the analogy of an iceberg to describe hobbies. Like the behemoth that sank the Titanic, only 10 percent was visible from the surface, the rest was hidden underwater. Almost any activity worth pursuing, tends to have the same characteristic, especially when being observed by a beginner.

The only way you will ever know how big the iceberg is, and how deep it goes, is to get wet and dive in to the topic headfirst.

So for the past few weeks I have been swimming in the waters of language and communication, getting just the beginnings of sense, of how big the iceberg really is.

This blog in many ways, has been a learning tool for me. A means by which I can grow as a writer, communicator, father , and so many more things.

This quote from Jerrold J. Katz in The Philosophy of Language, describes this idea eloquently, if not for the over academic rhetoric;

Don Quixote and sancho out to slay the dinosaur

“the process of linguistic communication is conceived as one in which the speaker, in his production of speech, encodes his inner, private thoughts and ideas in the form of some external, publicly observable, acoustic phenomena, and the hearer, in his comprehension of speech, decodes the structure of such objective phenomena in the form of an inner, private experience of the same thoughts and ideas. Language is thus viewed as an instrument of communication of thoughts and ideas which enables those who know the same language to associate the same meanings with each of the significant sound sequences in the language.”

Katz is obviously talking in this example about spoken language, but the same concept applies to written language. It is an instrument by which we convey inner, private experience of thoughts and ideas to one another.

Yet as anyone who is married, or has kids, or both, can attest, there is great frustration when the inner private thoughts of the speaker (or writer) and the hearer (or reader) don’t sync up.

Meal prepping for my solo stay with the boys, brisket, burnt ends, sausage lava balls, and smoked cream cheese.

This is one of the greatest causes of frustration for all humans, and the instrument in question (language/communication) is one whopper of an iceberg.

It was with this research fresh in my mind, that I noticed a particularly behavior in Speedy that is as relevant as it is adorable (except for the cleaning up)

Speedy is babbling a lot, (as most 16 month old do), but it’s also becoming more effective at communicating his wants and needs. One thing he has picked up on is “Uh-Oh”

Speedy before he starts experimenting with gravity

It normally takes him a few tries, you may hear an “uh-uh”, an “oh-uh”, or even an “oh-oh” before he gets it right, but eventually the “Uh-Oh” comes out, normally followed by a parentally reciprocated smile.

Speedy has figured out that contextually, this particular instrument of language is often uttered when something falls. Of course for those of us using it in a classical sense this means whatever was dropped was on accident.

Speedy often takes a more deliberate approach in order to practice his new favorite language instrument, throwing whatever he can get a hold of off his highchair tray and then practicing his vocalizations.

Speedy mastering the Uh-Oh after the food throw

Without totally ruling out that my 16 month old has a strong grasp of irony (not unreasonable considering his genetic makeup), he is using his language instrument in the way he has observed his brother, mother, and me use it. When something hits the floor we often say “Uh-Oh”. Still, I can assure you regardless of my reciprocated smile, our private inner thoughts are not the same after the fourteenth broccoli floret finds the floor.

His I can only presume is an inner thought of triumph at both the correct usage of “Uh-Oh”as well as the mastery of the modern marvel that is gravity. My inner thoughts vary from amused to annoyed based on what iteration we are currently on.

It is relatively easy with a 16 month old to see when the communication process breaks down. Especially with modern means of mass communication, how many “Uh-Oh” moments do you come across in a given day? Is it possible you have some without even realizing it?

Lots of sprint watts and lots of miles on the trainer

Words are hard, finding the right ones is even harder, and trying to understand someone elses private inner thoughts based on sometimes inadequate word choices is next to impossible. Language is the instrument that sets us apart, and serenity awaits those who can matter their instrument.

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

This week also saw a short run, a kettlebell workout, and a (hopefully) minor injury on my return to Jui jitsu.

Pacing

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week I am very excited to talk about pacing.

After signing up for Ironman FL 70.3, and trying to follow a more primal approach to both my diet and my exercise, I have spent the last eight weeks in an aerobic base building phase.

