Inspiration Tuesday - Miyoko Shida

The incredible power of concentration.
What are your dreams?

Inspiration Tuesday - Colonel Sanders

KFC's Colonel Harland Sanders was fired from a dozen jobs during his life before finalizing his "secret recipe" fried chicken in 1940 at the age of 50.

During the 1950s, I-75 was built and by-passed his restaurant a few miles to the west. The restaurant failed and he was broke at the age of 65.

With his monthly $105 social security check as his sole source of income, he drove around persuading owners of local diners to use his recipe and give him a nickel commission on each chicken.

In a few years Sanders was making $1000 a day.

Winning the Lottery

Recently the Powerball lottery was over $600 million.  For several days, I allowed myself to dream about winning the the money.  I was going to buy my dad a new car, donate some to charity, and buy a house/office space for myself.  Inevitably I lost and was glum.  

It got me thinking about "waiting for the world to change" vs being proactive and making do with what I have.  In Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, David and Goliath, he challenges our concepts of advantages and disadvantages.  He examined topics such as wealth, civil rights leaders, & dyslexia to show how "underdogs" used the status to their advantage.

If I had more money, I would probably rely on it to build my career vs building my career through being a great psychologist.  It's much easier to work hard when you are forced to than when you have a comfy life.  It's also much easier to say "we can't afford that" than to say "no" to things that may have negative consequences.

That's not to say a challenging life is a bed of roses, but if we are fortunate enough to have at least one support source, we can overcome any perceived obstacle.

When I think about it, I don't need millions of dollars to be happy.  Even small wins such as successfully cooking a souffle or receiving a compliment or learning something new makes me feel good.  It brightens the rest of my day and makes irritating people less annoying.  Small wins are something I can generate for myself each day.

Learning to love what I have.
Bryan

The Space Between

                 The space between our ears is radically effected by what we take via our auditory and optical nerves. I can't say that I do a great job at managing what my brain is exposed to, but I do my best.

My first love, outside of music, is reading.  In high school I would ask my English teachers for book suggestions outside of our required reading.  It was at that time I found myself stumbling down the rabbit hole of reading great literary works and I have never looked back. I remember reading books like: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, The Cather in the Rye by J.D Salinger and The Blue Eye by Toni Morrison. Unfortunately this combination lead my young mind to a very dark place, which took some time to recover from. The book I loved the most from this era of my life was One Hundred Years of  Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The book encapsulates everything I love: history, Latin America, love, and poetic writing.




Although I can't say I have read any great literary works this past year. I did read a couple of self improvement books that I would recommend.  Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat- Zinn.

I love that this book is a quick, easy read that reiterates the importance and value of living in the present moment. The book explores the inordinate amount of stress we bring upon ourselves by over analyzing what has yet to come or what has come to pass. I also love how he offers beneficial examples throughout the book for how to live a more peaceful life.









The other book I really enjoyed was Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown.  I was inspired to read this book after watching her TED Talk (see below).  Although I have always embraced my imperfections, I really enjoyed reading and gaining a better understanding of those that do struggle with being comfortable in their own skin.

This year, inspired partly by my husband's recent reading quest, I have reignited my own love of read.  I started the year with Seeing, a great book by the noble prize winner Jose Saramargo. 

In an effort to continue my reading streak I have created a list of what I hope to read in 2014. It's a mix
of great literary works, books on self improvement, historical lit., and spiritual growth. Below is my list:

• Present Perfect by Gregory Boyd “Don’t try to feel his presence. In fact, don’t try to do anything at all. Simply be mindful of the fact that you are, in this present moment, submerged in the ocean of God’s perfect love… Stop reading for a second and just breathe in God’s presence as you take your next couple breaths. Then, as you continue to read, see how often you can remind yourself of that fact.” Greg Boyd is one of my favorite Christian authors.  I have never had a strong prayer life but the services below have inspired me to recommit myself to a active prayer life. God needs Prayer , Honest to God and Imagining Prayer. This final service is what lead me to want to read "Perfect Present". If you're wondering how I find time to listen to all these podcast. The majority of my listening occurs will I am exercising on the biking.

• A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines by Janna Levin
• The Practicing Mind; Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life by Thomas M. Sterner
• The Book of Sand and Shakespeare's Memory by Jorge Luis Borges
• Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's fight over World War II, 1939- 1941 by Lynne Olson
• Resilience: Why Thing's Bounce Back by Andrew Zolli
• The Language of Mathematics: Making the Invisible Visible by Keith Devlin   
• Mr. Worry By Rodger Hargreaves (A Christmas gift form my husband. Fun, quick, & thought provoking.)
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (Inspired by my husband who has repeated referenced this book in various conversations.)

Wishing you all the best in the New Year!

Onwards and Upwards, T

Inspiration Tuesday - Walt Disney

In 1919, Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star newspaper for his "lack of creativity."  His editor said he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas."

However, that was not the last of his failures. Walt Disney then acquired Laugh-O-Gram, an animation studio, which he drove into bankruptcy.

Inspiration Tuesday - Happiness

Try Something New

My top two suggestions for stress management are: try something new and eliminate something that is unnecessary.  I recently talked about eliminating the unnecessary.  With the new year upon us I thought I'd take a brief moment to talk about my other suggestion of adding something new.

Adding something new can bring a touch of joy to your day.  It gives you something to look forward to and a sense of adventure.  It doesn't even need to take more than 5-10 minutes.  I recently added swimming with bands around my ankles.  It was an attempt to improve my swimming and unexpectedly it has made swimming more exciting.

