Repetition is the mother of learning (or so I'm learning)
Plus 21 iconic college town half marathons
“The universe is change. Our life is what our thoughts make it.” — Marcus Aurelius
You might remember from last week’s newsletter that I’ve been entranced with the latest book by Olympic medalist and world record-holder Deena Kastor, “Let Your Mind Run.”
One of the episodes that has struck me the most is one Kastor recounts from her earliest days as a professional runner, after she graduated from the University of Arkansas and moved to Alamosa, Colo., to train under the tutelage of the now-legendary running coach Joe Vigil.
After Kastor had made the move to Colorado, she spoke with Vigil about her dreams and goals, as well as her potential and possibilities as a runner. The coach was honest and direct with her about the level of commitment it would take to achieve those things — and then he said this:
“Repetitio mater studiorum est,” he replied, leaning forward in his char and pronouncing each syllable with precision. “That’s Latin for ‘repetition is the mother of learning,’ You’ll see it applies to every aspect of training.’”
When I read that, my mind instantly travels backward in time to when I trained for my first marathon. I remember well the sights and sounds of running along the winding streets of Bermuda, the gorgeous blue sky and the crystal-clear blue water in the ocean just below our feet as we ran.
But I remember too the weeks and weeks of training that led up to the race. How when I began, I’d never run further than a 10K, roughly a quarter of the distance of a full marathon. Why I thought I could do it, I still have no idea.
I was part of a training team of more than 20 people, of all ages and backgrounds, who were running to raise money for the Arthritis Foundation. If you raised $2,500 for friends and family, they’d pay for your airfare, hotel and race registration in the Bermuda Marathon. (And I really wanted to go to Bermuda!)
Repeating those miles, week after week, changed me. On our weekly long runs, we ran with coaches who would sidle up beside us individually and give us encouragement and advice. It changed me physically and it changed me mentally, how I looked at myself and the world around me.
I think it was because, rather than getting that insight once, we came back to it day after day, week after week. The training worked not only because we put our bodies through those paces 4-5 days a week — though that’s a huge part of it — but also because we got regular encouragement for our hearts and minds, from our coaches and from each other.
What keeps striking me as I read Kastor’s book is her twin focus on her body and her mind. Talent may have been responsible for her early success as a youth track and cross-country runner, but learning to manage her thoughts — to notice and accept what drifted into her mind without judging any of it, and to use all of it as motivation — has fueled her professional career, and really her life as an adult.
This has been something I’ve struggled to learn myself. Whether it’s kicking myself for laying off training runs — as Katharine Switzer has said, “even the most advanced runners [know] that getting your shoes on is the hardest part of any workout” — to not trying hard enough on the later miles of a weekend run, I know what it’s like to judge yourself.
Come to think of it, we may need a good part of a lifetime to learn not to do this. Having a 13-year-old in our house is reminding me of the ways we learn to knock ourselves down when we’re young; it takes our whole adulthood to un-learn those things, doesn’t it?
That’s a big part of what I’m loving about “Let Your Mind Run.” Kastor dispenses with the physical, outward aspects of running — even when she was a young pro runner training with Vigil in Colorado, she says she “wasn’t interested in reading about training, gear or injuries.”
She adds:
“Feeling the positive energy that came with approaching practice with a good attitude had given me a window into the power of the mind. Coach’s lesson in resilience had popped it wide open. I trusted that Coach Vigil would guide my physical training, but my mind was my own. It felt young, undiscovered, and I sensed there was potential within it to unlock. So I asked Coach for self-help books, the only term for mental training I knew at the time.”
I would wager that’s the case for most of us, no matter what the birthdate says on our driver’s license. The beautiful thing about running is that we don’t have to be intimidated by the outward parts of it — all the gear, the technology, the different ways to train.
They’re wonderful as accessories, but they’re not the heart of it. You, your mind, and your two feet are. And that’s something you can keep discovering anew every time you lace up your shoes.
Hope your week has been a wonderful one so far — let me know how things are in your world, and keep in touch!
Your friend,
— Terrell
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21 Scenic College Town Half Marathons
Who doesn’t love visiting a college town, especially if it’s their alma mater? From the University of Georgia campus in Athens, Ga., to the roads and pathways of the University of California in Los Angeles, here are some really beautiful courses to run this fall and winter (and into next year).
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A few weeks ago, Hollie found herself running my hardest race she’d ever done. In the middle of a 6-mile climb, she thought to herself, "positive self-talk will get me through this”. Spoiler alert: It did.
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Scenic half marathons in some of the most beautiful places in the U.S., from California to Michigan to Virginia to Wisconsin, with many more here.
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— I continue to be in awe of the New York Times’s health and wellness writer Gretchen Reynolds, who wrote this piece on new research that shows how essential exercise is to our overall well-being, and how it can keep our hearts seemingly from aging, provided we do it enough. (And that means 4-5 times a week, buster; not just jogging on the weekends.)
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“‘We both used to get up in the morning and just go exercise,’ explains Amanda Holliday of Takoma Park, Md., a dance fitness teacher whose son was born in 2016. ‘That’s not happening anymore.’”
— Really interesting Washington Post story on the challenges of trying to stay fit while you’re raising children, with lots of good tips and ideas for kids at every stage, from infants to toddlers to tweens and teenagers. While lots of the suggestions here are from offerings in the D.C./Northern Virginia area, there’s a lot of food for thought here. Especially one fitness instructor’s tip to a mom feeling guilty about leaving her toddler: “Getting out to exercise isn’t being selfish. It’s being a role model.”
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“The answer really depends on your speed, your strength, and your experience—so there’s no one-size-fits-all mileage prescription. ‘Look at where you are right now,’ says Melanie Kann, an RRCA-certified running coach for New York Road Runners... No matter what your end goal, you have to start with what you’re currently capable of doing versus what you want to be doing.”
— Great tips from Runner’s World on a question that bedevils us all at one point or another: how often and how long should I really run for? The answer, of course, depends on what you’re trying to achieve. And you may not need to stick religiously to your training plan all the time, writer Ashley Mateo adds: “It's not like you're going to get a failing grade if you don't stick to that plan 100 percent.”
81-Year-Old Runner Is Breaking Records, But Says ‘The Best Is Yet to Come’
“Jeanne Daprano wants the world to know something: She's not leaving anything behind. No regrets, no fear. At 81 years old, she's still pushing her body to the limit. She's still running competitive races, breaking world records and taking on new challenges. Why? More like — why not?”
— I love stories like this one. The Iowa-born Daprano, who later moved to California and became a schoolteacher, earned a nickname as the “running teacher” to encourage her students to take an active role in their fitness first thing in the morning and throughout the school day. The habit stuck, and now she’s the holder of world records in the mile for 70-year-old women and in the 400 and 800 meters for women age 75 and up, adding “the feeling of being fit at any age is a real gift, a real blessing.”
Race Discount
Use the promo code “SUMMER” to save $10 off the entry fee for the 5K or the half marathon at this December race:
Race the Bay Half Marathon & 5K at Sunwest Park in Tampa, Fla. — Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018