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Got Ideas?

Got ideas?  Yes indeed.  The challenge is ideas aren’t worth the paper they’re written on if you can’t make them work.  This is true in our business life and our personal life.

People constantly come up with ideas to run the government better. Or ideas to help their favorite sports team do better. Or ideas their boss ought to use to become a better leader.

But when do we actually use any of these ideas on ourselves?  When do we look at ourselves with the same level of scrutiny as we do others? When?

And when do we ever attempt to take one of our ideas and apply it to ourselves?  When?  Seriously, when?

My advice is simply this.  I don’t give advice unless a person’s situation is life threatening, or, they ask me for advice.

So, when talking to myself – which is everyday, all day – I’m constantly looking for ways to become better.  Lane 8 is only one of five daily blogs I write.  Why?  Because it’s an idea that’s being implemented.

Level Of Fitness @ Lane 8?

Yesterday’s Lane 8 blog post ended with me promising to share today the level of fitness that was unknowingly gained on the journey to become a world class Master’s athlete.

And by the way, the goal was never to become a world class Master’s athlete.  The goal was, and always will be, about getting and staying healthy to contend with the hereditary predisposition to both physical and mental illnesses.  I am, after all, 50 years old.  🙂

Here’s a jeff noel midlife You Tube video which highlights the strength of the body’s core.  And just before heading to Lahti, Finland for the 2009 WMA Master’s Track & Field World Championships, I increased the time from “20-count” (in this clip) to 30-count:

Guarantee you, if you try to put both feet up at a 90-degree angle, you won’t be able to hold it for more than a “2-count”. Don’t believe me? Try it. Carpe diem!

Lane 8, What’s Next?

Lane 8, “What’s next”?

Face to face questions, as well as emails, ask the same thing, “Are you preparing for any upcoming meets”?

Yes, and no.

YES, there are two big meets in 2010.  The WMA Masters Track & Field Indoor World Championships in early March, in Kamloops, British Columbia.  And there’s the USA Masters Track & Field National Championships, in July, in Sacramento, California.

NO, the left heel pain precludes me from anything remotely intense enough to be considered world class training.

This may be a good thing. If you don’t know, it was never the intent to become a world class Master’s athlete.  But after several years of running and making common sense, common practice, I wanted to see if it could actually be done.

Tomorrow I’ll describe the level of fitness that I didn’t even know I had achieved.  And what it feels like to see it slip away and the thought process on how, and if, I should deal with that.

Skipping Is Easy

Skipping a day of exercise is an easy thing to do.  In fact, it’s actually one of the easiest things to do.  How do I know? Because I did it yesterday.

It was easy.

Just don’t go to the gym.  How hard is that?  It’s not.

However, the intent was to pick up our son at school and head to Gold’s Gym like we commonly do.  The reason I really wanted to go is because I hadn’t been in four days.

Too much time in between workouts does several things:

  • Too much rest negates previous efforts
  • Too much rest makes us lazy
  • Too much rest makes it easier to skip

Skipping a day of exercise is an easy thing to do.  When it comes to taking care of yourself, are you an example or a warning?

Confused?

Confused?  Yes.

In pain?  Yes.

Why?

That’s what is confusing.  Why is the left foot pain returning?

It’s always something isn’t it?  There’s always something that is in front of us that tempts us to want to stop doing what we know we can’t stop doing.

Always has been.  Always will be. Getting so impatient with this that a cortisone shot is looking very tempting – cortisone is something I swore I wouldn’t do.

Yet my podiatrist and I agreed, in March, that we should try one shot.

Now I’m seriously thinking about a second.  Remember, I swore I’d never do a single shot.  Now I’m thinking about a second. Good luck with your temptations today.