Eight long weeks of limiting my heart rate to 180-age beats per minute. There were times when I felt like I was crawling. There were times when I wanted to spit out the bit, rip off the bridle and let my legs loose. There was more than one occasion where I considered smashing my fancy gps watch with a heart rate monitor, that chirped so innocently at me, reminding me of my departure from aerobic training zones.

Finishing up that base building phase and entering a speed phase felt like being released from a cage. My first sprint workout, the singular focus, the tunnel vision, the wind rushing past my ears, the awareness of the restraint that had been removed to let my legs explode, propelling me down the pavement produced a primal liberation. A liberation not just of my heart, lungs, and legs, but also my mind and my mood.

Endurance training is its own special kind of masochism. There is no way around a little suffering if you want to complete long and hard physical challenges, normally however, they come with a chemical/hormonal reward pathway. This is our body’s way of initiating the fight or flight response, and become better suited to complete those same challenges again in the future. Testosterone, human growth hormone, cortisol, and insulin like growth factor 1, are all elevated after endurance training sessions.

This chemical reward is a notable component of SerenityThroughSweat. I’m not above a little chemically induced serenity, I just prefer sweat as the acquisition currency.

And right back to low and slow miles on a long CAE layover

Limiting yourself to the aerobic zones, removes a significant amount of that chemical reward. Studies show that reduced relative work intensity, especially in trained, as opposed to sedentary individuals, will produce a corresponding reduction in hormonal response.

This meant eight weeks of long, slow, miles in the saddle or on the trail, with an incessant heart rate monitor chirping, and a diminished chemical return at the end. Nonetheless, this aerobic base building is an essential part of my training program, one that requires appropriate pacing.

Typically, pacing is used in the connotation conserving energy, so as not to tire out before the finish. This aerobic only pacing was more like completing the session using only half the tank. This was training with an artificial, and annoying, constraint.

Getting underway on the next SerenityThroughSweat project

There is a purpose to the pacing though. Even at anaerobic sprint intensities, upwards of 70% of your energy come from the aerobic production system. At sub-maximal efforts, like those in most endurance events or everyday activities, that percentage is even higher.

Building your aerobic engine, slogging through those slow, laborious miles, is training the engine that powers the vast majority of your activity. It may not be glamorous, but it is the work that pays dividends.

Training primarily aerobically also paces your body to respond to the chemical and hormonal rewards we mentioned above. The body is much better at noticing relative change, than it is overall levels. Said another way, if you are constantly chasing the a runner’s high into a red zone heart rate, your body will adapt to those elevated chemical levels. If your training is primarily aerobic, those high intensity sessions send a powerful chemical signal because the levels of the suite of growth hormones are elevated, relative to normal training response.

Recovery work and an MAF test, all 150 bpm or below with constant reminders

I see a lot of similarity in my interactions with my boys, especially El Duderino. The emotional and chemical reward I feel when they learn how to do something for the first time is a high I will keep chasing.

But the majority of our interactions seem like a crawl toward progress, (often with the same reminder to keep my heart rate down).

Maybe you are less familiar with burnout from a training regimen, but I think every parent has felt burnout at some point. Pacing, of energy, effort, engagement, and expectations, can make all the difference in finishing a day with hugs and smiles versus resentments, and frustrations.

When in doubt remember that pacing is your friend, and no matter how annoying it is, that incessant chirping reminder to adhere to your pace can help guide you towards serenity.

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

Enough

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I just finished Primal Endurance by Mark Sisson and Brad Kearns, and wanted to talk about one of my biggest takeaways from the book; when enough is enough.

As a niche follow on to their previous work The Primal Blueprint, Primal Endurance eschews the same values of the earlier work onto the hard charging, type A endurance athlete.

In a space where more milage is always thought to be better, and training consistency is key, the author’s urge a more simplistic and intuitive approach as seen in the quote below.

I remember an almost identical quote from Altered Carbon which I wrote about back in March of 2020 (Dystopian Shopping). The rebellion leader Quellcrist Falconer tells her disciples to “Take what is offered, and that must sometimes be enough”

The thought that too many of us are pushing beyond what is safe, sensible, or strategically sound, is a common thread that most endurance athletes can agree on, if we are able to step back for an honest assessment.

