Two For Tuesday
It’s a Tuesday, I’m traveling, and I have two things to talk about.
1. Traveling Alone
Normally when I travel I have at least one other person with me. On this particular trip to Orlando, I am on my own for an educational conference. That means that it’s up to me to soak up all the info/knowledge, go back to Denver, and do a brain dump to everyone at the company. No biggie.
The fun and exhausting part is meeting new people. Believe it or not, I’m not always Type A outgoing personality. I play the part in short spurts, but try to pace myself. There goes that whole long distance mentality again. Maybe I should take advantage of that somehow …
Anyway, I’m stuck with balancing the get-as-much-networking-done on this trip with normal work to do and fitting in running. The ideal situation would be to combine the two, but looking around the conference attendees, I don’t get a running vibe. Still, I’m making sure to hit the gym each morning. Fortunately, the hotel has room service so this morning I scheduled to have coffee & Greek yogurt with honey delivered about the time I would be done my run. Finished my 5.5 miles, walked up to my hotel room, and waiting there in front of my door was my feast! Modern conveniences and planning … great stuff!
Halfway through the conference and I’ve caught a couple new pieces of information, reaffirmed what I already knew, and talk to some interesting people. Success.
2. A Run Done is a Run Learned
I made the mistake of looking at my running history over the past 8 months. When I say ‘mistake’ I’m referring to the depressing feeling that resulted from it. July 2011 I ran 129 miles. Between August and December, I ran 76-94 miles a month. Then came January … non-running injury, more consulting work, increase energy from kids: 44 miles. The previous January I logged 75 miles, so to see half the miles logged doesn’t feel well.
Here’s where data can trick you though. Those are just numbers on a page. It doesn’t give you the entire picture of what really happened during that time. Too often people look at data and make assumptions. In my experience, data can be shown to get a point across. It may not be the entire picture, so you can’t look at the numbers without asking some questions.
As I continue telling people, there is no such thing as a bad run. If you moved forward, broke a sweat, got things going, then it’s a success. Something may have gone wrong … stomach issues, pain, mental fatigue … the key is to identify that and think about how to avoid that in the future. This process helps you take something from each run you do. I don’t call them workouts, I call them practice.
Oh wait, sounds like I need to take my own advice. See, I learned something!
Haha, great job on getting it all done while traveling! Didn’t even realize you usually traveled with someone! It truly is amazing the things you can get done with a little planning <—I'm still working to retain that information.
Great comments on looking at data! It's so true….numbers can be deceiving because what about life that was taking place all around you during the lower mileage months! You are such a great source of putting things into perspective!