Your optimum psi

Having raced a hard 10K the other evening and then hobbled stiffly and slowly round my morning mile the next day, I decided that it was about time that I pumped up my bicycle tyres before I headed into town, as I'd noticed for a while that they were quite a bit softer than they should be.

So here's the thing - I'd noticed that they were below their ideal pounds per square inch (psi) recommended range for several weeks and yet I'd ignored this fact and continued to ride my bike with soft(ish) tyres.

Why did I do this?

Because it always felt like I was in a hurry and too busy to stop and pump up the tyres, and it didn't seem like a big deal to leave it to the next day.

But when the next day arrived, the same thing happened turning into the next day after that and so on.

It was only when my legs felt really tired after my race the night before and in need of some extra help that I got round to doing the pumping.

As the whole pumping the tyres process took approximately five minutes and it immediately helped me to pedal with less effort, why did it take me so long to get round to doing it?

Why do I put off doing something for weeks that only takes five minutes, and will probably save me those five minutes in cycling time within a week?

I kept managing to fool myself that I was too busy and that I would pump up the tyres tomorrow. Every day I only looked at the situation that day and didn't project what I'd save myself in the future.

Ridiculous I know, but where else in my life could I be operating well below the psi I need to be effective because I'm only looking at the short term?

Where else would it be worth me stopping and spending five minutes to boost my own psi?

What about you?

Commit to be effective

There's a quote that I reposted on Facebook yesterday that comes from Paulo Coelho's book "Aleph", which goes, "If you only walk on sunny days, you will never reach your destination".

I love this quote and think it applies just as much to running as it does to walking. For that matter it probably applies to any number of different areas of life.

Before I started my run-a-mile-each-day experiment, some 886 days ago now, I definitely had certain types of weather that I preferred to run in. To some extent I still do, but it's not as pronounced any more.

Before I challenged myself with my run-a-mile-each-day experiment, I was much more likely to miss a day where weather conditions were less than favourable.

But the funny thing is that since I removed my option of allowing myself not to run every day (note that I removed it, not someone else - the choice is always mine at any time to discontinue the experiment or change it), I have grown to love running in driving rain, in strong wind, in snow, in cold and hot weather.

One of my favourite quotes is from William Hutchinson Murray and it goes,

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.”

The number of lessons that I've learnt, and continue to learn, from my run-a-mile-each-day experiment are too numerous to count, but they don't only relate to my running. They impact every single area of my life.

Commitment is something that many people are frightened of and shy away from, but the more I experiment the more I learn that commitment holds an incredible power and gives me strength that I never knew I had.

As Mr Murray so eloquently alluded to above if you want to be more effective, try commitment.

Why success follows celebrating

I looked at my running log this morning and noticed that I passed the 2,000 mile mark on Saturday morning from when I started my run a mile each day experiment on 1st January 2010.

I hadn't even clocked that I was about to approach 2,000 miles but now that I've noticed, I'm damn well going to celebrate.

My next day-type milestone should arrive on 18th July when I hit 900 days, and the really big one I'm currently aiming for is 26th September, when if all things go to plan (do they ever?) I hope to hit my 1,000th consecutive day.

So is it important to celebrate minor milestones along the way?

Absolutely categorically yes, yes and yes again.

Not only because celebrating is such fun, but it also reminds us of the progress we've made so far. We may not have hit our real goal yet, the one we really want, but we have reached another mile (or kilometre) mark on the route.

Too many people ignore the small wins - the first time they've run/walked a mile, the first time they've run a mile continuously, the first time they've done something that they've never done before.

But life doesn't work as one continuous improvement after another. We all have days when in spite of everything that we're doing right, we seem to have taken a major step backwards. But that's how life works.

Without those ups and downs life would actually be boring and too predictable. It would be like life with no sleep, no weekends and no holidays. We all need to have time to recover, to recharge and to rebuild.

It's just that sometimes those times occur when we're trying to push ourselves steadily forward.

When we don't bother celebrating our small wins, our mini milestones along the way, it's easy to become disillusioned along the way and even give up.

For those runners in the Tunbridge Wells Race for Life yesterday who I was encouraging when they were about to go up the steepest hill of the race, I told them that the good news was that firstly this was the last up hill of the race and secondly they only had one more kilometre to go. They had reached a milestone and should celebrate, and what was great was that many of them then did.

This is why I believe that celebrating along the way is an integral and important part of achieving success and not something that you only do once you have achieved it.

So I'm off to celebrate my latest milestone now with a delicious cappuccino.

What will you celebrate today?

Happy stag morning

I did 5.7 miles this morning. I say did because I struggled with, and therefore walked up,  several of the hills in the latter stages of my run.

I guess I'm not as acclimatised to the increased temperature as I thought I was.

I ran across the top of Happy Valley and past the Beacon this morning, two of the best named places around here, I think.

My spirits never fail to lift when I go across the top of Happy Valley.

Why can't more places have uplifting names like these?

Wouldn't it be great to run along Fun Lane, up Smiley Hill and round Laugh-out-Loud Crescent?

Just near the end of the path along the top of Happy Valley, I encountered a young stag sporting six inches of relatively new antlers.

He stopped and watched me as I ran towards him, then took a few steps off to the side and just watched me run past him about ten feet away.

Moments like these when I'm running make me realise that life is indeed very good, and couldn't be any better.

I thought that the young stag showed both curiosity and courage in the way he stood and watched me running towards him, then moved slowly to the side and stood his ground, watching me pass.

So my enquiry for the day is what could I do to increase my own curiosity and courage?

For that matter, what about you?

Awareness is the key

Last night I took part in the first of this year's Tunbridge Wells Harriers 4-part summer 10K handicap races.

I set out with the thought that I wouldn’t push myself because I hadn’t run that distance in a race-type environment for a year.

Once I got going, my mind came back to thinking of my arm movements, something that I’d had some coaching on recently with the fabulous Sarah’s Runners.

After my experience of the weekend, I took the pressure off myself and rather than concentrate on trying to do it, I just checked in on a regular basis on what I felt my arms were doing.

It’s a great trick to just make yourself become aware of how you’re doing something or how you’re being and leave it there. Don’t try to change what you’re doing to do it right.

You’ll find that just becoming aware becomes a catalyst in itself for creating the changes you want to make, as long as you stop the trying to change.

This works time and again when I’m coaching people, whether it’s to keep track of how often they say yes to requests when they’re feeling overwhelmed by taking on others' problems, or when I set them the task of logging how many times they asked someone else what to do and it ended up that the advice is what they would have done anyway.

Just by setting people tasks to observe but not change anything (therefore not adding any pressure), nine times out of ten they come back having already started saying no to people or acting on their own decisions without waiting for validation from others.

Oh, and my run last night? I ran the fastest 10K I’d run in the last five years.

So my question for you is, "What is it you’re trying to change right now in your running or elsewhere in your life?"

Find a way to measure or track what it is you’re doing now.

Let me know if the act of tracking where you’re at now automatically brings about change without you having to try.

It’s certainly more fun!