The same holds true for aviators who are required to make that same assessment before each and every flight. When is enough, enough?

I can look back at my career as an aviator and as an athlete, and pinpoint the times when I failed to address this question properly. Each time I asked myself to deliver more than I had to give, mistakes were made, and consequences ensued.

Some mistakes were small, imperceptible even. Some where larger and embarrassing or painful. Some of the consequences were minor, while others were dire. Thankfully these are experiences I have been able to learn from and share.

As athletes we are encouraged, whether by a team, a coach, a culture, or even ourselves, to push the limits and test the boundaries of our own achievement. And while I believe this to be one of the noblest pursuits to engage in, it is easy to get carried away.

El Duderino’s new rug really ties the room together and testing the capacity on the new youth sleeping bag

As aviators we tend to be mission driven, and that makes it even easier to take more than is offered in the name of mission completion. While our track record as an industry is impressive, most of us can attest, (I certainly can) to going to the well too often.

I think this trend extends into parenthood sometimes as well. There is a cultural feeling amongst American parents that you are only as good of a parent as that which you sacrifice for your children.

I love my boys deeply, in a way that is impossible for me to simplify into a few paragraphs on a blog. I know that this love has, and will continue to, drive me to take more than I would be otherwise willing or able to give from myself in service to them.

It isn’t even a choice on a conscious level, but one that I think is already a predetermined guiding principle in most parents. That makes it even more important, to respect when your body has given enough in the other aspects of your life.

Building aerobic base, trying to trust the process chewing on the bridle of restricted heart rate

With training volume increasing ahead of Ironman FL 70.3 in December, flying schedule ramping back up, and the demands of fathering two young boys, I have a lot on my plate. I have a creeping feeling of anxiety, that I’ve bit off more than I can chew, and what I have to offer won’t be enough.

I have tried to cultivate habits and a lifestyle that maximize my potential, and facilitate challenging pursuits. I am still learning to respect my own limits, and take only what my body has to offer each day, letting that be enough. While it is difficult for me to relinquish attachment to the outcome, I’m finding serenity in the struggle, and hoping and trusting that it will be enough.

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

Proper

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I’ve been on a bit of a diet and nutrition reading kick lately, and I wanted to share some insights I’ve gleaned, as well as how those ideas cross over into other areas of my life.

I remember one particular group training ride when I was preparing for Ironman FL in 2013. With an on call work schedule most of my rides were solo, as my availability was different than people with “normal” 9-5 type schedules. Still I tried to get out with friends or the local velo group that met up outside the wing joint/surfer bar whenever I could.

I was joining the B group for 20ish miles at an 18-21 mph pace, and the group leader had pulled out last minute leaving another regular member to take over as the pace setter up front. This rider was already planning on joining the ride, just not leading it, but I remember her saying “I didn’t have the proper nutrition today for this”

Before we go any further I can’t introduce “proper” without the applicable wedding crashers reference.

Clearly John, Jeremy, and the hatted young lady all seem to have differing definitions of proper, so what exactly is proper, and how does it apply to our nutrition?

Back to the original story, the ride was uneventful, in fact I don’t think I could tell you anything else about it, but that comment is something I remember all these years later.

Now conventional wisdom in the triathlon community supported her assertion, that there was a right and wrong nutrition prior to efforts of different lengths and intensities. I can personally attest to the effects of having the wrong nutrition both through bonking (running out of energy on a workout specifically glucose in the brain) and a host of gastro-intestinal issues that are better left to the imagination.

Still, the idea that otherwise well fed athletes could have the “wrong” or “improper” nutrition for a relatively minor change in training than their original plan seemed farcical to me, even though I understood it and had experienced it.

I wrote a few weeks ago about metabolic flexibility, and you can read that post for more details and links to check out when it comes to alternating between fuel substrates. The cliff notes version is; not taking in the “proper nutrition” for a mundane training ride is not a concern for metabolically flexible athletes.