I've also been setting weekly goals for myself in a shared adventure with a few other athletes.  Each week, we'll attempt something new to improve our lives.  One week I massaged my legs for 10 minutes each day, another week I prayed for other people each night.  This week I'm listening to relaxing sounds on my Kindle Fire for 5 minutes each day.

Recently after listening to a podcast by Monica Reinagel, where she mentioned that she eats a new fruit each week to add pleasure and reduce her sugar cravings, I decided to take up her suggestion.  I tried Cherimoya (tastes like papaya), Persimmons (tastes like a mango), and Horned Melon (tastes like a cucumber with a touch of sweetness).  Below are a few other exotic fruits for anyone interested in trying this new venture:

Dragon Fruit

Aguaje fruit (Dec-June)        Cherimoya (Oct-May)                      Cupuacu (Jan-Apr)
Dragon fruit (June-Dec)        Durian (June-Aug)                           Feijoas (Mar-June)
Guavas (Sept-Dec)              Horned Melon (Aug-May)                 Jackfruit (Apr-Sept)
Langsat (July-Sept)              Lychee (June-July)                           Kiwi (Oct-May)
Kumquats (Jan-Mar)            Pepino (Feb-May)                            Persimmon (Oct-Feb)
Pomegranates (Sept-Feb)    Pomelos (Jan-Feb)                         Rambutan (Mar-Sept)

Here's to trying something new in the new year. I hope that the experience is equally rewarding for you as it has been for me.

Bryan

2014 Plan

      Each year I set new training goals for myself based on observations from the previous year.  For 2014 I have decided to focus on steady sustainable progress and saying 'no' to things that aren't necessary.  Over time, I have come to believe that an abundance of intense or long efforts is not going to dramatically improve my performance.  I see improvements as analogous to how a souffle rises.  Positive results require patience.  Too much heat and the souffle does not have time to rise.  In training, too much effort when the body is not ready leads to injury or stunted development.  In addition, I plan to focus on small intangibles such as percent body fat, mental resilience, and body awareness.

      I developed the details of my 2014 plan by reviewing notes from the coaches I admire most: Mark Allen, Arthur Lydiard, Tim Noakes, Brett Sutton, Darren Smith, and Gordo Byrn.  Mark Allen encourages athletes to train aerobically until they plateau then add in some anaerobic training until the next plateau.  Lydiard, the great New Zealand track coach, encourages periodization with plenty of hills and short fast speed work.  Dr. Noakes sites studies on VO2 max and threshold training that revealed benefits being maxed out at 3 weeks.  He also found research that said 4 minutes at 85% VO2 max and 30 seconds at 175% VO2 max were the best efforts to improve performance.  Brett Sutton used to limit Chrissie Wellington's long rides to 5 hr.  Darren Smith, who coached Lisa Norden to a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics, intentionally under-trains his athletes so they can maintain consistency without injury.  Gordo, who trained with Dave Scott and Scott Molina as well as co-wrote books with Joe Friel, limits all his athletes, even 50 mile runners, to 2 hour long runs.

Frequent Training
I will continue to train frequently, cycling and running 6 days a week and swimming 5 days.  I believe frequent training improves muscle memory and durability.  As the workout distance increases, there are diminishing returns on physiological adaptations.  Thus the suggestions from Sutton and Gordo to limit long rides to 5 hr and long runs to 2 hr.  By training frequently, I can be very efficient with my time and efforts.  


Fun Aerobic Efforts
I will alternate 8 weeks of aerobic training w/ 2 weeks of overload, in the spirit of Allen and Lydiard's advice.  Training for nonprofessionals needs to be fun.  It is not my source of income nor self worth.  Keeping it fun will also prevent burnout, aid recovery, and improve my sleep.  The goal is 1-2 hr of aerobic training each day.  If I'm not feeling up to my planned routine, I have the option to do any aerobic exercise for 1 hr.  I believe occasional deviations are good and the only way to maintain sustainability.  Otherwise it will lead to burnout, injury, or spending fitness trying to do something the body is not ready to do that day.  A touch of speed work, one day each week, will also be incorporated to maintain overload adaptations.

Overload
During my 2 weeks of overload, I will increase volume and intensity to shock the system and stimulate new growth. I will focus on 30 sec efforts at 175% VO2 max in accordance with Dr Noakes' research findings.

Weight Training
I will conduct wt training sessions 2-3 x week with a mixture of moderate to heavy weights depending on the training period.  Through wt sessions, I hope to reduce age associated muscle loss, stimulate beneficial hormones, prevent injury, and strengthen stabilizing muscles.  Weight training is also an opportunity to induce more load on the muscles than possible through swim, bike, or run.

Core Training
I will engage in core stability exercises 6 days/wk for 10 minutes to improve balance, form, and to provide a strong link between the upper and lower body.

Mental Training
I plan to practice sport psychology exercises 6 days a week for 5-10 minutes to improve my confidence, ability to maintain focus, and reduce the perception of pain.

Assessment
I will assess my physical state 6 days a week, through morning heart rate and muscle soreness, to prevent over-training and to stay in line with principles set forth by Allen and Darren Smith.

Be Lean
I will reduce my percentage of body fat to improve my watts per kg.  The fastest athletes tend to have the highest watts/kg.  Lean athletes also have less weight to carry and less mass to cool.

To hold myself accountable I will routinely ask myself: "Am I building fitness or am I spending it?"  I will do my best to train to my physical and mental state each day.  I believe these practices will allow me to have success and sustainability.