Sunny FL days at the splash pad, and daddy improvising after forgetting a dry change of clothes.

Humans are designed to function in the face of widely varying caloric inputs and outputs. Think hunter/gatherers persistence hunting for a few days before successfully bringing home the bacon (literally). I think you’ll be okay if you skip that Clif bar in-between second breakfast and elevenses (or all of those calorie consumption opportunities for that matter)

Missing a snack or even a meal shouldn’t leave you phoning it in for the rest of day. As Vick’s reminds us, Mom’s and Dads don’t take sick days, nor do they get to omit parental responsibilities in the face of hunger, (or sometimes hAnger)

The question remains, what then is proper nutrition? As in most cases, taxonomy is important and proper is defined as follows; “adapted or appropriate to the purpose or circumstance”. I think adapted is of particular importance. In the case of our bike group leader, her body was adapted to a specific level, type, and timing of caloric consumption, and thus her nutrition could have been improper for the circumstance. (We’ll give her the benefit of the doubt anyway)

Whereas we are all genetically capable of high functioning without caloric input, if/when our bodies are adapted. In our bike ride example the adapted part of the definition of proper is mostly focused externally (on the nutrition/fuel), when it should really be focused internally (on the body/engine).

If you could only fill up your car’s gas tank from one particular pump at one particular station and it only held a few gallons, your everyday errands would be logistically challenging. Yet, that is the paradigm of “proper nutrition” promoted by conventional wisdom like “grazing” eating multiple small meals, and incessant snacking.

Whether it is in the context of an athletic endeavor, a day parenting, or working around the house, proper nutrition, is that which allows you to complete the mission without compromised performance, and without thinking about it. There are many ways to get there, but some are much more cumbersome than others.

My proper nutrition is continually evolving and changing. But there are some guidelines that help me hone in on what works. I want to enjoy and appreciate my food, rather than obsess over what, when, and how much I’m eating. I want to feel unlimited by my fuel, no bloating, no bonking, and no detrimental health effects. I’m working on being more open-minded as to what types of food and eating patterns help me meet these goals. What does your proper nutrition look like?

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

Teammate training ride, MAF treadmill test, and layover morning miles in Tulsa

Tangible

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Today I want to talk about something I struggle with both personally and professionally, the nature of a tangible finished product.

I think all of us feel a sense of pride and purpose from a completed project. There is something about our own creation, something new where before there was something old, or even nothing, that fills a hole inside all of us.

Even the simplest of tasks can produce a spectrum of emotion inside and generate the momentum necessary for a positive day. But it is easy to overlook so many of our tasks because the world we live in has moved away from the tangible.

An early birthday celebration for Speedy

As a pilot I struggle with this concept. On a given three or four day trip I will fly hundreds if not a few thousand people. Each of them have a story, a reason for traveling, and connecting them from point A to point B is an important and fulfilling endeavor.

But, at the end of a long day of flying sometimes it is hard to remember where I even went. There is nothing to show for my day’s work, just another hotel room and another day’s worth of missions ahead. The service I provide is very real and valuable, but it lacks a tangible nature that serves as a validation and a reminder of worth.

Fitness has a lot of the same characteristics. Miles run or biked, kettlebells swung, pull-ups rep’d, they are all valuable and worthy endeavors. Oftentimes though we are left only with a puddle of sweat and delayed onset muscle soreness as our only reminder of the work that was done.

I think that is why I feel a special sense of fulfillment when I complete a project around the house. To build, to create, to progress through a planned project, producing something new, scratches an itch that is left unattended by my other endeavors.

My wife requested a new bench for our kitchen table. The project was a relatively simple one, and we were able to involve the whole family in one way or another. The result is nothing special, but it is functional, matches the existing table, and is more resilient than it’s predecessor.

Beyond that it is a tangible creation, a useful household item shaped by family hands, and a reminder of the fruits of our labor. The bench project has been a nice change of pace from a expiration based service job and a a fitness journey that is mostly solo (especially during covid).

I hope that we are all able to find serenity in both the tangible and the intangible as they ebb and flow through our lives.

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

Grind

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week I want to talk about an article from trail runner magazine I recently came across, and it’s scientifically backed message to embrace the grind.

The article (found here) references a 2019 study (found here) published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research on the training predictors of success in elite long distance runners. The cliff notes version, is that there is no magic workout, the greatest predictor of success is volume of easy runs.

As with any scientific experiment, it is important to understand what was being measured and tested, and what the limitations of the study were, in order to draw any reasonable conclusions about the results and what they mean for our own training.

The study only looked at male elite athletes, and categorized their training as: short intervals, long intervals, tempo running, easy running, and racing. The intervals and the tempo categories were differentiated by distance and percentage of max heart rate.

The athletes reported their training regimens as well as their results at events and the data was analyzed at the three, five, and seven year mark.

As David Roche from trail runner points out, every athlete is an N=1 experiment. For those of you not academically or scientifically inclined, N is the sample size in a controlled study. Roche makes the important distinction that even though 85 male athletes from the same sport were in the study, each one has his own biodiversity and variables which are important to acknowledge.

With all that annoying science and reading stuff out of the way, what this study really means for average joe athletes, is embrace the grind. The most significantly correlated predictor of success is volume of easy runs. In other words… Just go run.

It’s not the maximum effort, is not tabata or HIIT, it’s not a new pair of shoes or an altitude mask, it’s repetition of the most basic and fundamental motion that will ultimately predict success.

I think that is true of almost all endeavors, grind out the repetitive volume of the fundamentals, and the results will follow. SerenityThroughSweat is an ultra, and serenity is found in the grind.

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

How Far We’ve Come

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I’m sitting post run in Greenville, SC where I wrote the first edition of the blog back in mid November, and thinking of how far we’ve come.

I have an eclectic taste in music, especially for different types of workouts. There is a special dopamine rush when that perfect 90’s alt rock song comes on unexpectedly in a workout. Energy seems to materialize from the ether, and I can go from boarding the struggle bus, back to a spring in my step. Matchbox twenty’s how far we’ve come has always been one of those songs for me.

Sleepy sloth hugs art project from El Duderino

A drum solo start, a punchy guitar line, up tempo beats, Rob Thomas talking about the end of days, it’s got everything I need to sprint out the last few miles home. The lyrics seem deceptively appropriate for where we find ourselves six months into a pandemic and an election year.

“I’m waking up at the start of the end of the world, but it’s feeling just like every other morning before,” “I believe the world is burning to the ground, oh well I guess we’re gonna find out, let’s see how far we’ve come”

El Duderino taking the wheel on the walk with Speedy, while mommy gets in some bike miles

On their own and out of context, the lyrics make it sound like a sad song, one of desperation and defeat. It never struck me that way listening to it, and the music video (I don’t know if those are still a thing anymore, but they were in the 90’s and the 00’s) paints a different picture. It shows scenes of human triumph and progress like the moon landing, Muhammad Ali winning the world heavy weight title, and the Berlin Wall coming down.

There is no denying the pain and suffering that has occurred in the last six months, but look how far we’ve come. Public health and well being is now a priority on a level I’ve certainly never seen before in this country. As a nation we are having productive discussions on race, justice, and policing that are well overdue.

First time cooking in the new Z grills pellet grill. Smoked picanaha and veggies were awesome

On a personal level, I started this blog ten months ago to talk about fitness and parenting. It was as much of a personal indulgence (writing about my own endeavors) as it was a meaningful platform with a message I hope to share with my boys. I can look back over that short time and see how far I’ve come, as a parent, an athlete, and a writer.

I’ve become focused at a level I haven’t been since I was writing my thesis, not just on producing content, but also consuming it. The amount I read, fiction and non fiction, and listen to podcasts has increased tremendously. My intake of instructional posts, blogs, and videos for grappling, fitness, nutrition, and mobility has skyrocketed. Speedy, being born early on in all of this craziness, was a blessing helping me to take stock of things that really matter in my life. It also forced me to evaluate and evolve my parenting with two boys at home with no daycare.

First time on the bike since father’s day. New shoes, new cleats, and a whole lot of dropping the hammer on the last 5 miles

I’ve written before about Serenity as a journey or a series of fleeting moments, more so than a destination. I’m grateful for these post run moments of clarity where even though I’m not there yet, and I may never get there, I can reflect on how far we’ve come.

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

Layover miles on the swamp rabbit trail is Greenville

Reality

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. As I was laying down some Sunday morning miles on my layover in Appleton Wisconsin, I saw the mural (above) and it reminded me of one of my favorite quotes. “If you see entrapment you will be stuck, If you see redemption you will be saved, reality is largely dependent on what you are willing to see it as”

Attending Catholic school from K-12 I had always found comfort and guidance in religion. (There were some unanswered questions but that is a topic for another time). A teacher, deacon, priest, or coach who could take a biblical idea and reach across generational boundaries to leave an impression on young men is no small task. My high school wrestling coach used to say God, Family, Country, and Wrestling. The majority of my world view was shaped in this manner.

Speedy and El Duderino hanging out on the back porch, and El Duderino in the no cavity club.

There are plenty of bible stories about positive thinking, and I had no shortage of opportunities to learn and grow from shortcomings in my athletic pursuits, but somehow the message never transcended into a global world view until I found that quote. I stumbled upon it very unceremoniously in the horoscope section of my AOL sign on page one day, (back when AOL Instant messenger was still a thing). I’m not a horoscope person, and I don’t know why I chose to read it that day, but I’m glad that I did, since it has stuck with all these years.

I think this is the message that we need as a nation right now. There is undeniably an abundance of suffering and misfortune with everything COVID-19 related and the myriad of social justice issues that we face together. The best path forward is to focus on redemption, not entrapment, and reality is a whole lot brighter through that lens.

Together we will need to find new ways to make the things we need, and to provide the services we have come to value, in a safe, healthy, and efficient manner. Looking at the redemption side of our post Covid reality, it is bursting with opportunity for growth, innovation, and a chance to reprioritize social values we deem important.

I’ve talked in prior posts about reprioritization, the quote is not so much about the details, (which are important) but rather about the overall outlook. Being willing to look forward and see a path to redemption is not an easy task. It requires constant focus and often times we will need to self correct our course.

Reality, much like serenity, is a living and changing entity. The way we view it, define it, and ultimately strive for it, is dependent on what we are willing to see it as.

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

Sunday morning vibes, putting in miles on my layover.

Exposure

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Today I want to talk about exposure. Not in the sense of contact with a disease, but rather contact with each other and with our ideas.

Regardless of your risk aversion and where you fall on the stay at home spectrum, all of us have been seeing a lot less of each other recently. Technology has made this the best time ever to have to be quarantined, but there are still considerable side effects from our lack of exposure to one another.

Just like or immune system grows stronger by exposure to various microbes, our minds grow stronger by exposure to ideas. Obviously books, the internet, and most forms of media are still up and running, but humans are social creatures who are meant to interact. A large portion of those interactions has been removed, and thus a large portion of the ideas we share with each other.

I didn’t realize how much I was missing this exposure until I got back to work. I was far from solitary confinement, in fact as a pilot, this was probably the most consecutive nights I’ve spent with my wife ever. But all of the other human interaction and exchanges had been removed.

Most of the captains I fly with are at very different points in their life. Most have grown kids out of the house, some have grand kids. Most differ politically, religiously, and seldom enjoy the same hobbies as I do. But spending time with them, being exposed to their ideas, their story, and their experience, is helpful if I am willing let it be.

Sometimes it is seeing a situation and thinking, I hope I don’t handle it that way when I’m a captain. Sometimes it is an attitude or character attribute to be admired or one to be avoided. Sometimes it is a political or scientific idea so crazy you just have to laugh. The only way to test your own ideas and grow a more robust perspective, is to be exposed to those things in others listening openly and earnestly.

I’m grateful to be getting back to flying, and while my wife and I are both anxious about the additional social interactions, (especially with speedy still only three months old), I’m very grateful for the exposure.

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